You Might Want to Rethink

Bill Cosby now knows there's at least one place his return to stand-up comedy won't take him -- one of New York City's most popular venues for comics is telling him, HELL NO.

TMZ broke the story ... Cosby is plotting a tour on the heels of his prison release, and his camp says several promoters and comedy clubs are interested -- but the famed Comedy Cellar in NYC's Greenwich Village is definitely not.

Owner Noam Dworman tells TMZ ... his venue's not the slightest bit interested, and he doesn't want Bill to even step foot inside his club. While the Comedy Cellar is known for allowing comics and content that make audiences super uncomfortable, it sounds like Cosby is off-limits.

It's worth noting the club did allow Louis C.K. and Aziz Ansari on its stage in 2018 following their sexual misconduct scandals.

As you know, Cosby was released from prison last month after Pennsylvania's Supreme Court overturned his sexual assault conviction.

Dworman says even his audiences -- which largely welcomed Louis and Aziz -- wouldn't support a Cosby comeback.

Rob Schneider seems to be saying the best way to ward off the COVID vaccine is with an old Nancy Reagan campaign on drugs -- and if that doesn't work ... maybe flash some ammo.

The actor -- known for comedic roles in Adam Sandler movies, etc. -- was in no joking mood Saturday upon hearing some news that a third vaccine jab might be around the corner ... as reports surface that the effects from the first 2 are wearing off in a matter of months.

He was responding to a report with the headline, "Is it already time for a 3rd Covid-19 shot?" posted by journo Sharyl Attkisson. Rob retweeted it and wrote, "Just say no... And keep saying no..."

RS added this as well ... "Over Half of the US population is continuing to say no to this unapproved experimental gene therapy! 'My body, my choice!' #2ndAmendmentIsForThis."

Of course, his remarks are getting tons of backlash right now -- as he appears to be suggesting that Americans should take up arms ... against COVID jabs, or the notion of being forced to get them. Some are saying his thinking here is flawed ... and pretty dangerous.

No matter, though -- Rob seems to be digging his heels in on his position ... rehashing what sure sounds like far-right wing talking points, spreading fear and doubt about vaccines.

The fact is ... most of the vaccines in circulation have been deemed safe by the powers that be -- including scientists from all over the world, whether they're in government or not.

A few Twitter users have told Rob to mind his own business -- to which he seems to be receptive. All we know is ... a gun ain't gonna beat coronavirus, plain and simple.

A woman who allegedly had a mental health episode aboard an American Airlines flight appears to have been taped down after freaking out in the air ... and the crew's drastic response is getting some side-eye.

This video was captured by TikTok user @lol.ariee a few days ago, during a late-night AA flight that she says was taking off from the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport and was in the air for about 2 hours. During that time ... a situation unfolded that caused a bit of a panic.

According to the TikToker, flight attendants started frantically running up and down the aisles at around 1:30 AM, locking bathroom doors and securing the scene for something that was happening up near the front. She says no one said anything ... just hush-hush whispering.

Eventually, she says the captain got on the intercom, and told everyone to stay in their seats 'cause of the problem toward the front, which he apparently said they were handling. When they eventually landed, this user captured the aftermath ... a woman duct-taped to her seat, with her mouth also taped -- who was crying out as passengers passed her to deplane.

As the TikTok user exited the plane, she recorded paramedics who were standing by with a stretcher. She later posted other videos saying she'd heard the woman was trying to actually get out of the plane during the flight, and seemed to be having an episode of some sort.

Sources familiar with the situation confirm that latter account to us ... saying the woman was, indeed, going ballistic. But, we haven't heard about her allegedly attempting to open doors or anything. In any case ... people are openly wondering if AA handled this the right way.

If she was actually having a breakdown of some sort ... some have questioned if restraining her in that manner might actually do more harm than good. Of course, others have pointed out that, in a scenario like that, the crew has to do what they must to keep people safe.

As for American, a rep for the company tells us this ... "While in flight from Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) to Charlotte (CLT) on July 6, the crew on board American Airlines flight 1774 reported a potential security concern after a customer attempted to open the forward boarding door and physically assaulted, bit and caused injury to a flight attendant." They add, "For the safety and security of other customers and our crew, the individual was restrained until the flight landed at CLT and could be met by law enforcement and emergency personnel."

