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J.R. Smith says he's disappointed in himself for opening a can of whoop-ass on an alleged vandal ... saying it was a "random act of stupidness" on both sides.

TMZ Sports posted the video of the incident ... where Smith is seen unloading a bunch of violent kicks on a man who allegedly smashed his car window during the protests in L.A. this weekend.

Smith joined the "Pat McAfee Show" on Monday to give more insight into the situation ... and the NBAer admits he wishes the incident never happened in the first place.

"Granted, if he would've seen me, and seen somebody outside the car or outside the house or whatever, do I think he would've broke it? Absolutely not," Smith says.

"It was just a random act of stupidness, and I give him that. But, that ass whooping was a random act of stupidness on my behalf."

J.R. says he's supporting the peaceful protests in honor of George Floyd, but condemns the looting and vandalism.

"This man was down there for 8:46 for no reason. Literally, taking the life from him. Calling for his dead mother."

"And then, we go out here and try to represent his name in a good way and between tarnishing people's shops -- like so many people have nothing to do with the situation."

Smith continued ... "We should be able to lock arms and stand in front of somebody's store and say no this is not right. Being able to do stuff like this isn't right."

As for the moment he unloaded on the alleged vandal, Smith says he regrets how it went down.

"When it happened, I seen red. Then when I finally snapped to... I'm still disappointed with myself."

"For me, I'm 34 years old. I have 4 little girls at home. I don't want that image, regardless of the fact whether it was right or wrong, I don't want them to have that image of their dad being capable of doing that, and doing something like that."

Two Atlanta cops have been fired over this violent incident -- a black couple yanked from their car and tased while trying to leave a protest ... all captured on police body cam.

APD released the video showing just how chaotic and scary it was Saturday night for the 2 college students as they were being swarmed and attacked by the cops. The officers smashed the windows when the couple refused to comply with their orders of exiting the vehicle, and then they fired their tasers on them.

The young woman can be heard shrieking as she's violently ripped from the car, and eventually ... they get the guy out too and put both of them in cuffs and lead them away.

It's still not clear what led up to this -- some have said these folks were out past curfew, other reports say they attempted to drive around a cop when ordered to stop -- but in any case ... this excessive force cost 2 of the officers their jobs, and sent 3 others to desk duty.

Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said she understands the police are under distress ... they still have a responsibility not to escalate situations. She called it a clear case of "excessive force."

As for the 2 students -- both are not going to face charges. The guy was initially arrested Saturday night, but Mayor Bottoms has told APD to drop the case entirely.

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West are going after a former bodyguard for talking smack about them -- something he's done before -- and warns if he opens his mouth again ... he can expect a multi-million dollar lawsuit.

The couple fired off a cease and desist letter to Kanye's ex-bodyguard, Steve Stanulis, claiming he went on the "Hollywood Raw Podcast" a few weeks back and made "false and defamatory" statements ... while also breaching their confidentiality agreement.

According to the letter, Kim and Kanye claim Steve signed the agreement in February 2016, and it prohibits him from blabbing any personal or business info about them ... something they say he did big time on the podcast.

If you missed it, Stanulis claimed Kanye had "ridiculous rules" -- like walking 10 paces behind him on city streets, and claimed he got angry if Steve blocked a paparazzi shot. He also called Yeezy the "moodiest" and "neediest" celeb who's hired him.

Kim and Kanye don't specify which of Steve's statements are false and defamatory, but they're threatening to sue him for at least $10 million for breaching their confidentiality deal ... if he does it again.

Here's the thing, though -- this isn't the first time they've threatened Stanulis for the same thing. It happened in May 2016 as well, but back then they also demanded a public apology. They didn't ask for an apology this time around.

We reached out to Stanulis, who switched careers in 2016 and is now an actor and director ... he has been working on a movie called "5th Borough" starring Tara Reid, which comes out June 3rd.

His publicist, Zack Teperman, tells us "... no breach of any confidentiality agreement was done. My client went on a podcast to promote his new film, and old stories that were already out there were brought up."

He adds ... "For Kanye and Kim's counsel to send out a threatening letter to bully my client against his rights is unwarranted. My client has already made it clear that he respects Kanye, their time working together."

Teperman says, "If Kanye and Kim wish to continue this further, that is up to them, but I think their time and money would be better suited helping out with more pressing matters in our society than what happened many years ago."

Jon Jones is pissed off -- so he took to the streets of Albuquerque to confront vandals Sunday face-to-face ... and the video is intense.

