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Kim Kardashian, Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck were among the mourners at a socialite's funeral, and one thing that's hard to ignore ... funeral fashion.

It was actually a Celebration of Life for J.R. Ridinger, a 63-year-old Miami socialite and co-founder of Market America. He died from a pulmonary embolism about a month ago while sailing in Croatia on his yacht.

At the event, held at Faena Forum in Miami Saturday night, Kim was dressed to the 9's in a Balenciaga gown with matching bag and shades.

J Lo and Ben were more traditional, arriving with interlocking hands and her 13-year-old child Emme in tow.

J Lo actually performed ... taking the mic with Alicia Keys playing the piano as they sang.

Actor Ray Buffer is being accused by a San Diego comic book store of stealing some pricey comics ... and the store says security footage appears to show him stuffing 'em up his shirt.

Southern California Comics in San Diego alleges it has Ray on video stealing $600 worth of comic books, and the store filed a police report with SDPD and is handing over evidence to police, including their security footage.

SDPD tells TMZ police took a report for petty theft and are investigating the incident.

The comic book store says it got even more evidence -- which it will be turning over to police -- after warning other stores about Ray in a Facebook post before he had been identified.

The owners tell us Metropolis Comics in L.A. sent them some eerily similar security footage from when Ray was there. In that video, the owner confronts him after seeing him pull the same move, and this time he puts the comics back and leaves as the owner threatens to call police.

Ray, who has appeared in TV shows like "ER" and "Curb Your Enthusiasm," deleted all of his social media accounts after the comic book store posted the video online.

Bookstores are always on edge about this kind of theft, because some comics are worth a lot of money -- we've reported about rare comics getting auctioned off for large sums. That's why most stores have such great security cameras.

Tom Cruise apparently thinks fighter jets are for chumps, because for his next flick he wants to go nose-up into space.

Cruise is in the process of making a deal with Universal Films Entertainment Group with an idea ... shoot a movie on the International Space Station. Of course, that would require Tom and others to be rocketed up there.

The idea's actually been talked about for years, but it was shelved during the pandemic.

Tom's got lots of power these days to make things happen ... 'Top Gun' receipts have gone north of $700M in the domestic box office, and $1.4B on planet earth.

Universal seems to be on board, with Chairman Donna Langley saying, "I think Tom Cruise is taking us to space, he’s taking the world to space," adding, "That’s the plan. We have a great project in development with Tom … Taking a rocket up to the Space Station and shooting."

The general plot is predictable ... a dude on earth is going to space, as Langley says, "to save the day."

Now here's the deal ... not only would Tom be the first actor to shoot a movie in space, but the hope is that he'll also be the first to do a space walk!

The sister of the longtime Wendy's employee with Down Syndrome who was recently unceremoniously canned is lashing out at the franchise.

Dennis Peek worked at a Wendy's in Stanley, North Carolina for 20 years, was fired without notice a few days back, and now his sister claims managers at the fast food joint told her Dennis couldn't do his job like a "normal" person.

Dennis's sister, Cona Young Turner, wrote on Facebook, "I am heart broken to say they have fired him ... They told me was unable to perform the duties of a normal persons job."

She went on ... "His dream was to retire from there some day and he was looking forward to a huge retirement party, we may just give him that party and tell him he has retired because he does not understand being fired."

She now says Wendy's has offered Dennis his job back, but he's not biting. She also says she's looking into filing a wrongful termination lawsuit of a special needs worker.

Cona says Dennis was deeply hurt by the firing, but she's gonna throw him a big retirement bash.

'SNL' decided to tap into all the s**t that's going down in the U S of A with a game show called, "So You Think You Won’t Snap."

The game is all about temptation ... hurling problematic news stories to mild-mannered, chill contestants and seeing if they reach a breaking point ... and there are stakes!

Contestants who are off the bottle are challenged with a big glass of wine. A flight attendant becomes a potential human punching bag, and a hot iron sits on a table ready to scorch a man's face. In other words, high stakes.

Watch for yourself ... from Biden to Kanye and everything in between -- it's just too much to bare.

Tommy Chong sees President Biden's weed possession pardon as a big step forward in the world of cannabis ... but he isn't ready to celebrate until the government removes marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug -- pointing to his past legal trouble.

The comedian told us ... Biden's decision shows he's got the pulse of America ... but thinks a rescheduling would be a HUGE win for everyone involved in legitimate weed sales.

Tommy thinks marijuana sales will someday become the biggest industry in the world ... so rescheduling it could further validate the legitimacy of the biz.

He's a fan of Biden, and says he'll gladly vote for him again ... but he thinks the Prez can do more, especially regarding anti-paraphernalia laws, which got Tommy locked up back in 2003.

Tommy was sentenced to 9 months in a federal lockup, after pleading guilty to selling bongs through a family-owned business. He tells us he had no choice but to cop a plea.

Kanye West's 'White Lives Matter' tees aren't gaining traction with his hip hop peers ... and count his former Roc-A-Fella label boss as the latest deflector!!!

TMZ Hip Hop recently sat down with Kareem "Biggs" Burke and picked his brain about Yeezy's controversial clothing, and there was no half-stepping -- right off the bat he said, "I condemn the shirt. I'm not with that."