Matt Damon says the research for his role in "Stillwater" -- in which he plays an oil-rig worker -- was a major wake-up call on red-state culture ... something that could well earn him an Academy Award.

The actor recently dished on what went into learning about his character for the Oscar bait-y flick -- which got rave reviews and even a standing O at the Cannes Film Festival the other day -- and he says what he gleaned from the roughnecks of Oklahoma was "eye-opening."

Watch how Matt characterized the experience during a panel Q&A following the screening of his upcoming movie in France. He explains how he and director Tom McCarthy spent a good amount of time down in the South ... where they got the lay of the land, literally, from guys who do the job day in and day out -- getting a sense of their lifestyles, their POVs on life/family and, of course, their politics as well ... which Matt didn't discuss with disdain.

If anything ... he's got the opposite sentiment, saying the people he was around -- not to mention his character, Bill -- own who and what they are ... even on the issue of MAGA.

It's a pretty fascinating take on what many may perhaps write off without a second thought -- the minute you bring up Trump and his supporters ... a lot of folks will tune it all out.

Not Matt, though ... the way he talks about his encounters down there makes it seem like there's some good people around -- regardless of their politics -- and that they're more nuanced than how they're made out to be a lot of the time. To which we say ... obviously.

BTW, this film isn't necessarily a slice-of-Oklahoma-life type of a project -- where Matt immerses himself in method acting or anything. It's actually an action thriller -- a la, "Taken" -- with the oil-rig/middle America stuff as the backdrop. Still ... word is, Matt's turn here is getting tons of buzz, as they're saying he's "unrecognizable" on screen.

Addison Rae is either UFC's newest live event reporter, or she's trolling hard -- or perhaps both ... because she's touting what seems to be a new on-camera gig, which has got a lot of journalism student advocates pissed.

The TikTok star posted photos of herself at what seems to be a UFC event -- perhaps a teaser to Saturday's UFC 264, where McGregor and Poirier are set to face off -- but it's unclear where or for what exactly. In any event, Addison made it seem like she'd been hired.

As she posed all dolled up on the red carpet with a UFC tarp behind her, she wrote ... "I studied broadcast journalism in college for 3 whole months to prepare for this moment."

Definitely a tongue-in-cheek caption, we're sure ... or so it seems. Addison appears to be poking fun at the fact that she dropped out of LSU -- where she's said to have been studying journalism -- to pursue her social media career (which was obviously a good idea).

Although she thought it was funny ... a lot of people online didn't. Twitter users piled on top of her (digitally) for what they perceived as an unjust and unwarranted HR move on UFC's part ... assuming she's actually on their payroll. They suggested Addison was undeserving, as opposed to a journo student who slaved away for 4 years for an actual degree.

One guy wrote, "Should we hire someone who busted their butt through college, and genuinely loves UFC and is hungry for an opportunity in journalism?? Nah, let’s hire Addison Rae because she’s popular for 'throwing it back' on tik tok." Funny stuff, no doubt.

With that said, we gotta wonder ... are people are overreacting here??? Yes, while it may seem AR has little to no experience in the field, and perhaps isn't as skilled or trained as others who've studied this at the university level -- the truth is, UFC probably doesn't care.

At the end of the day, the company is in the entertainment biz -- and if bringing Addison on as a host helps 'em get eyeballs and sell PPV purchases for their product ... they're gonna do it!!! And, besides ... a hosting job like this really doesn't take much schooling anyway. 🤷🏽‍♂️

Some Michigan fairgoers jumped into action as a packed carnival ride was seconds from tipping over -- and it's pretty clear these folks earned themselves free cotton candy and churros ... for life.

Video of the terrifying incident shows the Magic Carpet Ride in full swing Thursday night at the National Cherry Festival in Traverse City. As nearly a dozen passengers yell for help, you can see the base of the ride start rocking wildly.

Nearby patrons were looking, wondering what to do ... until one of them ran over and jumped on the base. Several more people quickly followed suit, leaning in and weighing it down.

When the ride finally slowed to a stop, the crowd cheered and everyone got off safely. According to local reports, no one was injured and the ride was taken apart and scrapped by Friday morning.

The company responsible for the ride hasn't commented yet on what went wrong. Ditto for the festival organizers.

A golf fan was booted from the Scottish Open on Friday ... after he stole Rory McIlroy's club straight out of the star's bag and began playing with it on a tee box.

