TMZ.com Home

Angela Stanton-King, the author and former felon President Trump just pardoned, is running for a U.S. Congressional seat against a living legend ... Rep. John Lewis.

TMZ has learned Angela is at the Georgia Capitol Building Friday morning to register as a Republican candidate for the state's 5th Congressional District.

Talk about an uphill battle -- she's not only entering the race with just 8 months to go, but she's taking on Lewis -- the Civil Rights leader who's held that office since 1987. The district includes most of metropolitan Atlanta and is nearly 60 percent black.

President Trump's fingerprint appears to be all over this. Just last week she was among a group of African-American leaders who met with Trump and prayed with him in the Cabinet Room.

It's interesting, Angela -- who did time for felony embezzlement, theft and fraud -- could still have run for office, even without the pardon. Ex-felons can run for Congress in Georgia. We spoke to Angela on "TMZ Live" last month about the President's pardon.

Angela is a best-selling author, and also appeared on the BET docuseries, "From the Bottom Up."

Of course, Lewis announced in December he's getting treatment for stage 4 pancreatic cancer -- however, he IS running for re-election. He's such a legend in Georgia, he usually runs unopposed.

The Charleston RiverDogs -- the NY Yankees' minor league affiliate -- has canceled their "OJ Trial" night promotion ... after admitting it was a TERRIBLE idea in the first place!!!

Here's why ... the South Carolina based team promoted the May 26 event as a "juicy spin" on the O.J. Simpson murder trial, where fans would play "jury" in an orange juice-themed stadium game.

Here's how the team marketed the event ...

"The trial of the century gets a juicy new spin. We will finally receive the verdict that everyone has been waiting for … pulp or no pulp?"

"Fans will act as our jury, voting with custom paddles to reach verdicts on various topics throughout the night ... Fans will receive an 'OJ Trial' shirt upon entering the stadium. If the shirt don’t fit, you must ... see if we have a different size."

See what they're doing? They're playing off the "OJ" in the O.J. Simpson murder case! Hilarious and creative right?!!? Yeesh ...

Of course, there was immediate backlash from people who felt the whole promotion was in bad taste ... due to the fact the original "O.J. Trial" centered around the brutal murders of two completely innocent people, Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown.

Eventually, the team agreed it was a bad idea and pulled the plug on the whole thing.

"After taking a step back and having further reflection on the overall message that was being conveyed, it was the responsible thing to do," RiverDogs president Dave Echols said.

Michelle Obama looked like she was having a spankin' good time at Christina Aguilera's Las Vegas show ... especially when one of the dancers twerked on her!!!

The former First Lady attended Christina's The Xperience Wednesday night at Planet Hollywood's Zappos Theater, and got singled out by one of Aguilera's shirtless male dancers while she was in the middle of singing "Lady Marmalade."

Michelle didn't seem to mind -- she mimicked delivering some butt slaps before the guy moved on, and she continued to dance in her seat. In fact, she and her friends looked like they wanted more ... more ... mooooore.

We're told Obama and her group of gal pals were escorted out by security after the show ... seemingly pleased with Christina's performance.

As for why the ex-FLOTUS was in Vegas ... she spoke earlier in the day at the Ultimate Software Connections Conference, so apparently her ladies' night out was the pleasure after the business.

"What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" just doesn't apply to her.

Rosie O'Donnell's taking her presidential support for Elizabeth Warren and putting it behind Joe Biden -- like it or not -- because she feels he's the best person still in the race who can send Donald Trump packing.

It's not necessarily a ringing endorsement ... nevertheless, we got Rosie outside the Belasco Theatre in NYC Thursday night, and she tells us she's "all in" for Biden now.

She believes the Democrats must and will come together to win in November, something she says the country desperately needs. In case it's not clear -- she thinks Trump's the absolute worst ... and America deserves better.

As for why Biden and not Bernie Sanders ... Rosie believes Bernie has a ceiling and he's already hit it, and he'll eventually join the Democratic force too.

Madison Beer ruffled her own feathers on her 21st birthday ... and it was one helluva view.

The singer celebrated her big 2-1 Thursday night in WeHo in front of a star-studded crowd at Delilah nightclub. All eyes were on Madison ... she slayed in a baby blue, bejeweled, carnival-themed costume.

Madison had some stiff competition though in the attention department ... as in the birthday cake.

Baby blue seemed to be the color of the night as Hailey Bieber went chic business with high-knee leather boots. Hailey's hubby had a big hand in practically launching Madison's music career. Remember, it was Justin who 8 years ago tweeted a YouTube video showing then 13-year-old Madison belting out Etta James' "At Last."

The rest is history.

"Love Is Blind" star Carlton Morton says he's getting some much-needed therapy after a 911 call from his home following his cry for help over social media.

