Novak Djokovic Apologizes for Hitting Judge ... At U.S. Open

UPDATE

4:30 PM PT -- Novak Djokovic just issued a lengthy apology, saying he'll use this lesson as a moment of growth.

UPDATE

The tennis star writes, "This whole situation has left me really sad and empty. I checked on the lines person and the tournament told me that thank God she is feeling ok. I‘m extremely sorry to have caused her such stress. So unintended. So wrong."

UPDATE

Waiting for your permission to load the Instagram Media.

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He goes on to say that he's sorry to the U.S. Open as a whole for his behavior, while also thanking his fans and family for supporting him through the controversy.

Tennis superstar Novak Djokovic had a chance to make history at this year's U.S. Open ... but he squandered it away after hitting a judge with a ball out of frustration.

Djokovic was defaulted (disqualified) from the rest of the tournament Sunday in the middle of his fourth-round match against Pablo Carreno Busta -- who was up 6-5 in the first set and had just scored a point -- when ND angrily and haphazardly smacked a ball that hit a lineswoman.

It doesn't appear he tried to hit her, but the fact he struck her (in the neck, no less) and got her removed from the action was enough for him to get booted. You see him immediately run over to check on her, but the damage was done.

Once he was instructed he couldn't play anymore, he quickly grabbed his things and exited the court ... not before giving some handshakes to his opponent and the main judge.

Djokovic was the #1 seed heading into the tourney -- and he was in line to join some elite company if he would've advanced further and racked up more wins. He'd already hit a huge milestone prior to Sunday's match, with 600 hard-court wins ... 3rd most behind Roger Federer (775) and Guillermo Vilas (670). Unfortunately, any further accolades will have to wait.

As for the line judge ... she was escorted off the court, but seemed to be more or less okay. Before sending Djokovic on his way, she made sure to give him a knowing look of unease.

Caption ... "WHAT THE HELL, DUDE!!!"

Originally Published -- 2:17 PM PT

Village People Super Annoyed at Trump Supporters ... How Dare You Denigrate 'Y.M.C.A.'

The Village People, with the exception of the cop, are outraged Donald Trump supporters have jacked their most-famous song and changed the words as an homage to their candidate.

Members of the group tell TMZ, they hate the idea the song is being used to promote Trump's re-election. They say, "Other than to antagonize Biden supporters, we really don't get Trump supporters fascination with 'Y.M.C.A.'" They go on to say ... "To say that we are annoyed by this type of use of 'Y.M.C.A.' is an understatement."

Problem for the group ... Victor Willis, a founding member, lead singer and songwriter, controls the copyright and he's not going to block it.

Victor has previously said, "I will continue to criticize the President when he says or does something I disagree with. And I disagree with most of his politics. But I am not a Trump hater. Therefore, I will not take the next step of bringing suit against the President simply because he loves 'Y.M.C.A.' and won't stop playing it at his rallies."

It looks like the same applies when Trump supporters jack the song.

After Trump's alleged comments about veterans, it's unlikely he'll use another Village People song ... "In the Navy."

Portland Protests Man Catches Fire ... After Molotov Cocktail Explodes

A man who allegedly threw a Molotov cocktail at cops got way more than he bargained for when the explosion caught him on fire, and it was all chronicled on video.

Cops declared a riot Saturday night, during the 100th day of protests in the city of Portland, Oregon.

The man appears from the flames with his lower extremities ablaze. He is in clear distress as others nearby try to help him extinguish the flames. He's urged to roll on the ground and eventually the flames disappear.

It's unclear how badly the man was burned.

The Portland protests began May 25, after the killing of George Floyd, and have raged through the city ever since.

Chanel West Coast Berates Cops Who Shut Down Her Birthday Party

ON THE ATTACK
TMZ.com

Chanel West Coast berated cops who dared to interrupt her birthday party because it was packed to the gills in the middle of the pandemic.

We're told somewhere between 100 and 200 people showed up to celebrate the rapper's 32nd birthday, and by 10 PM the neighbors had had it. Eleven of them called the cops. It's unclear if the neighbors were objecting to the noise or the fact Mayor Eric Garcetti has made it his mission to shut down party houses that host big crowds because of the virus.

CWC wasn't having it, and she verbally attacked the cops, calling them losers. She told them her ex-BF was murdered years ago and it's still an unsolved case, and she just couldn't understand why they weren't solving that case instead of hammering her over her party.

HUSHIN' THE CROWD
TMZ.com

She says there was a bigger party up the road and if they were really concerned about the coronavirus spread they should go there.