The bizarre scene was captured on video ... and you can see in the footage, as Rory was gearing up to hit a tee shot on hole #10 at The Renaissance Club in North Berwick -- a fan casually walked up to the 32-year-old's bag and rummaged through it.

The guy initially tried to pull out Rory's driver ... but when it got stuck, he went back into the bag and snagged one of McIlroy's irons.

The man then began lining up as if he were going to swing ... all while Rory, Jon Rahm and their caddies looked on with perplexed expressions on their faces.

Eventually, event officials got the guy to give back the club ... but he still tried to walk off with Rory's famous dog headcover.

Security, though, was able to wrestle it away from the man ... before booting him from the area.

"Let me put it this way: you could smell the reason why he did what he did," Rahm said of the incident afterward, according to The Scotsman. "He was clearly not sober. I'm going to say it was vodka. I'm no expert, but he had a long night for sure."

Rahm added, "He probably thought it was a fun idea. And, to be fair, it was quite funny."

An event official said police are now investigating the incident.

Kim Kardashian now has legal protection against the man who allegedly showed up to her home on multiple occasions and sent a package containing Plan B and a diamond ring ... thanks to a restraining order.

KK filed docs Wednesday against Nicholas Costanza, whom she claims is the person who disturbingly shipped Plan B pills and an engagement ring to her home earlier this month ... a package that was intercepted by Kim's security team.

In her filing -- from attorney Shawn Holley -- Kim says Costanza has shown up to her property a handful of times this year ... including once in February, and then again in late May. She claims he sprung up at her gated community, telling guards he was there to pick her up for dinner on one occasion.

On top of the alleged behavior ... Kim says Costanza's been obsessing over her online as well -- posting a bogus marriage cert and other bizarre messages, alluding to her waiting for her "knight in shining armor" (which he clarified as himself).

A judge agreed with Kim's concerns and granted the temporary order ... Costanza will have to stay at least 100 yards away and refrain from contact.

This ain't the first alleged stalker who's been trying to get at her either -- remember, she filed for and received a separate restraining order against another man who said he was just dying to get into her pad.

Carnell Davis -- a freshman wide receiver on the Rutgers football team -- was reportedly knocked out by a violent punch in a street fight ... and the whole incident was apparently caught on video.

It's unclear where and when the altercation took place ... but The Press of Atlantic City reports the 6-foot-1, 175-pound wideout is the shirtless man wearing blue shorts in the footage that was posted on social media this week.

In the clip, you can see the man purported to be Davis, get into a tiff with another shirtless male in a red hat apparently over comments about Davis' mother.

The man in the blue shorts can be heard on the footage saying, "you were just talking about you were going to f*** my mom" -- before the two squared up to fight.

Eventually, the man in the red hat tagged the other male in the chin with a right hook ... sending him crashing to the ground.

It's unknown if Davis suffered any severe injuries ... a spokesperson for the Rutgers football team issued a short statement to The Press of Atlantic City, only saying the freshman is currently at home "recovering."

"Our main concern is Carnell’s health and well-being," the spokesperson said. "He is home with his family and continues to make progress in his recovery."

"We look forward to getting him back on campus soon."

We've reached out to both Rutgers and law enforcement for further comment, but so far, no word back yet.

Davis -- who played his senior season of H.S. football at Eau Gallie in Florida in 2020 -- signed on to play for Rutgers in Dec. 2020 and enrolled in the school just weeks later.

He was a touted H.S. recruit -- piling up offers from 24 schools, including Auburn, before landing with the Scarlet Knights.

The police officer who allegedly deleted a witness video -- while his body cam was rolling, no less -- is now facing a lawsuit over the incident.

The Philly cop -- ID'd in the suit as Officer Burnett -- just got slapped with a lawsuit by Jacob Giddings ... the guy who claims his footage was scrubbed back in March while Burnett was trying to take him into custody on an arrest warrant.

According to the suit, obtained by TMZ, Giddings says he was pumping gas when Burnett ran his tags, identifying Giddings as someone who had a warrant out for his arrest. While Giddings was in his vehicle, he says Burnett approached him from outside ... asking him to step out of the vehicle without an explanation.

Things allegedly escalated from there. Giddings claims Burnett began trying to forcibly remove him from the car. BTW, Giddings says he had begun recording with his phone at this point ... feeling uneasy about the whole thing.