Biggs says the fact Ye created the "WLM" shirt as a counter to BLM ... makes it potentially disastrous to the movement. He says he'd love to see Ye focus on repairing the community -- not harming it.

He notes it's important not to misconstrue the BLM movement with the corporation ... which has been under fire due to some execs allegedly misappropriating funds, including the purchase of a $6M mansion.

Aside from the fact others are already capitalizing and copycatting, Biggs says Kanye's shirt hurts the families of slain victims such as Trayvon Martin, George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. Breonna's mother has already fired back at Ye for looping her name into one of his 'WLM' rants.

Kanye and Biggs' relationship dates back to the start of Ye's professional career when he first signed to the Roc in the early 2000s.

Biggs co-founded the label with Jay-Z and Damon Dash, and it went on to sell millions upon millions of records -- many of those being Ye's creations. But, that past glory isn't getting Ye a pass with Biggs.

Biggs is far from alone with his thinking amongst music execs ... Diddy recently doubled down on his stance that Ye's "WLM" shirt was a dangerous concept.

Puff is adamant we shouldn't cancel The College Dropout, but more so turn the page on this most recent chapter as quickly as possible.

Behind this oblong figure is an egg-cellent model/singer who is free from the carton and has cracked into the limelight with this scrambled celeb's mantra of "Love Myself."

As a Los Angeles native, this Barden Bella found her way straight to the stage at just 10 years old and her poach pitch has been just perfect ever since! During the 2015 MTV VMAs, she iconically posed with Taylor Swift and the rest of her girl squad ... which was also the same year she dropped her debut album titled "Haiz."

Coolio’s fellow old-school rapper Tone Loc says life on the road won't be the same now that he's lost his touring partner of nearly a decade!!!

We caught the "Wild Thang" OG outside of LAX, where he opened up about Coolio's death leaving an immense void in his life -- a painful absence he's already felt during his last few performances.

Their friendship runs several decades deep -- Tone tells us Coolio, along with Young MC and the late Shock G, actually performed at his brother's funeral around 16 years ago.

Tone says he and Coolio were regulars on the "I Love The 90s Tour" circuit for the past 6 years, as was Vanilla Ice … who’s also been in mourning since Coolio’s death last week in Los Angeles.

TMZ broke the story -- Coolio died suddenly on September 28 while visiting a friend's home.

At the age of 59, he was still an active hip hopper … with gigs in Vegas and television appearances on "Wild ‘N Out" and "Futurama" already scheduled before he passed.

Tone's DJ M.Walk also chimed in, telling us about his special bond with Coolio ... and it's clear they both miss him dearly, having linked up more than 20 years ago.

Benjamin Bratt's looks over the years will straight-up demolish you!

Here is a 35-year-old version of the "Demolition Man" actor throwing some shade in a pair of retro transitional lenses while at an awards show back in 1999 (left). This was just one year prior to him playing FBI Agent Eric Matthews in "Miss Congeniality" alongside Sandra Bullock.

And, 23 years later ... the 58-year-old dishy father of two is still keeping things in order and recently looked confident at the premiere of "Dead For A Dollar" in Los Angeles (right).

He continues to play the Adonis roles, but the question is ...

Ryan Reynolds despises his one-time costar T.J. Miller -- at least according to T.J. Miller ... who's kinda giving the guy even more cause to not like him after these spicy remarks.

The ex-'Deadpool' star sat down for a chat on 'The Adam Carolla Show' -- where he revealed part of the reason why he believes he might not be in the forthcoming second sequel (aka, 'Deadpool 3') and, in his eyes, it all has to do with RR hating his guts for some reason.

He recounted a story in which he claims Ryan berated him during the filming of a scene in one of the first 2 films. He says Ryan, playing Wade/Deadpool, improvised some super mean lines while addressing him in character as Weasel ... but TJM thinks he was actually just operating under the guise of acting to take some pot shots at him personally.

Miller says Ryan, as Deadpool, told him/Weasel that no one really liked him and that he wasn't funny ... and that he only served as temporary comedic relief that nobody (including the audience) cared about ... basically calling him unnecessary for 'Deadpool' at large.

It was a pretty awkward exchange, so says T.J. -- who claims the crew was just as stunned by the on-set teardown which felt very real. Since then, he says, his relationship with Ryan has soured -- and, obviously, it has with the studio since he isn't going to be in 'DP3.'

But the way T.J. frames it here ... he makes it seem like he's the one who wants nothing to do with Ryan -- saying he wouldn't work with him ever again, going on to openly wonder why he dislikes him so much ... and going further by suggesting RR was jealous/insecure.

T.J. has a lot to say about what he perceives as flaws in Ryan's character ... especially as he got incredibly more famous with the Deadpool gig. He even makes some observations about Blake Lively and their image -- or "brand," as he and his pals call it -- as a couple.

It should be noted ... right as 'Deadpool 2' was coming out, Miller was dealing with very serious sexual misconduct allegations, which he denied. Still, you gotta imagine that may have played a part in either Ry and/or studio heads weighing his future involvement.