Looks like cops shut the party down. Chanel was cited for the party ... and we can't wait to hear Mayor Garcetti's reaction.

Skydiving Video Parachutist Loses Consciousness Awakens, Screams Bloody Murder!!!

This is just so funny we had to show it to you. A man jumps out of a plane with his skydiving instructor and passes out, and wait till you see what happens when he regains consciousness.

Nothing is amiss as they sail through the air, but it's just too much for the skydiving newbie. He goes limp, but the instructor has things under control.

His scream when he comes back is both understandable and hilarious. Imagine ... losing consciousness, awakening and realizing you are hurling toward the ground with no open parachute.

We're assuming there was a happy landing, so go ahead and laugh.

People are saying this about the jump ... "If 2020 was skydiving." True that.

Deputy vs. the G.O.A.T. Sorry, Chief ... A Goat Ate My Paperwork!!!

GOOD COP, BAAAAAAD COP
Douglas County Sheriff's Office/Facebook

A Georgia cop came face-to-face with Billy Gruff himself after leaving her patrol car door open, which left her work papers ripe for the picking chomping.

This hilarious woman-versus-wild encounter went down Friday in Douglas County, GA -- where one of the Sheriff's Dept.'s deputies had a run-in with a brazen goat that wasn't scared to go wandering outside its pastures. If anything, it was looking for new leather interior digs.

Check it out ... the deputy -- whose body cam was rolling -- was out delivering civil papers, according to her bosses. She pulls up to a property, hops out and leaves the driver-side door open, 'cause it's just a quick in and out type gig. Does it all the time, apparently.

As she returns to the vehicle, she sees there's a non-human intruder inside. Sure enough, there's a goat in there rummaging through her things -- specifically, a stack of paperwork. Seems like it was delicious, 'cause Bill was going to town.

She tried shooing it away by giving it a little love tap on the backside, but the goat wouldn't budge. It took some doing -- watch the video -- but she finally got it to hop out of her ride.

But, it still wasn't over! Ya gotta see how the goat actually knocked her over.

DCSD says the deputy is fine and that the department got a laugh out of it. Still though, talk about getting someone's "goat" on the job.

Rihanna Bruised Face, Black Eye Result of Nasty e-Scooter Accident

Rihanna appeared bruised and battered as she made a quick pit stop in L.A. -- turns out she's the latest victim of the electric scooter.

RiRi rolled up to Giorgio Baldi in Santa Monica Friday night, where she was trying to lay low in her Escalade while some staffers brought out food and drinks to her curbside. At one point, she removed her sunglasses ... and paps captured her looking the worse for wear -- a black eye and some swelling in her face.

Several media outlets posted the photos and suggested she'd been in some sort of physical altercation ... remembering the Chris Brown beating back in 2009. Not the case -- her rep tells us Rihanna was on an e-scooter a few days ago and ate it after the scooter flipped over, smacking her in the face and forehead.

We're told it looks worse than it is and she's healing.

So Simon Cowell's recovering from a broken back on an e-bike, Rihanna's recovering and countless others have suffered mild to severe injuries on the e-contraptions. These things are super dangerous.

Mister Rogers' Widow Blasts Trump After PA Rally ... Calls Him 'Mentally Ill'

It's not a wonderful day in Mister Rogers' neighborhood, at least not when Donald Trump's in it ... so says his widow, who's got some choice of words for the President.

Joanne Rogers ripped Trump a new one after he decided to host his latest rally in Fred's hometown of Latrobe, PA -- which reportedly broke COVID-19 protocols by hosting more people than the legal limit set at 250 ... instead, the crowd was 7,000 strong.

She tells the Daily Beast she thinks Trump's a "horrible person," adding that she'd probably go into mourning if he's re-elected come November. Joanne says Trump's such a liar she can't trust anything he says, even the smallest thing.

Then comes a scathing line ... "This man is pathologically ill. Mentally ill." BTW, Joanne is a big Biden fan -- saying he's not too old at age 77 (she's 92), adding any gaffes Biden makes while speaking in public are probably a result of a stuttering issue he had when he was younger, rather than any mental ineptitude, as the Trump campaign has often suggested.

One last thing ... Joanne says Fred probably would've hidden his feelings about politics from public view, as he felt it would've negatively affected kids. Granted, they were married for over 50 years ... so it's probably safe to say he would've been in her corner here too.