After a lot of tussling -- and the arrival of a 2nd officer -- Giddings says he surrendered, and was cuffed and put into the back of a squad car.

Giddings says Burnett then proceeded to search his car and found the phone that had been recording. Giddings makes a bombshell claim -- he says Burnett ran over his phone, with Giddings' own vehicle, in an attempt to destroy the evidence!

Giddings claims that after realizing the phone was STILL recording and not destroyed at all, Burnett then took it upon himself to delete the video -- only to play dumb when asked by Giddings if it was still on there. He's suing for assault, battery, excessive force and illegal search and seizure.

Of course, Giddings says Burnett's own body-cam was rolling during what Giddings says was the moment he tried getting rid of evidence ... and Giddings insists it's the smoking gun that proves his case.

Swae Lee's jumping the gun with a COVID prognosis for the country ... proclaiming, during an indoor concert, the pandemic is effectively dunzo, but he might wanna slow his roll.

The Rae Sremmurd rapper was performing at Vendome Nightclub in Miami Monday night when he took a brief pause to celebrate what he perceives as the coronavirus being "officially over."

His rationale seems to be ... everyone is "outside" (of the home) and close together again, so there's no danger -- but the audience didn't appear to be fully buying what he was selling. Watch for yourself ... major mixed reactions.

Of course ... he oughta be cautious despite declining rates compared to, say, last year. Florida COVID cases are somewhat on the rise again with the Delta variant going around ... reports say they're actually #5 across the nation with the quickest spread of the virus.

Ever the showman, Swae didn't linger on the topic for too long -- pivoting to a performance of his and his brother's hit, "Black Beatles," and the crowd unanimously loved that.

In his defense ... while COVID-19 cases spiked around 42% just last week, vaccinated folks are largely not needing hospitalization. In other words, science is working.

Rachel Nichols has been AXED from covering the NBA Finals ... with the ESPN reporter losing her sideline gig following her controversial comments regarding Maria Taylor.

Nichols sparked outrage after leaked audio from 2020 went public over the weekend ... when she claimed the decision to have Taylor host Finals coverage was due to ESPN "feeling pressure" about adding more diversity among on-air talent.

In the audio -- which was leaked by an ESPN employee to the New York Times -- Nichols is heard saying, "If you need to give [Taylor] more things to do because you are feeling pressure about your crappy longtime record on diversity -- which, by the way, I know personally from the female side of it -- like, go for it."

"Just find it somewhere else. You are not going to find it from me or taking my thing away."

While Nichols apologized for her comments and praised Taylor on Monday, ESPN has decided to keep her on the bench for the 2021 Finals between the Milwaukee Bucks and Phoenix Suns.

The network announced rising star Malika Andrews -- who's been an NBA insider since 2018 -- will take over the mic starting Tuesday night ... saying, "We believe this is the best decision for all concerned in order to keep the focus on the NBA Finals."

It's unclear if the move is permanent, but ESPN says Nichols will continue to host "The Jump."

A man unleashed a racist diatribe against a Black neighbor -- and even invited protesters to his front door ... but he might not have expected them to show up in droves, especially when he was being hauled off to jail.

Check out this wild encounter that was captured in Mount Laurel, NJ Friday, which led to an even crazier follow-up Monday ... when scores of people landed on this guy's driveway to decry a rant he'd gone on days earlier, who let him know what they thought of his venomous words.

The perp has reportedly been identified as Edward Cagney Mathews ... and he now faces criminal charges for a heated confrontation he had with one of his Black community members -- including alleged harassment and bias intimidation, over which the cops arrested him.

As for the initial face-off itself ... it's truly something to behold (in a bad way, we mean). Mathews hurls just about every epithet he can at the Black neighbor, including multiple uses of the n-word, "monkey" ... and even questions whether the man knows America's laws, saying "this isn't Africa" ... seemingly mocking what he perceived as a foreign accent.

It's unclear what exactly this was all over -- but in any case, you can tell Mathews took things way too far in what might amount to one of the most bigoted moments we've seen in a while. Even when what appears to be a security guard (or possibly even a cop) shows up to calm things down, he ratchets up the tension again ... demanding the guard put the "n******" in their place.

He told the person filming exactly where he lived, and encouraged people to show to find out "what (he's) about" ... and sure enough, they came rolling deep -- apparently protesting him for the past couple days ... to the point cops had to come escort Mathews away in custody.

