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Kenny "The Jet" Smith says Shaquille O'Neal had every right to clap back at a hater trying to diminish his success ... telling TMZ Sports no superstar has won a championship on their own.

As we previously reported, Diesel went OFF on a Twitter user for claiming he wouldn't have won his 3 rings with the Lakers without Kobe Bryant ... saying, "no person can win without another star big dummy."

We spoke with Smith about Shaq's issue with the heckler ... and he says anyone who knows hoop understands winning a ring isn't a one-man gig.

Worth mentioning -- Shaq brought Kenny into the debate with his rebuttal to the hater ... saying Smith wouldn't have won a championship without Hakeem Olajuwon.

Smith backs up the Big Aristotle ... saying the Hall of Famer is just spitting facts. And if the argument were about Kobe, it would be the same result -- no one wins without a stellar supporting cast.

Before this little chick in her brown sweater was a big time actress and activist in Hollywood, she was just your everyday gal hanging in the backyard and growing up in Brooklyn, New York.

This cute kid with her adorable smile journeyed all the way to Los Angeles, where she joined a bossy ABC sitcom. She would later star in what is now another notable role of hers in the TV drama series "Charmed."

She is also known for her involvement and support of the #MeToo movement and numerous other women's rights campaigns.

Hip hop mogul J Prince is sounding the alarm on an alleged Houston gang member who cops say executed his ex's daughter as revenge for a breakup ... Prince says the guy needs to be held accountable

Prince -- the Rap-A-Lot Records honcho who has a reputation for getting things done in Houston -- put the alleged killer on blast Wednesday, telling his 756k Instagram followers ... "We can't have clowns like this running around purposely killing our babies and be ok with it."

Houston police say 22-year-old Jeremiah Jones is the triggerman in a child's fatal shooting, and he's been arrested following a manhunt and booked on counts of capital murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Cops say Jones "executed" 9-year-old Khylie Sorrells as possible "revenge" over the girl's mother breaking up with him several months ago and allegedly seeing other men.

Police say Jones went to his ex-girlfriend's home Monday night and got into an argument with her before shooting the woman's child in the head.

J Prince appears to be making a call to action, saying ... "Stand with me on preventing this sick individual from harming another baby. I'm not advocating violence, but we have to protect our kids."

Prince also has this to say about Jones ... "I don't care what gang he's with they are no match for us."

WWE's board is investigating an alleged multi-million "hush pact" payment made by Vince McMahon to a former employee after the pair allegedly had an affair, according to a new report by The Wall Street Journal.

WSJ claims World Wrestling Entertainment's 12-member board -- where Vince sits as the chair -- is investigating the circumstances surrounding the alleged affair and subsequent payment.

FYI, WWE is a publicly-traded company on the NYSE. The company's stock closed up nearly 5% on Wednesday, despite the paper's story going public earlier today. Even though they're a public company, Vince holds immense power within the top wrestling promotion.

In January 2022, McMahon, the CEO and Chairman of WWE, allegedly agreed to pay a former employee with whom he had an affair $3 million total ... over the course of 5 years.

The woman -- who was allegedly hired as a paralegal in 2019 -- says McMahon paid $1 mil up front ... and the remaining $2 million was to be spread out over a 5 year period.

Vince has been married to his wife Linda since 1966.

What's interesting is the WWE board is partially made up of Vince and his family.

His daughter Stephanie McMahon -- who recently stepped away from the company to spend time with her fam -- and her husband Triple H (Paul Levesque), as well as WWE President Nick Khan, are all on the board.

The 8 other members have hired a New York City law firm to investigate the situation with VM and the ex-employee.

According to the Journal, the preliminary investigation shows McMahon made a payment using "personal funds."

U.S. Rep. Sean Casten is opening up on the sudden death of his 17-year-old daughter, Gwen ... he says she went to bed Sunday night and never woke up.

The Congressman from Illinois posted a touching tribute to his late daughter Wednesday, revealing the moments leading up to her tragic and unexpected death.

Rep. Casten says Gwen went out for a few hours with some friends Sunday night after having dinner with the family, returned home, said goodnight to her parents, texted a friend and didn't wake up the following morning.

Sean says the only thing the family knows about Gwen's death is that it was "peaceful." Casten's office announced Tuesday Gwen had died, but details at the time were scarce.

Gwen had recently graduated from high school and was getting ready to enroll at the University of Vermont, where Rep. Casten says she was going to study environmental science.

Rep. Casten says Gwen's sudden death offers a powerful lesson -- savor every moment with loved ones.

BTS is NOT going on a hiatus, despite the way band members made it seem ... the group's management team says the "hiatus" description was a simple mistranslation.

While the K-Pop singers are still going to pursue some solo projects, the band's Korean representation says the super popular group is not breaking up.

BTS caused an uproar Tuesday when band members put out a video in Korean talking about the group's future, with the English subtitle translation stating they were taking a "hiatus."

HYBE, the music company that reps BTS, reportedly lost $1.7 BILLION in market value during stock trading early Wednesday morning ... and now they are in a full-on backpedal over the "hiatus" comment.