You can see the UFC light heavyweight champion go right up to two masked people and demand they hand over their spray cans immediately.

Jon is 6'4", 205 pounds and arguably the greatest MMA fighter of all time -- so yeah, the vandals listened and handed the cans right over.

After the incident, Jones went to social media to vent ..."Is this shit even about George Floyd anymore," Jones wrote ..."Why the f*ck are you punk ass teenagers destroying our cities!??"

"As a young black man trust me I’m frustrated as well but this is not the way, we are starting to make a bad situation worse."

"If you really got love for your city (505), protect your sh*t. All you old heads need to speak up, call your young family members and tell them to come home tonight."

Reality TV star Chad Johnson's ready to make a career in porn his next reality ... and he's teaming up with Nick Hogan and a pro in the industry to make it happen.

The 'Bachelorette' bad boy was spotted house hunting in Las Vegas this week with Hulk's son and adult film star Tana Lea, Nick's GF. Chad tells TMZ ... they're prowling for the perfect porn palace.

Johnson says he's moving to Sin City to build his own porn studio as we've reported, and he's partnering with Lea and Hogan on the project ... including finding the right house for producing explicit content.

We're told the plan is to set up a website and app that offers a paid subscription to what's being called, "ChadsPlayHouse" ... which will release 2 episodes weekly.

As for the content ... Chad says the eps will feature uncensored parties where girls, YouTubers, and other personalities drop by to party, play games, accept wild dares and other sexy stuff.

Also in the works is an X-rated 'Bachelor' type show, and Johnson says multiple companies are interested and he's weighing offers. Of course, he still has to lock down the right house ... but he's working on that.

It's interesting -- Chad previously told us he was partnering with his ex-GF, Annalise Mishler, on the porn venture ... but it's unclear if that's in the case. She's not seen searching for houses with the others.

As we've reported ... their relationship is more than complicated.

Kodak Black was allegedly photographed, and it was sent to a U.S. Marshal -- without his permission -- the day he was arrested at Rolling Loud ... and now, his lawyer's ramping up for a lawsuit.

The Miami Dade Police Department took a report showing that Kodak's attorney, Bradford Cohen, recently filed a complaint with them alleging one of their men illegally snapped and disseminated a pic of KB while he was in custody back in 2019. According to the report, MDPD looked into it and discovered the pic was actually not disseminated by one of their own but perhaps by someone in the U.S. Marshals Service.

The docs -- obtained by TMZ -- outline the steps MDPD took to get to the bottom of Cohen's claims ... and during their back and forth, they discovered a Miami-Dade cop, who was with Kodak the day he was arrested, claimed he was called up and instructed by a high-ranking official -- a U.S. Marshal Chief, per the officer -- to snap a photo of Kodak while he was cuffed. The guy says he did so and sent it along to the USM who wanted it.

Cohen claims that same photo served no law enforcement purpose, but still found its way into the inbox of a local Miami reporter ... who then published it in a local paper. Cohen claims it was all done without Kodak's permission.

Now, the Miami-Dade sergeant, who took the photo and then passed it along to the Marshal, says it was needed for "law enforcement purposes," but Cohen says that's a bunch of BS ... arguing the pic was taken for personal use and/or gain.

Now, Cohen tells us he's taking legal action against the responsible parties.

A rep for USMS tells us they can't comment on the situation, but assure us any allegations of misconduct will be thoroughly investigated.

Brooklyn based actor Rick Gonzalez was in his early twenties when he landed the role of the rushing fraternity brother, Spanish -- who helps his greek brothers keep their newly formed frat house while enduring hilarious hazing -- in the iconic 2003 party comedy, "Old School."

Rick Gonzalez shared the big screen with an epic cast of characters including Vince Vaughn as the ear-muffing stereo salesman, Bernard "Beanie" Campbell, Luke Wilson as the newly single responsible one, Mitch "The Godfather" Martin ... and of course, Will Ferrell as the beer-chugging dart-shooting streaker, Frank "The Tank" Ricard.

Gonzalez can more recently be spotted on the CW show, "Arrow," as Wild Dog.

What started out as a peaceful protest in Santa Monica has descended into complete and utter chaos as well as rampant looting -- a progression we've seen day in and day out.

People began to gather in SM early Sunday afternoon, with many marching while holding signs and carrying out chants -- basically, going about their demonstration with relative calm. They'd taken up the streets, but were also getting supportive honks from drivers.

