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A significant piece of history is now up for sale ... a letter from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. where he candidly talks about the "n" word and the term "dark skinned American."

MLK wrote the letter January 18, 1966. The recipient was a man named William A. Bennett -- unclear who Bennett is. Dr. King embraced the term "dark skinned" ... saying he used it often as it reflects "both our great heritage and our devotion to a brand of Americanism of the highest order."

Of course, MLK has thoughts about the "n" word, which he says "carries with it a meaning deeply rooted in the debilitating racist caste ordering of our society's slavery epoch and segregation era."

The historical artifact was held in a private collection until recently, and now it's for sale on the Moments In Time site for $95,000.

Booker T tells TMZ Sports his wrestling days are long behind him ... however, he respects a guy like Ric Flair, who, at age 73, will be lacing up his boots and stepping in the ring to fight one final match later this summer.

"I have no itch to scratch," Booker T said when asked about possibly coming out of retirement. "I've scratched every itch that I want to scratch as for as getting back inside the squared circle."

"What Ric Flair is doing, he's doing that because he loves this business, man. Ric Flair told me a long time ago that he would never retire. That's that guy, man."

As we reported, Ric is slated to wrestle one final time on July 31 against an undisclosed opponent, despite admitting he has some concerns that prior health issues might crop up in the ring.

57-year-old Booker T is clearly impressed by Flair's tenacity ... telling us, "He's gonna come in and go out in a blaze of glory. You can only respect that."

Booker also reflected on the first time he ever wrestled the Nature Boy -- it was a WCW Saturday night taping that he got thrown into at the last minute.

"Half of the time, I didn't know if I was coming or going just because he was telling me one thing, and he was doing another," Booker said.

The former heavyweight champ said he learned so much from sharing the ring with Naitch that night ... recalling he was like a "sponge" just trying to soak up all the knowledge Flair was imparting.

Booker may no longer be an in-ring performer ... but he remains an integral part of WWE's storytelling as a commentator, which is why the King of the Spinarooni has been tapped to host a new series called "WWE Rivals."

If you're one of the East Coast elite, there is no better place to be during the dog days of summer than on the soft sands and at the private parties along the eastern Long Island coastline ... aka The Hamptons.

The uber-rich stretch of the seascape is where actors, musicians, socialites and politicians all congregate to rub elbows and in a decadent display of wealth ... mixed with a downright drive to party on the pristine shores.

Travel influencer Jessica Nabongo is the first Black woman to visit every country on this planet ... and her new book shows off some of the most exciting parts of her years-long journey!

We talked to the author on "TMZ Live," and she concedes some places were more welcoming than others ... she's been to more than 190 countries during her journey -- needless to say, she's got her favorites -- and some to which she won't return.

She's been in North Korea, which was an eerie experience ... her Ugandan passport got her in -- the U.S. isn't allowing people to travel to NK.

Pyongyang was weird for her, just because of how normal things felt ... it was nothing like it seems in movies.

Before this cute kid turned into a TV personality, among many other notable roles, she was just like every other young child ... losing her baby teeth and waiting for the tooth fairy while growing up in Los Angeles, California.

When this strong beauty isn't organizing her pantry, modeling her clothing line or hanging with her fam, you can find her up in the gym working on her fitness. Out of all of her siblings, she definitely does the best impression of her mother ... and she does a great impression of Cardi B's 'Okurrr.'

Katy Perry sent a message this holiday weekend to express frustration about the Roe v. Wade decision -- but all Twitter wants to do is point out what it sees as hypocrisy.

The singer tweeted Monday about the 4th of July and what it means in her eyes in the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling to reverse the landmark decision ... effectively outlawing abortions almost immediately in several states across the country, and more to come.

She sarcastically writes, "'Baby you’re a firework' is a 10 but women in the US have fewer rights than an actual sparkler smh" -- clearly referencing her 2010 track of the same name.

NBD, or so you would think ... rather than getting praised for her pro-choice sentiment here -- as many celebs have been lately -- Katy is actually getting dragged to no end right now. And it all has to do with who she publicly supported for L.A. Mayor ... aka, Rick Caruso.

