TMZ.com Home

Sarah Palin has removed an article from her website criticizing Colin Kaepernick's $50,000 donation to Meals on Wheels ... and we're told the post is NOT in line with the former governor's beliefs.

The force was not strong with the Lakers Tuesday night ... they got straight-up murdered by the Clippers -- but it all went down in front of a ton of huge stars including 'The Force Awakens' star Daisy Ridley!

The 24-year-old British actress (who played Rey in the flick) sat right on the court -- in a celeb-packed crowd that included Michael Phelps, Gucci Mane and Meghan Trainor.

Game show legend Chuck Barris -- creator and host of "The Gong Show" -- died Tuesday of natural causes at his home in Palisades, NY ... according to his publicist.

In addition to starting 'Gong Show' in 1976 ... Barris had also created "The Dating Game" and "The Newlywed Game" in the '60s. He claimed to have been a CIA assassin on the side, as chronicled in his autobiography, 'Confessions of a Dangerous Mind.'

The book became a movie in 2002, starring Sam Rockwell as Chuck, and was George Clooney's directorial debut.

And because TV and CIA work wasn't enough, Barris was also a songwriter! His biggest hit was 1962's "Palisades Park" ... sung by Freddy Cannon.

Chuck was 87.

He and Gene Gene the Dancing Machine (who died 2 years ago) are somewhere doing their thing again ... we hope.

#RIP

Orlando Bloom's leaving us in suspense with a new cliff-hanger ... by jumping off a cliff.

Orlando's in St. Barts with Kristy Hinze and her billionaire husband James Clark -- been there since Friday, actually -- and he's getting over Katy Perry in exhilarating fashion.

Hilary Duff thinks it's great there's a gay character in the new "Power Rangers" movie ... but when asked to elaborate on its meaning, she resorted to talking points.

We got Hilary on Melrose Ave. Tuesday, and she seemed genuinely surprised that Becky G's playing what appears to be the first openly gay superhero on the big screen.

But watch what happens when she's pressed as to what it means for the LGBT community. Hilary reaches deep for wisdom ... and pulls out a pretty kosher answer.

Awesome!

TMZ Sports has obtained the Greg Hardy cocaine arrest video which shows cops warning each other that he's a big, strong, Dallas Cowboys player ... so "we have to not stir anything up."

Keshia Knight Pulliam's ex wants joint custody of their baby girl and has a bunch of people vouching for him ... including his ex-wife.

It appears from legal docs Keshia doesn't want Ed Hartwell near their 2-month-old daughter. She claims he plotted to trigger a miscarriage during her pregnancy, something he denied.

Hartwell just filed new docs in the divorce case, asking for joint custody of Ella Grace.

He submitted a letter from "RHOA" star Lisa Wu -- his ex wife -- singing his praises as a great dad and community man. Lisa says, "I am never worried about my child when he is with his dad, I know his dad will do everything within his power to love, protect and provide for EJ while he is not with me."

Lisa goes on, "I am positive that [Hartwell] will put his daughter's best interest first as he has shown with my children."

Ed says in the docs he's more than willing to pay child support.

A "Wheel of Fortune" contestant named Kevin went down in game show history Tuesday night by flubbing a puzzle with just one blatantly OBVIOUS letter to go.

Hilarious brain fart, Kev. Get your mind out of the gutter, and one more thing:

Lil Eazy-E is ripping California lawmakers for even thinking about lowering the penalty for knowingly exposing a sex partner to HIV, because doing so could give unscrupulous people a license to kill.

Lil Eazy, whose father died from AIDS complications in 1995, says there's gotta be hard consequences ... and a proposed bill does the exact opposite. The bill would make it a misdemeanor instead of a felony, as it is now.

The idea is reportedly an effort to eliminate the stigma of being HIV positive, but Lil E -- an HIV activist -- thinks it's a Pandora's box.

Kim Kardashian's famous ass just got jacked by Liziane Gutierrez ... who paid top dollar to get it.

The Brazilian model dropped $25,000 to go under the knife last month in her home country and pump up her booty. We're told she received injections of hyaluronic acid, which doesn't show up on X-rays ... critical to the booty community, apparently.

Liziane came out of the hour-long procedure with 39" hips. She's hoping her new digits -- 36-26-39 -- can win Brazil's famed Miss BumBum contest later this year.

Let the games begin!

Mike Epps' estranged wife is asking him to fork over six-figures every month to support the fam ... according to new docs.

Mechelle Epps claims Mike makes $3.5 million a year, but recently cut her off from bank accounts and credit cards, leaving her high and dry with zero income. She says Mike never wanted her to work during their marriage, and now she can't land a job because she's too old at 36.

In the docs, Mechelle says she spends several thousand bucks a month on shoes and clothes for their 10 and 12-year-old girls. Plus, the girls have to get their hair braided at an "expensive salon" ... not to mention food, vacations and $72k per year for private schooling.

Mechelle says her mom handles nanny duties for a mere $3,500 monthly, plus another $600 to cover Mom's Mercedes.

Katherine Jackson's sudden vanishing act while she's allegedly claiming elder abuse at the hands of nephew Trent Jackson is being masterminded by none other than Michael's brother Jermaine ... so claims Trent in new legal documents.

Katherine got a restraining order against Trent last month, claiming in a declaration he was pilfering cash and abusing her, something Trent vehemently denies.

Now Trent and his lawyer, Ron Rale, say they have serious doubts Katherine even wrote the declaration, and they're pointing the finger at Jermaine. They note Katherine says in the declaration she's been in London and therefore did not appear in court, but Trent thinks its something more sinister.

He points to a blow-up in 2012, when Katherine disappeared and went somewhere in Arizona. Trent claims Jermaine and some of M.J.'s other siblings essentially held her hostage, even taking away her iPad and cell phone and told her the TV was broken ... all in an effort to allegedly wrestle control away from Trent, who has been caring for Katherine since Michael died in 2009.

Trent and Rale believe history is now repeating itself and Katherine has again been stripped of her free will thanks to Jermaine and others, and it's all about controlling the M.J. Estate.

Alec Baldwin's got his Donald Trump replacement lined up if 'SNL' ever needs one ... and he's just great, so great!!!

Alec teaches a young boy his hilarious impression of the prez. The kid -- a kid reporter, we think -- scored when he got Alec to demonstrate at the star's premiere of his new flick, "Boss Baby."

Watch and learn.

The guy who waited on Cat Deeley at Tom George Restaurant on Sunday thinks she totally overreacted by publicly bashing the L.A. eatery ... and leaving him a $0 tip.

Joseph Vasko-Bezenek admits the restaurant flubbed the "So You Think You Can Dance" host's order, but claims he provided great service and the manager went above and beyond to comp her. He particularly takes issue with Cat angrily ranting on Twitter afterward to ruin the restaurant's reputation -- to him ... that's Trump-like.

What's worse -- as any server knows -- Joseph got a big fat zero for a tip ... so he didn't want to let Cat get off scot-free for that.

On the bright side ... he also told us he'd welcome the chance to serve her again. Olive branch?

Paul Wall and Baby Bash just caught a huge break in their drug case -- a grand jury cut 'em loose.

The panel declined to indict the Houston rappers Tuesday, citing insufficient evidence to convict them in the December drug bust. Paul celebrated his victory with a cigar (weed-free, we think), and told us why he was always confident his attorney would save his ass.

We broke the story ... Paul and Baby were arrested in an undercover raid while attending a weed party in Houston. They'd been booked for possession of marijuana and intent to sell, both felonies in Texas. It appeared the case was moving forward a few months ago when the artists told a judge they would test positive for THC.