The Robstown Cotton Pickers A Real High School Sports Team in TX ... Reporter Apologizes for Outing Them in Tweet

The internet is abuzz at the fact that there's actually a high school team called the "Cotton Pickers" -- something a local reporter made public, and which he now regrets.

KIII 3 Sports' Chris Thomasson tweeted a video Friday of the Robstown High School football team taking the field for their season opener against the London High School Pirates near Corpus Christi, TX ... but he also dropped Robstown's team name, the Cotton Pickers.

The guy's tweet got picked up and spread like wildfire, with many people aghast and outraged there could actually be a team with such racist connotations -- especially in Texas, no less. Their mascot isn't very subtle either -- it depicts a cotton plant, straight up. And yes, there are Black players on the football and other sports team ... so, what gives?

That same reporter followed up and said he didn't mean to stir the pot by dropping the full name -- he says he never says the full thing on air and usually just refers to the team as the "Pickers." He also provided context ... saying "Cotton Pickers" is something the school board there recently voted to stick to after consulting the community, which is apparently predominantly Latino. Many of those folks do, in fact, pick cotton and don't view it as a slur.

There are some local reports of residents there even being proud of the name -- as they view it as honest work steeped in local tradition and heritage ... from their POVs anyway.

That said, Thomasson acknowledges it's probably time to change the name, adding he's advocated for that for years. Fact is, the history of cotton picking in this country usually conjures up just one thing for most -- AKA, slavery -- and that alone should be reason enough to pivot.

Time for hard talks in 2020.

Dunkin' Donuts Customer Goes Off On Employee ... She Won't Glaze Over Disrespect

DUNKIN' DISRESPECT
@kaylahgrigsby65/Tik Tok

If you don't think people's nerves have been frayed during the pandemic, check out this scene from Dunkin' Donuts.

An enraged customer swung the front door open as she charged in the donut shop, demanding answers from an employee she claims threw a bag at her friend in the drive-thru.

As she screams at the employee, he implores her to stop speaking to him like that. He gets emotional as he walks away, and then the customer sets her sights on another employee, demanding that the employee in question gets fired.

The woman claims when she and her friend went through the drive-thru, the employee got their order wrong, so they drove back to get it done right. The woman says the employee threw the bag at her friend's head.

The manager at DD asked the 2 women to return the next day. He told them the employee was having a bad day and, coincidentally, it was his last day on the job. The manager said the employee was not fired ... Friday was going to be his last day even before the incident.

Nerves are raw, for sure.

Donald Trump Denies He Called Fallen War Vets 'Losers'

Donald Trump is denying that he declined to visit a military cemetery because he reportedly said, "Why should I go to that cemetery? It's filled with losers."

Trump blasted The Atlantic for its story, claiming Trump made repeated disparaging remarks about soldiers who were killed or injured during battle.

The mag also claimed Trump called the 1,800 soldiers who died during a famous WWI battle "suckers" for getting killed.

Trump claims the reason he skipped a visit to the military cemetery was because his helicopter couldn't fly because of bad weather and the Secret Service didn't feel it was safe to drive there.

As you know, Trump had incredibly harsh words for Senator and military hero John McCain, saying he wasn't a war hero because he was captured during the Vietnam War.

SPEAKING ILL OF THE DEAD

Trump had harsh words for McCain even after the Senator died of brain cancer.

This is a big deal for Trump, who is relying on veterans for support during his re-election bid. The White House jumped on this story, claiming it was false.

Trump Supporter Insane Confrontation Over Running Track

This video shows the level of tension that we have come to know as 2020, as a Trump supporter goes nuts on a Black guy who dared to stand in his lane on a running track.

Waiting for your permission to load the Instagram Media.

It appears the track is somewhere in Maryland. The white guy is apoplectic because the black guy was standing and exercising in the lane he was using.

It could almost be an episode right out of "Seinfeld" ... a fight over nothing. There are dueling cellphones at work as the groups' jawbones back and forth. No racial epithets are hurled during the verbal confrontation, but it seems the white guy thinks he's being set up to look racist.

Check out the white girl in the video. She's just hanging out in one of the lanes, and the guy isn't objecting to her presence. The girl asks why it's okay for her to stand in a lane but not the guy ... and the black guy's friends say that's exactly what's up.

It appears the white guy has used the track for years, and seems to feel some entitlement to use the lanes as he sees fit. He could have just walked or ran around the guy who was standing on the track, but that wasn't in his playbook.

In the end, the guy walks away voicing his hearty approval for Donald Trump.