As we reported ... KP was one of many celebs who endorsed the billionaire entrepreneur and real estate developer running for Mayor. And while he didn't outright win in June's election -- he has a chance to take it home in Nov. in a runoff race with Rep. Karen Bass.

The problem ... Caruso, who's running as a Dem, has been perceived as wish-washy on his abortion stance over the years, at least that's what old interviews from the 2000s suggest. Until recently ... Rick was a Republican and has donated to a lot of GOPers, including folks some say have it out for abortion rights -- all of which he's been called out over of late.

Now, he says he's pro-choice and touts himself as an advocate for women's rights. Unfortunately for him (and for Katy, it seems) ... Twitter's not buying it, and they're telling Katy to sit this one out due to her very vocal support for him.

She's far from the only celeb who backed Caruso, though -- Kim Kardashian also got behind him in the run-up to the election last month ... but she appears to have wisely dodged Twitter to lament the abortion sitch lately.

Chris Rock isn't hiding his relationship with Lake Bell any longer -- the duo is out and about in L.A. for all to see ... and we gotta say, they look pretty good together!

The comedian and actress were hitting the town this weekend, popping up at Giorgio Baldi together in Santa Monica where they chowed down. And on Sunday, the couple grabbed a bite at Coast Restaurant in the same neighborhood ... dining with just the two of them.

We're told there was no obvious PDA here -- ditto for the Baldi outing, BTW -- but they certainly seemed to be flirty and in good spirits.

The fact we're seeing Chris and Lake all over the country together now suggests they're dating, and apparently serious. You'll recall ... they were recently spotted at a Cardinals game in St. Louis, where they were sitting in the same box trying to lay low.

As we noted then, both stars are currently single and fresh off long-term relationships. Even in the baseball game instance, though, they didn't appear to be truly hiding anything ... and now, the cat's outta the bag.

James Cameron has a message for folks who might complain about a long runtime for his new 'Avatar' movie -- pipe down and stop fussing ... unless you gotta wiz.

The esteemed director did a wide-ranging interview with Empire -- where he says, among other things, that he might not actually direct 'Avatar 4' or '5' ... but instead opt to pass the baton to other filmmakers, as he apparently has other stuff he wants to get to.

Cool, cool, cool ... but another even more interesting quote also surfaced in this sit-down -- namely, JC apparently getting preemptively irked about future viewers who might bitch about a likely 3-hour plus movie ... for which he has some words, and even a solution.

Cameron says in part, "I don't want anybody whining about length when they sit and binge-watch [television] for eight hours ... I can almost write this part of the review. 'The agonizingly long three-hour movie...' It's like, give me a f***ing break. I've watched my kids sit and do five one-hour episodes in a row."

He also adds this ... "Here's the big social paradigm shift that has to happen: it's okay to get up and go pee." This part doesn't actually make much sense, unless he's advocating for people to be willing to miss parts of his movie rather than just pee their pants.

Of course, we can't pause films in theaters ... so that seems to be what he's getting at. Now, one way to deal with this organically is to work in a hard intermission, like in the old days.

Even though his other really long movie, 'Titanic,' didn't have an intermission built into the theater screenings when it played in the '90s -- the VHS versions did indeed split the movie into 2 parts. Might not be too lousy of an idea if James is anticipating bladders bursting.

Brittney Griner is speaking for herself for the first time in a long time as she's been detained in Russia pending a trial -- and her words are an emotional plea to President Biden.

Excerpts of a letter sent to the White House this week on behalf of Griner were published Sunday, through reps for Griner, and it consists of bullet point thoughts she's expressing as she faces years behind bars for allegedly bringing hash cartridges into the country.

Griner writes to Joe, in part ... "… as I sit here in a Russian prison, alone with my thoughts and without the protection of my wife, family, friends, Olympic jersey, or any accomplishments, I'm terrified I might be here forever."

The WNBA star goes on to say that on the 4th of July, she has a tradition of honoring service members -- including within her own family -- but that this year ... freedom means something completely different to her amid her circumstance.

The final excerpt reads, "I realize you are dealing with so much, but please don't forget about me and the other American Detainees. Please do all you can to bring us home. I voted for the first time in 2020 and I voted for you."