The band's reps put out a statement, saying ... "To be clear, they are not on hiatus but will take time to explore some solo projects at this time and remain active in various different formats."

BTS singer Jungkook also promised the band would continue shooting their 'Run BTS' web series and would get back together to make music in the future after working on their solo careers.

Less than one day before Jeff Hardy was accused of drunkenly driving his car through Florida highways ... the AEW star took a swig from a cup and made a joke that whiskey was "my best friend and my worst enemy."

The 44-year-old wrestler was filmed on Sunday evening making the comment -- some 12 hours or so before cops say he was driving a white Dodge Charger while severely intoxicated in Volusia County.

The video shows Hardy in Orlando for a wrestling convention (one in which his brother, Matt Hardy, also attended) ... singing for several people inside what appeared to be a conference room.

Jeff, discussing lyrics to a song, took a big sip of a drink, turned to the crowd and said, "Whiskey is my best friend and my worst enemy!"

The footage shows he then smiled, while people in the audience chuckled and shouted.

As we reported, Jeff was later arrested at around 9 AM on Monday morning by the Florida Highway Patrol for DUI.

During the stop, officers say he reeked of booze, could hardly stand during questioning, and admitted to drinking before getting behind the wheel. They added that two breathalyzer tests revealed he had a BAC of .291 and .294.

Hardy was charged with felony DUI and two other misdemeanors. He's due in court for a hearing on the matter in July.

Nipsey Hussle's alleged murderer, Eric Holder Jr., is standing trial in Los Angeles and prosecutors just laid out the details of Nip's shooting death in court ... and it's horrifying.

Deputy District Attorney John McKinney told the jury Wednesday ... after Holder gunned down Nipsey in a Crenshaw parking lot, Holder walked over to Nispey's bullet-riddled body and kicked him in the head.

The prosecutor also told the courtroom, Holder said to Nipsey, "You're through" ... with Hussle replying, "You got me," before Holder took off from the scene.

McKinney told the jury, Holder's kick to Nipsey's head shows it was a personal attack ... while Holder's public defender is trying to frame the case as something that happened in the heat of the moment.

You'll recall ... Holder was arrested a few days after Nipsey's shooting death, and he's charged with 1 count of murder, 2 counts of attempted murder (two other people were injured by gunshots during the incident) and 1 count of possession of a firearm by a felon.

Dr. Anthony Fauci has contracted COVID-19 -- but like many people who have gotten their shots -- he's expected to come out the other side just fine.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, for which Fauci serves as top dog, made the announcement Wednesday, saying Doc had tested positive during a rapid antigen test ... and as a result, was sent home to recover. He'll be back to work when he's negative.

The NIH agency notes he's experiencing mild symptoms, and attributes that to the fact he's fully vaccinated and has also received two booster shots.

Also of note ... Fauci has not been in close contact with President Biden of late, so says NIAID, or any other top government official for that matter. So it seems JB and co. are in the clear on his end -- good news, especially since they've already had close calls.

Several people in Biden's cabinet have caught the virus in recent months -- including former Press Secretary Jen Psaki, and even Vice President Kamala Harris ... ditto for her hubby. Of course, there've been some high-profile Congress members who've gotten sick too.

A zookeeper in Mexico was attacked by one of the tigers he was caring for ... dying of a heart attack shortly after the incident.

The whole thing went down Monday in West Mexico, when a 23-year-old zoo keeper, by the name of José de Jesús, summoned a Bengal tiger through a fence to pet the animal before a feeding.

De Jesus touches the animal without incident, but it suddenly changes its attitude, clamping down on his outstretched right hand and causing the zookeeper to yell out in agony.

José was reportedly taken to the hospital, but didn't want medics to amputate his hand. His health quickly deteriorated after the attack, until he died of a heart attack.

Zendaya's shutting down rumors that she and BF Tom Holland are expecting, after viral videos convinced the internet the two have a baby on the way.

The actress took to Instagram Wednesday after some posts took the internet by storm -- ones that claimed she was pregnant with Tom's kid.

She puts in plainly -- "See now, this is why I stay off Twitter..." adding, "Just making stuff up for no reason...weekly."

The now-viral clip shows a faked screenshot from what's supposed to be Zendaya's IG, with an ultrasound on full display. The pic has a caption saying, "I love you. Halfway there," with a tag for the "Spiderman" actor.

The vid then cuts to what's being called "Krissing" -- a clip of Kris Jenner dancing to "Lady Marmalade," saying the whole thing was a prank. Call it a Rick Roll of modern times.

People still fell for it online, and Twitter blew up about the news ... with many still confused while "Zendaya pregnant" is trending.

Drake brought his IG moniker "Champagne Papi" to life on Tuesday -- winning a title in the Sanctuary Basketball League -- and he celebrated by sprayin' bubbly everywhere!!

The victorious moment was all caught on video -- when his NTIG teammate hit the game-winning shot in the SBL title game right on Drake's basketball court in his Toronto mansion.