We got Carlton at Drip Coffee Shop in Atlanta Thursday and our guy asked how he's holding up after catching tons of flak online, and a very public meltdown.

As you know ... Carlton's claim to fame on "Love Is Blind" is not telling Diamond he was bisexual until AFTER they got engaged, leading to an epic spat.

Authorities tell TMZ ... someone at Carlton's Atlanta home called 911 for a non-life threatening injury hours after his scary social media post, and he was transported to a hospital. Carlton tells us someone wanted to check up on him.

Carlton says he's seeing a therapist in hopes of improving his mental health and tells us he's getting death threats on the daily, and feels like the world hates him.

Carlton has lots of regrets, and he's second-guessing a bunch of decisions ... from how he showed Diamond his true colors, to even going on the reality show in the first place.

Ex-Knicks stud Chris Childs is going off on James Dolan ... telling TMZ Sports the New York owner mishandled the Spike Lee situation and is turning the team into a JOKE!!!

"This has to stop because it's starting to be the laughingstock of the league," Childs says. "And, I hate to see that."

If you missed it, Lee and the Knicks spent all of Tuesday fighting over the entrance the movie mogul used at Monday night's game. In fact, the beef got so bad, Spike vowed to not return to MSG again this season.

We spoke with Childs -- who played with the Knicks from 1996-2001 -- and he's laying the blame for all of the drama squarely at Dolan's feet.

"Spike Lee has been coming to these game forever," Childs says. "If he wants to land a helicopter through the roof, let him!"

Childs added, "He hasn't done anything, but support that franchise when they're at their lowest. So, how do you embarrass that man like that with your flashlight cops? Tell him he can't use that entrance? And, that only comes from the top."

Childs says Dolan is allowing his personal feelings to get in the way of properly running the team ... and tells us the guy's issues with Lee, Charles Oakley and combative fans at MSG prove that.

"So, let's stop playing games," Childs says. "Keep it a buck. Dolan, you're in your feelings right now and you're just picking on everybody."

"It seems that he's so sensitive. He has rabbit ears. He hears everything and it gets to him."

Of course, Childs has had his own battle with Dolan in the past ... remember, back in 2017, he was famously not invited to the reunion of the 1998-99 Knicks squad.

This cookie-selling cutie was born in a Chicago suburb, but raised in a city outside of Denver, Colorado.

Before she'd grown up to become a world-famous model, she was a gymnast and obviously ... a Girl Scout.

Her modeling career began when she was discovered at age 14 by a photographer. And, a few years later, she was featured in an Italian clothing label catalog and in Forever 21 ads.

A year after that, in 2014, she walked the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show for the first time at age 18 ... making her the youngest model in their rotation.

She's gone on to become the youngest VS Angel and has been listed as one of the 20 top-earning models in the world.

Oh, and she made her big acting debut in the 2016 film, "The Neon Demon."

THIS is some real-life superhero stuff here -- NJ State Troopers yanking a trucker to safety right as his 18-wheeler burst into a ball of flames ... and it's all on video.

It really looks like something straight out of a Hollywood action flick -- the officers encountered the burning rig on a highway in Bridgewater Township. Cops say the truck went off the road Monday afternoon and hit a guardrail while an officer was making a traffic stop nearby.

Trooper Robert Tarleton heard the crash and you can see in the video ... he immediately left the stopped car and bolted toward the truck, which was already on fire.

You gotta see Tarleton running at top speed, and when he got to the rig another officer -- Lieutenant Edward Ryder -- was there trying to free the driver from his cab. Together, they pulled him to safety with, literally, a second to spare.

Feathers are seriously ruffled over at Drake's company, OVO, after a couple of companies jacked their famous owl logo ... or at least that's what OVO's claiming in a lawsuit.

OVO is suing Australian-based Bellroy and L.A.-based Clae claiming the merch companies collaborated to create, among other things, a shoe featuring a bird which OVO claims is the spitting image of its famous owl ... and it's crying fowl.

In docs, obtained by TMZ, OVO claims Bellroy "changed the design of the owl by altering its posture, width, wings and feet in order to blatantly mimic the OVO owl." OVO thinks these changes were intentionally made to maximize similarities with Drake's brand.

Specifically, OVO gives a hoot because Bellroy first sold wallets, smartphone cases and small luggage, but recently added footwear and clothing which OVO says is the core of its biz.

OVO alleges Bellroy and Clae are misleading consumers into thinking they're in bed with OVO's world-famous brand.

It's suing for trademark infringement and is asking for an injunction to stop Bellroy and Clae from jacking its owl -- plus any profits it's made so far and damages.