That didn't stop people from unloading, though ... and we mean that literally. They chucked water bottles, garbage and debris at both Mathews and the police as they got into the squad car and drove away.

Paul Rudd once gave Seth Rogen a massage -- which might sound goofy ... but there's a twist that makes it all the more hilarious, the details of which Seth shared to much fanfare.

The actor/director dished on the hilarious story out of nowhere Monday on Twitter, telling the tale of the time his good pal, Paul, cloaked himself as a masseuse at a parlor Seth was at ... which he didn't really realize until well into the back rub.

In Seth's own words, he writes ... "Once I was in the spa in a hotel in Vegas getting a massage. When I finished I turned over and to my shock Paul Rudd was massaging me."

He goes on to give the nitty gritty of how the heck PR might've been able to sneak his way into such a scenario, adding ... "He saw me go in and convinced the masseuse to let him take over, thinking I'd notice immediately. I didn't, and Paul did the entire rest of it."

If that sounds like something Paul Rudd would do in a movie, turns out ... it's actually a stunt he'd pull in real-life as well. As the internet has pointed out, it's very on brand for him (and maybe for Seth too).

Of course, it'd be remiss of us not to mention that these two guys have some famous history with massage/beauty parlors ... perhaps most notably from "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" -- when they watched Steve Carell get his chest hair waxed off, a majority of which was real.

Rachel Nichols has apologized to fellow ESPN colleague, Maria Taylor, on national television -- this after a bombshell NYT report -- and ex-NBA stars Kendrick Perkins and Richard Jefferson were there to add their two cents.

The veteran NBA anchor took a moment Monday on "The Jump" to address the Times' story from this weekend -- which shed light on drama at the sports network over the past year ... this following recorded controversial remarks Rachel made surrounding Maria, who's Black.

Right off the bat, RN acknowledged she didn't like that she'd become the story ... but owned up to it nonetheless, saying she was deeply sorry to anyone she let down with her comments, especially Maria. Rachel added she was grateful to be part of the ESPN team.

Perk and Rich took it from there ... with the former chiming in first, thanking Rachel for taking responsibility for her actions, and relaying to the audience that he knew her heart -- while also pointing out he'd always felt comfortable in her presence. He also shouted out Maria, whom he said was deserving of every opportunity that came her way ... and that he hoped they could all support each other going forward. RJ echoed those sentiments as well.

He ended on a somewhat sobering note though, saying he, Rachel and others at ESPN have had hard convos of late in regards to this ... and that they'll continue to have hard convos. Rachel thanked them for their POVs, and they continued on with NBA Finals coverage.

The response comes on the heels of surfaced audio, which depicts Rachel having a candid conversation with LeBron James' PR advisor, Adam Mendelsohn, last year during the playoffs ... during which Rachel expressed frustration that ESPN was looking to have Maria share hosting duties with her during the Finals -- something Rachel likened to a "diversity" move.

Stephen Dorff came out swinging against Marvel and its latest big screen offering, "Black Widow," as well as its lead star in Scarlett Johansson ... for whom he says he feels sorry.

The veteran actor straight-up bashed ScarJo's newest flick in an interview with the U.K.'s Independent outlet ... saying, in part, "I still hunt out the good shit because I don't want to be in Black Widow. It looks like garbage to me. It looks like a bad video game. I'm embarrassed for those people. I'm embarrassed for Scarlett!" Tell us how you really feel!

Steve went on to add this for good measure ... "I'm sure she got paid five, seven million bucks, but I'm embarrassed for her. I don't want to be in those movies. I really don't. I'll find that kid director that's gonna be the next [Stanley] Kubrick and I'll act for him instead."

SD continued on with his diatribe, expanding the scope to include the film industry at large -- which he characterized as a "big game show" -- but his main gripe seems to be with what he considers selling out to the big studios ... and maintaining some sense of artistic integrity.

That's interesting coming from Steve ... seeing how he's been in superhero movies himself -- including a Marvel fan fave, 'Blade' -- but also another superhero film that many considered "garbage" ... his 2015 appearance in "American Hero," which was like a farce of the genre.

One could argue -- as many online are right now -- that Stephen's other film credits aren't necessarily Kubrick-esque either. He's been in a bunch of films that some might consider bullish and not-that-artsy (aka, B-films) ... including "Felon," "Carjacked" and lots of others.