Folks even took a knee in silence at one point for nearly 3 minutes, asking cops that eventually arrived to join them and do the same. No violence through the first hour, it seems.

Unfortunately, as the day went on ... things took a turn for the worst as people began to face off with officers, and eventually broke out into full-on looting and rioting.

Tons of stores -- some of which are in Santa Monica Place -- started getting raided and ransacked within just a couple hours ... places like the Vans store, the Nike store, CVS, Shoe Palace, Louis Vuitton, Joe's Jeans, Bloomingdales and even an optometrist clinic!!!

One store, REI, was being guarded by a peaceful protester who attempted to stand in the way of the entrance door -- and was physically accosted by people trying to break in. FOX 11 captured some of the craziness she had to endure to protect the camping door retailer.

People literally tried physically removing her from her spot, yanking her away and even throwing fireworks at her to shoo her off. The lady didn't budge though ... she kept coming back.

NBA star J.R. Smith beat the living daylights out of a man who allegedly smashed his car window during the wild protests in L.A. ... and TMZ Sports has the video.

You can see ... the 6'6", 225-pounder unleashed a barrage of violent kicks on the man -- landing several times in the head.

When the guy finally stands up on his feet, Smith delivered a final punishing overhand right to the guy's dome.

Finally, some of J.R.'s friends step in and the other guy scurries off in a hurry.

Smith explained the attack in an emotionally charged video -- saying, "One of these motherfu**king white boys didn't know where he was going and broke my f**king window in my truck."

"Broke my sh*t."

Smith says his truck was parked in a residential area -- away from the stores that were being looted.

We're told the incident took place around the Fairfax area -- near the famous Flight Club sneaker shop, which had just been looted.

"I chased him down and whooped his ass," Smith said.

Smith says the incident was NOT fueled by race or hatred -- it was simply revenge for messing with his truck.

AKA, Street Justice.

A black couple was removed from their vehicle with incredibly excessive force by police officers in Atlanta -- and, supposedly, it's all because they were out past curfew.

The viral video was captured live on the air Saturday night by CBS46 -- the local ATL affiliate that was reporting on the protests and riots going down Saturday night. During the broadcast, one of the reporters and cameramen began filming a wild encounter on the streets ... showing a young couple being yanked from their vehicle by riot gear cops.

It's unclear what exactly led up to the altercation, but CBS46's news banner during the segment read "POLICE BEGIN ENFORCING 9PM CURFEW." That has led many to speculate that these two individuals were simply targeted for being out of their homes when 9 o'clock rolled around ... which, if true, is absolutely insane.

More troubling than that, though, is how the officers dealt with them -- opening their door, demanding they exit ... and then resorting to tasering both of them and pulling them out when the man and woman refused. They even reportedly broke the windows/slashed tires.

Both the man and woman were detained and cuffed on the ground, and then led away. It's unclear if they were ultimately arrested and booked for anything.

CBS46 acknowledges in their own on-the-scene reporting that they do not know why so many cops were honed in on this one vehicle -- there doesn't appear to be others around it at the time this was filmed -- but in any case, APD is being heavily scrutinized as a result.

The department has not addressed this specific situation -- we've also reached out to them about it, but haven't heard back. The only thing they've said online is that they're working on releasing the names and charges of everyone they arrested over the last 48 hours.

The top dog of the LAPD made progress with protesters in Los Angeles this weekend, getting them to calm down and retreat ... after he admitted George Floyd had been murdered.

Here's Chief of Police Michel Moore talking to protesters in the City of Angels this weekend, explaining his and his officers' intentions -- telling the crowd the cops weren't there to harm or arrest anyone ... just to deal with a fire that was raging in the background.

He finally gets everyone's attention when one of the more vocal protesters tells everyone behind him that Moore had admitted to him that, in his opinion, George was in fact murdered by Derek Chauvin -- which got cheers of approval from just about everyone there.

Moore then comes to a mutual understanding with the protesters ... no bottles or rocks should be thrown, and it's all good. It's pretty remarkable, especially coming from THE face of the department. You would hope his approach to dealing with protesters will trickle down the ranks.

It's also becoming more and more clear that a lot of cops out there are hearing the frustrations of the protesters and adjusting their behavior in handling them accordingly. We saw one officer yank another officer's knee off a guy's neck. Now, take a look at this.

Unclear where this video was shot, but it appears to show a cop putting his knee UNDER a protester's head while they're being detained -- seemingly to provide support/comfort.