President Trump had a strong message for the 3 ex-prisoners who visited him in the Oval Office alongside Kim Kardashian ... make an impact on society similar to Alice Marie Johnson.

Trump hosted Crystal Munoz, Judith Negron and Tynice Hall at the White House after commuting their prison sentences ... and Crystal says the Prez told them to find a way to make a positive impact on the community now that they're getting a second chance.

Crystal tells us Trump used Alice as a shining example. Kim brought Alice's case directly to Trump in 2018 -- she served 21 years for a nonviolent drug offense -- and after 45 commuted her sentence Alice became a key advocate for criminal justice reform.

During the 30-minute sit-down, Trump asked each woman about their story and shared his opinions on what they should do moving forward.

Crystal is taking Trump's call to action to heart ... telling us she's heading back to her home in West Texas to help her husband start his own screen printing business.

It was a whirlwind day for all the women -- hanging with Kim and Alice at the Four Seasons before being whisked off to The White House and noshing on fancy food.

R&B singer Pleasure P got into an altercation with a Checkers drive-thru worker that ended with his food on the ground ... and him hauled away in handcuffs.

The former Pretty Ricky member was arrested early Thursday morning around 5:15 AM in Miami Gardens, FL after he allegedly shoved a female fast-food employee in the chest with his bag of food through the drive-thru pickup window.

According to the police report ... the Checkers worker told cops the incident started when Pleasure P yelled at her through the intercom system for several minutes because there was a mix-up over $60 worth of grub he ordered.

The employee claims P yelled at her more as he was driving up to her window, before getting out of his vehicle and approaching her on foot. She says he handed her the money and she handed him his order ... but then he "pushed her intentionally with malicious intent in the chest with the food he received." That's when she called police.

Cops questioned the singer and according to the report ... he admitted there was a verbal altercation and he threw food, but claims it was not at the female worker.

The report says P reeked of alcohol and food was seen all over the floor near the drive-thru window ... and other employees corroborated their co-worker's story.

At that point, Pleasure P was arrested and his car was towed. He was taken into custody and booked for simple battery.

He posted bond of $1,500 a few hours later and was released from jail.

You may recall ... Pleasure P was the guy who got busted for DUI in December 2018, and asked to call Shaq as he was getting booked. No word if he made any such requests this time.

Demi Lovato is sending a message about 2 major events in her life -- one involving her ex-BF, Wilmer Valderrama -- but you're gonna have to watch her upcoming music vid very closely to get her point.

TMZ got a not-yet-seen snippet from her "I Love Me" vid, and we noticed a clear reference to the near-fatal overdose she suffered back in the summer of 2018. Demi walks past a parked ambulance and reaches out to touch a young woman on a stretcher.

The lyrics of 'Love Me' are all about self-love and empowerment, and the ambulance scene appears to be an illustration of what she's said in recent interviews: She's pulled through after the OD, and anyone else in her situation can do the same.

The Wilmer reference is more of an Easter egg. Watch for the shot of a bride and groom running across the street, right in front of Demi. Remember, Wilmer -- who dated Demi from 2010 to 2016 -- just got engaged in January to model Amanda Pacheco.

Demi's point here seems to be she's cool with Wilmer moving on because, again, she's got self-love to get her through. Remember, she and Wilmer remained close. He visited her frequently in the hospital during her recovery.

Andrew Yang's still got his eye on the White House ... because he'd be stoked to be Joe Biden's vice president.

The former presidential hopeful joined us on "TMZ Live" Thursday and we asked if he'd say yes to an offer to be Biden's running mate if Joe's the nominee. Andrew tells us he'd jump at the chance, and thinks he could bring a lot to the table.

The way Andrew sees it, he could help Biden in some areas where he could be lacking ... namely, appealing to younger voters. Andrew says the Yang Gang makes him feel young, even at 45. It could work on Biden too.

Remember ... Andrew had the most fun of any candidate on the campaign trail, hanging with Donald Glover and doling out whipped cream shots to kneeling supporters.

Andrew tells us he's still considering a run for mayor of New York City -- he wants a high-impact executive role somewhere -- but he knows being Veep gives him the best chance to make the country stronger.

FRESH CUT!!!

Drew Brees is showing off his brand new look -- a buzz cut -- and it's for a great reason!!

The New Orleans Saints QB took some clippers to the dome on Tuesday for the Saving By Shaving charity event for the Boston Children's Hospital ... and helped raise a TON of money.

For a guy who's pretty calm under pressure, Brees looked a bit nervous to try out the new 'do (or lack, thereof) ... but cracked a few jokes in the process!!

"It's gonna be a lot easier to wash my hair now!!," the 41-year-old said.

The best part?? Brees says Granite CEO Rob Hale made an incredible $7 MILLION donation during the event.