Drizzy and his squad went nuts after securing the dub ... cueing up the champagne showers.

And, Drake paid homage to the late Kobe Bryant for his game strategy ... saying he channeled his inner Mamba Mentality.

"I did what Kobe did in Game 7 against the Celtics," Drake said, "Shots not falling, you play f*****g defense!"

BTW, Drake launched the SBL league last year ... and now is a 2-time champ, after his team again won the 'ship.

The video game developer for "Halo Infinite" is under fire for rolling out a new nameplate to honor Juneteenth ... folks are enraged the customization was named after an ape.

The folks over at 343 Industries apparently thought it would be a good idea to title the nameplate -- a palette adding a red, black and green colorway to a player's username -- "Bonobo" ... which is an endangered primate.

Problem is ... folks were angry with the association of apes with Juneteenth, considering the racist and discriminatory history between those words and Black people.

As you know ... Juneteenth is now a federal holiday, commemorating the day the last enslaved Americans got the news President Lincoln had abolished slavery.

In response to the backlash, the video game developer renamed the nameplate to "Freedom" and then to "Juneteenth."

343 Industries says the nameplate was originally named "Bonobo" in reference to a developer tool -- and they claim it was an oversight on their end.

Bonnie Ross, the founder and head of 343 Industries, says once they were made aware the nameplate "contained a term that was offensive and hurtful" they immediately made a change with a game update.

Cops are on the lookout for Bam Margera after he bolted from a Florida rehab facility he wasn't allowed to leave ... TMZ has learned.

According to a Delray Beach police report, the rehab facility's manager reported the 'Jackass' star missing on Monday. The manager says Bam told him he was unhappy with the place and their services ... so he was splitting, which he apparently did.

The report notes Bam told the manager that instead of staying there, he'd be checking himself into a different rehab center in the area ... and then left the premises in a black sedan.

According to the manager, Bam was there under a court order, and the staff was concerned he seemed to be leaving without authorization.

In any case, the staff also said Bam didn't appear to be a danger to himself or others. Cops did go looking for him that day but, so far, they've come up empty-handed.

Sources close to Bam tell TMZ ... he was currently staying at a sober living facility and had recently got into an argument with his wife. We're told he did have issues with the facilities' restrictions and made the impulsive decision to leave.

Last month Bam had broken his wrist and elbow in a skateboarding accident and was blaming the facility for not setting up his physical therapy appointments.

Amber Heard says she has a lot of mixed feelings about Johnny Depp post-trial, but one of those feelings is apparently love ... even after all of the nasty back and forth.

The final clip from actress' sit-down with "Today" aired Wednesday, and a range of topics was covered ... including where her ex lies in heart. According to Amber, JD is still near and dear, to some degree -- despite the fact he took her to court and won $8.35M.

Savannah Guthrie references Amber's own words about Johnny -- a statement in which she said she still has love for him -- and asks if it's true today. AH says it is.

Amber was also asked if she feels like Johnny has succeeded in ruining her globally -- as he alluded to over text once -- and she says yes, going on to say she feels like he could sue her again if she isn't careful.

Savannah asks about Amber's young daughter and how she plans on explaining this to her one day ... Amber says she'll tell her the truth, and be okay with it knowing she did the right thing, as she believes she's on the right side of history.

At one point in the full interview, Amber is asked about credibility -- including her $7 million pledge to the ACLU, which she hasn't completed -- and while she notes she shouldn't have had to make that to be believed, AH acknowledges that might've played a factor in the jury ruling against her. As Savannah notes, the trial was all about character and trustworthiness.

A Klay Thompson impersonator has been BANNED for life from Warriors home games ... after he allegedly fooled arena personnel into believing he was the Golden State star, allowing him access to not just the building, but also the basketball court.

"Banned bc I walked past 5 layers of security guards (who willingly let me through security without asking for ID) & shot around on the court for 10 minutes," Dawson Gurley announced on social media.

And, Daws isn't kidding about the ban ... he posted a photo of a letter from a Warriors executive laying out his punishment.

"You deliberately deceived Chase Center building personnel by impersonating a GSW employee," the letter read, in part.

The disciplinary letter goes on to say Daws -- who isn't denying the allegation -- can't ever come back. They also threatened him with a trespassing charge.

For his part, Daws thinks the suspension is BS! He says he actually had a ticket for the game ... saying it isn't his fault security didn't stop him.

"I also spent 10K on tickets which they are not refunding. Why should I be banned because their security is incompetent?" Dawson asked his followers.

10 bands is obviously a lot of money to waste. But, the Klay impersonator says he doesn't have any regrets.

"Was it worth it to lose 10K on tickets and be banned for life? Absolutely. I was an NBA player for 10 minutes bro."

During those 10 minutes, Daws even had time to take a photo.

It's not the first time Gurley's received attention for impersonating the All-Star. He pranked fans during the 2018 NBA Finals, sitting courtside, dressed as Klay. That video has millions of views.

Side note: the real Klay Thompson had 21 points in Monday's game 5 win. The Warriors are one game away from winning an NBA title.