Griner ends with this final thought for POTUS ... "I believe in you. I still have so much good to do with my freedom that you can help restore. I miss my wife! I miss my family! I miss my teammates! It kills me to know they are suffering so much right now. I am grateful for whatever you can do at this moment to get me home."

BG's wife recently said while she felt the administration was acting in good faith to bring her back -- she still felt they weren't doing enough, and Griner's own words reflect that.

Bette Midler has embraced an argument some are invoking to address the abortion crisis in the country -- bringing up transgender people to make a point ... a lightning rod one at that.

The actress has been very active on Twitter these past couple days, blasting the Supreme Court for reversing Roe v. Wade -- mostly hitting out at Clarence Thomas, it seems -- and in the same breath ... she's speaking up on women's rights. Emphasis on that first part.

BM writes, "WOMEN OF THE WORLD! We are being stripped of our rights over our bodies, our lives and even of our name! They don’t call us 'women' anymore; they call us 'birthing people' or 'menstruators', and even 'people with vaginas'!"

She adds fervently ... "Don’t let them erase you! Every human on earth owes you!" Of course, that gets to trans/non-binary people ... and some are calling this POV transphobic.

Interestingly, her comment piggybacks on a now-viral op-ed published in the NYT this weekend, titled "The Far Right And Far Left Agree on One Thing: Women Don't Count" ... in which the author makes similar arguments about cisgender women being "erased" on the extremes of both sides of the aisle ... either for inclusivity's sake, or outright oppression.

While some might agree, others say it's a false equivalency to compare trying to be sensitive to trans people/using mindful language to what the GOP seems to be doing (banning abortions) ... suggesting one is clearly a far more serious and dire threat than the other is.

In any case, we know where Bette stands on the issue. She seems to be very much an old-school feminist who's pretty pissed off about all this. One crisis at a time, though, perhaps.

Tristan Thompson is living the single life, partying it up in Vegas ... with at least one lovely lady hanging off his arm.

The NBA star was seen hanging out at the Marquee Nightclub in Sin City early Sunday morning (around 1:30 AM), where we're told he was with a posse of 3 ... one dude, who seemed to be his wingman for the night, and a couple of girls. One for each guy.

Eyewitnesses tell us the group was definitely together the whole time and seemed to be having a good time -- dancing with each other and chatting up with drinks in tow.

At one point, we're told the woman that Tristan appeared to be in lockstep with actually danced up on him ... and that they were very touchy-feely. As you can see in this video, obtained by TMZ, Tristan looked to be holding on to her tight, and whispering in her ear.

Eventually, we're told the crew left around 3 AM. Unclear who any of these people with Tristan might've been -- they're certainly not anyone we recognize in his immediate circle.

Now, we know what everyone must be thinking ... what about Khloe?!? Fact is, this isn't nearly as scandalous as it might appear ... as people well know, Khloe and Tristan are not romantically involved at the moment and they simply co-parent, which we've seen.

Michael Rubin is one of the few people on earth who can get Hollywood's richest and most famous in one place at one time -- and this year was no exception in his patriotic blowout.

The Fanatics CEO hosted his annual 4th of July White Party in the Hamptons this weekend, where all sorts of talent (musically and sports-wise) flocked to rage and share in a good time ahead of the big holiday.

Per usual, it was a who's-who of fame -- the performers were top-notch ... including appearances from Drake, Travis Scott, Meek Mill, 21 Savage, Lil Durk, Lil Baby and others.

Speaking of Champagne Papi, he actually carried a toast of sorts to honor the get-together ... shouting out Mike for pulling it off once again. It sure looks like everyone was having a good time ... especially the Philly boys themselves, aka Joel Embiid, James Harden and P.J. Tucker.

Indeed ... tons of basketball stars were in attendance. Not just these guys above, but Devin Booker was there, as was Draymond Green, Immanuel Quickley, Carmelo Anthony, Jayson Tatum, Donovan Mitchell, CJ McCollum and more. Just about everybody in the league!