Coronavirus Bedlam Cop and Train Passenger Fight Over Face Mask

It's small comfort, but Americans aren't the only people who want to fight over wearing a mask, because a cop and a passenger went ballistic on a Liverpool train over face coverings.

The passenger was sitting on the train without a face mask, when he was approached by a British Transport cop, who explained the drill ... you wanna ride the train, wear a mask.

The cops reportedly got involved after someone called in and said a man was coughing on passengers. Cops boarded the train and encountered 34-year-old Anthony Baldwin, and things quickly turned physical.

Baldwin claimed he had underlying health conditions and, under the laws of Great Britain, he would be exempt from wearing face coverings.

The officer was having none of it and began grabbing at Baldwin, trying to get him off the train. Other passengers are screaming at the cop for getting aggressive, claiming the man had a medical condition. At the end of the video, it appears the cop unloads what appears to be pepper spray on Baldwin.

A slew of cops then grabbed Baldwin and took him off the train, as passengers screamed at the cop who confronted him. Baldwin was reportedly charged with threatening behavior and assaulting a police officer.

Lovie Smith's Son Ex-Bucs Asst. Coach Arrested Accused of Pimping in Arizona

Mikal Smith -- son of ex-NFL head coach Lovie Smith -- was arrested in Arizona this week after officials say he's been pimping, TMZ Sports has learned.

The 43-year-old -- who served as an assistant coach under his father with the Chicago Bears and Tampa Bay Bucs -- was booked on Thursday for a slew of disturbing charges.

Officials tell TMZ Sports ... Smith is facing everything from pandering (another word for pimping) along with receiving earnings from a prostitute and sex trafficking.

He's also facing charges of money laundering and conspiracy.

The details surrounding the case are unclear -- we're working on it.

Mikal was a former college football player at the University of Arizona back in the day before getting into coaching.

He worked as an assistant coach with the Chicago Bears when his father was the head guy over there ... and later followed Lovie to the Tampa Bay Bucs, where he worked with defensive backs.

Mikal also coached at Trinity International University before working at the NFL level.

Attempts to reach Smith for comment have been unsuccessful so far. We'll report back if we hear anything.

Wild Video Man Feeds Bear ... Out of His Own Mouth!!!

BUDDY BEAR
ViralHog

This guy is blowing off that ol' saying, "Don't feed the bears," in the worst way possible ... feeding one from his own mouth!!! Yeah, this is WILD.

The dude's name is Dakota Datz, but if he keeps this up ... call him Bear Bait. It's unclear where he did this, but he ran into a bear cub that loves cookies, so Dakota decided on a little mouth-to-mouth to feed his new furry friend.

Yeah, the bear looks cute and all ... but, obviously, this is NOT advisable. Dakota recorded vids, over several days, interacting with the cub during a camping trip. In one post he included the caption, "Baby girl came back this weekend."

Of course ... you're giving her cookies!!!

SHARIN' SNACKS
@prideofgypsies / Instagram

He might have gotten this idea from Jason Momoa ... who as ya might remember did the exact same thing last November. Difference is ... Aquaman did with a bear in captivity. Still not a good idea.

Then there's the family that fed a bear PB&J sandos?! Come to think of it ... none were braver than the woman who took a selfie with a wild black bear and lived to tell it.

One more time for the slow folks ... don't do this.

UFC's Dana White Hires Viral Best Buy Security Guard ... Who Punked Alleged Shoplifter

DON'T MESS WITH SUMMER!!!

When Dana White offered a job to a female Best Buy security guard who manhandled a male alleged shoplifter back in December ... HE WASN'T KIDDING!

You remember Summer Tapasa -- the woman who was FIRED from her Best Buy gig when surveillance video of the December incident went viral ... showing her beating up a suspected shoplifter to keep him from leaving the store.

NOT ON MY WATCH

Dana was so impressed at the time, he flew her out to UFC 246 in January to watch the Conor McGregor vs. Cowboy Cerrone fight as his VIP guest.

Now, Dana has announced he's brought Summer on board as a full-time UFC staffer!

"I brought her out to Vegas. I offered her a job here. She went back to Hawaii, she weighed all her options and she decided to work for UFC. She is now a UFC employee, so for all of you thinking about f**king around here at UFC, you will get your ass whooped by Summer,” White said.

Summer also shot a video -- saying, “My name is Summer Tapasa and I am a UFC corporate security officer."

"I have been working with UFC for eight days and I am looking forward to expanding my career and hopefully moving on up."

Congrats to Summer -- and our condolences to anyone who ever tries to steal anything out of UFC headquarters in Vegas.

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