Two white protesters got called out by a black protester for tagging a Starbucks with graffiti repping the Black Lives Matter movement ... and the bizarre encounter was caught on video.

Check it out ... you see two white women decked out in all black and wearing face masks/coverings spraying 'BLM' along the side of a Starbucks in L.A., as well as other messaging. One African-American woman who's also protesting gets in their faces and questions what they're doing ... and why. Watch what happens when she confronts them.

The white gals were NOT down to stick around for answers, as they mumbled incoherent responses and abruptly scrammed as soon as they realized they were getting attention. The black protester tells them to stop, because the public will blame the peaceful protesters -- the ones of color, specifically -- for the defacement and destruction of property.

She tells them that nobody in the actual 'BLM' movement told them to tag the place, and that the message wasn't theirs to spread unlawfully. It's a pretty revealing interaction here.

Of course, it also lends credence to what some people have been saying on the ground at a lot of these demonstrations all over the U.S. -- that, allegedly, there are bad actors infiltrating these protests (which, by and large, start out peacefully) and turn them chaotic.

Here's what one of the 3 cops should have done when George Floyd was losing his life.

It happened Saturday night in Seattle when a cop put his knee on a protester's neck, eerily similar to the way Derek Chauvin ended George's life. You see another cop forcibly remove the knee of his colleague ... such a simple act that is also a life-saving act.

This has been a big issue in policing ... when a bad cop crosses the line, can other officers who are present get the rogue cop back in line without suffering consequences back at the station?

This is an example of cops checking cops, and it may be one of the most graphic and useful lessons from this whole miserable ordeal ... that police don't have to wait for review boards and prosecutors to tell them how they should have acted ... they can do it before it becomes a tragedy.

Protests decrying the killing of George Floyd have been in full swing here in the States for days now -- but over the weekend, a bunch of celebs got in on the action ... as did international partakers who seem just as outraged.

Several stars were spotted out in L.A. over the weekend taking part in the protests -- many of which started out peacefully, but eventually turned destructive -- including folks like Nick Cannon, Halsey, Machine Gun Kelly, Yungblud, Mod Sun, Tinashe, Ariana Grande, Paris Jackson, Madison Beer, Courtney Easton, Ross Lynch, Tyler the Creator, Emily Ratajkowski, Kendrick Simpson, Jeremy Meeks, Lauren Jauregi, Jaz Sinclair and more.

Elsewhere were even more famous faces, like J. Cole and Meek Mill. Tons of celebrities also spoke out online, like Billie Eilish who bashed anyone who backed "All Lives Matter."

That was just here in our own backyard -- but the demonstrations for George did NOT end at our borders along the Pacific or Atlantic oceans ... a handful of other countries held their own protests from afar. Places like Berlin, London, Tokyo, Toronto and others featured their own BLM protests ... with many citizens facing off with their own police forces.

Jake Paul was in the middle of a mall that was being looted Saturday night, and he's taking lots of heat for it.

The YouTube star was at Fashion Square in Scottsdale, Arizona, and you can see in the video, the looters are stealing tennis shoes and pretty much everything that isn't nailed down.

You don't see Paul steal anything, but he's right there as everyone around him destroys shops and steals what's inside.

One of the most ridiculous comments on social media ... Jake is a millionaire, so he doesn't need to loot. That logic justifies looting for some, and that's just plain wrong.

Van Jones said it best ... most people -- regardless of color -- condemn the violence. To make things better, the folks who constantly turned a deaf ear to police brutality need to speak out as loudly, and maybe we can make some progress.

It was a remarkable sight ... a cop puts down his baton and helmet and joins protesters in solidarity.

It went down Saturday in Michigan's Flint Township, where Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson engaged protesters in the wake of George Floyd's brutal killing at the hands of rogue cops.

Swanson had a real conversation with some folks in the crowd, saying, "This is the way it's supposed to be ... police working with the community. When we see injustice, we call it out on the police side and on the community side. All we had to do was talk to them, and now we're walking with them."

He added, "The cops in this community, we condemn what happened. That guy [Chauvin] is not one of us."

And, with that ... the Sheriff and some of his deputies joined the crowd assembled in a Target and began marching. They were united for more than 2 hours, and the march ended at Flint's police station, where things could have otherwise gotten out of hand. They were met by a line of deputies decked out in riot gear. The protesters and cops began talking, and it all ended with fist bumps and hugs.