BTW ... that was just the tip of the iceberg as far as celebs. Others in attendance ... Jay-Z and Beyonce, Kendall Jenner, Charlie D'Amelio, Robert Kraft, Fat Joe, Yo Gotti, Emily Ratajkowski, Kaia Gerber and Ryan Seacrest, no less. Like we said ... hella star-studded.

Joey Chestnut's inner dog wasn't going to be deterred by a would-be human torpedo, who tried derailing his wiener gobbling mid-competition ... but failed, 'cause the guy won anyway.

The reigning Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest champ successfully defended his title Monday in Coney Island, where year after year he comes back to devour dozens of dogs in a matter of 10 minutes. This year, he did it again ... downing 63 franks, far ahead of the competition.

But something nuts happened about midway through ... a dude in a Darth Vader mask made his way onstage and made contact with JC -- and the King didn't take too kindly to that!

Check it out ... rather than let security haul the poser away (which they eventually did), Joey took care of this punk himself -- putting the whipper-snapper in a headlock and yanking him around a bit, before getting back to stuffing his face. He didn't even think twice about it.

We got video of the aftermath ... namely, this poor sap being dragged away to be dealt with -- but it's insane that Joey still won the race even with this major interruption.

Ya gotta wonder if it actually affected the number of sausages he was ultimately able to inhale. While 63 is nothing to sneeze at -- and way more than anyone else got to -- it doesn't compare to his record 76 hot dogs from last year.

Maybe the dark side did actually get to Joey after all. Oh well ... congrats, man!

Harry Styles is devastated by the mass shooting in Copenhagen, where he was supposed to perform just hours later.

Harry canceled his concert Sunday ... after a gunman opened fire at Field's shopping centre, which is less than 2 football fields in distance away from the venue where Harry was supposed to perform later that night.

Harry said he was feeling utter "devastation" ... "I'm heartbroken along with the people of Copenhagen. I adore this city. The people are so warm and full of love."

He went on ... "I'm devastated for the victims, their families, and everyone hurting. I'm sorry we couldn't be together. Please look after each other. H."

Police say the shooter was a 22-year-old Danish man, and they believe he acted alone. Authorities have not ruled out terrorism.

The gunman entered the mall with a rifle and then began firing randomly at people inside the mall.

Pope Francis is strongly in support of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade, comparing abortion to "hiring a hitman to solve a problem."

The Pope reiterated the position of the Catholic Church ... that life begins at conception.

He spoke from his residence at the Vatican ... "I ask, is it legitimate? Is it right to eliminate a human life to resolve a problem?"

Then the 85-year-old Pontiff was asked about a hot topic in the Church -- whether someone, like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who is pro-choice should be allowed to get communion. FYI ... Pelosi was denied communion by the archbishop in San Francisco where she lives, although she received the sacrament at the Vatican last week.

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem did her best to deflect how she and her state would handle the case of a 10-year-old girl who became pregnant after being raped.

Gov. Noem appeared on CNN Sunday and discussed her state's anti-abortion law, which prohibits such procedures except to save the life of the mother.

The Governor immediately tried to change the subject and talk about how a monster could do such a thing and how people like him needed accountability. CNN's Dana Bash pressed her to get back on topic, and the Governor danced around the subject.

The 10-year-old lives in Ohio, and was 6 weeks and 3 days pregnant ... 3 days too late to get an abortion in that state. She reportedly traveled to Indiana for the procedure.

Bash couldn't pin the Governor down ... she asked, "Because [the] trigger law [in South Dakota] was passed before you became governor, I wanted you to be clear: Will the state of South Dakota going forward force a 10-year-old in that very same situation to have a baby?"

Noem's answer ...  "You know what I think is incredible, Dana, in this tragic story? What’s incredible is that nobody’s talking about the pervert, the horrible and deranged individual, that raped a 10-year-old. What are we doing about those individuals that do this to these children?​"

She added ... "Every single life — every single life is precious."

It seems the Governor is saying the little girl should be forced to give birth ... "What I would say is, I don’t believe a tragic situation should be perpetuated by another tragedy. And so there’s more that we have got to do to make sure that we really are living a life that says every life is precious, especially innocent lives that have been shattered, like that 10-year-old girl."