Comic nerds won't like this ... one of the greatest writers to dabble in the caped crusade industry says our fascination with superheroes is teetering on Nazi Germany territory.

Indeed ... we're talking about Alan Moore, who's written some of the most well-known comic books/series of the 20th century -- including "Watchmen," "V for Vendetta," "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen," a VERY famous Batman installment ... and lots more.

The dude's an absolute legend in the biz ... but as he's gotten older -- and stepped further away from writing comics -- he's gotten more and more cynical about the craft he helped shape ... and these latest remarks are doubling down on what he views as a problem.

Namely, he's talking about fascism ... and how he feels like the superhero genre, at large, lends itself to the extreme political ideology -- and not just that, but how our utter obsession with them in Hollywood is a sign for the worst ... at least according to him anyway.

For starters, AM kinda craps on adults who love this stuff ... saying, "Hundreds of thousands of adults [are] lining up to see characters and situations that had been created to entertain the 12-year-old boys -- and it was always boys -- of 50 years ago."

He goes on to say there were a lot of headlines coming out in the late 20th century that said comics had "grown up," but he refutes that with this ... "It wasn’t comics growing up. I think it was more comics meeting the emotional age of the audience coming the other way."

Alan hits his point home with this comment ... "I said round about 2011 that I thought that it had serious and worrying implications for the future if millions of adults were queueing up to see Batman movies. Because that kind of infantilization -- that urge towards simpler times, simpler realities -- that can very often be a precursor to fascism."

He points to Donald Trump's presidency and the sheer number of superhero movies that were being pumped out at the time (and since). It's because of this, in part, that he says he's done with comics ... apparently because they do more harm than good, subconsciously.

As for what he's getting at with the whole superheroes-are-fascist thing -- it's an age-old argument that's been debated ad nauseam ... which you can read about here.

Basically, some argue that superheroes -- by their very nature and story arcs -- prop up the idea of one person wielding ultimate power over society ... but doing it for the common good. It's very in the weeds on a sociological level, but this POV's been around for a while.

Jennifer Lawrence is getting back to her indie roots -- not so much because she has to, but wants to ... as it appears going mainstream in Hollywood has taken its toll on her.

The A-lister is in London plugging her latest flick, "Causeway," which sees her taking on a very quiet, dramatic role ... playing a U.S. soldier with PTSD and getting acclimated to regular life again. It's drastically different than anything she's done in recent years.

What we mean, of course, is that this isn't a major blockbuster by any stretch of the imagination -- it's an A24 film, with a way smaller budget and limited release via Apple.

Beyond just that, though, this is territory that JLaw hasn't ventured into in a while. Fact is, she's been one of the industry's highest-paid actresses for quite a while now ... which, of course, is due to her starring in major franchises like "X-Men" and "The Hunger Games."

Her Academy Award for Best Actress -- for her lead role in "Silver Linings Playbook" -- also shot her into a new stratosphere ... making her one of the most desirable hires in the biz.

As it turns out ... Jen is actually looking back on all that with a fresh perspective -- this on the heels of giving birth to a baby, and getting hitched. During a staged sit-down Saturday, Jen was quoted as feeling a sense of instability after achieving the pinnacle of acting fame.

Per Variety, she said ... "I think I lost a sense of control. Between "The Hunger Games" coming out and winning the Oscar, I became such a commodity that I felt like every decision was a big, big group decision. When I reflect now, I can’t think of those following years, [because there was] just a loss of control."

There's another quote floating around that's being attributed to JL -- and it touches on her future in movies ... which seems to swear off doing anymore big-time popcorn films.

Jen reportedly said during this same chat, "I loved superhero movies. Franchise is art and they’re so fun; I could never do one now because I’m too old and brittle. I love them too. This generation understandably likes a world to escape to, and I can relate to that."

That's pretty interesting. It sounds like she's going to be far more selective with the projects she signs onto going forward -- which could mean more Oscar-bait-y flicks like "Causeway."

Draymond Green just spoke publicly for the first time since punching teammate Jordan Poole at practice this week ... apologizing for his actions and announcing he's taking a break from the Golden State Warriors.

The 32-year-old 4x NBA champ met with media Saturday morning in the Bay Area, telling reporters flat out ... "I was wrong."

As for what led up to the punch, Green wouldn't say, answering, "things that happened in practice should stay in practice."

Draymond went on to say he isn't trying to convince people he was in the right ... he's here to own up to what he did wrong.

"I'm not here to change an opinion. I'm here to acknowledge my mistakes." He did, however, say the fact that the video leaked was "bulls***."

Green says he apologized to the team, organization, Jordan Poole, the Poole family, and his own family.

TMZ Sports posted video Friday showing the NBA star punching Poole in the face at practice Wednesday in San Francisco, after the two men got into a verbal argument.

Draymond says he watched the video "15 times, maybe more" and admitted "it looks even worse than I thought it was."

DG also expressed anger at the release of the video, saying ... "I thought it was bulls**t. No other videos leak from practice. When we're working on our sets, that don't leak."

Rep. Sean Casten is revealing how his daughter died unexpectedly earlier this summer -- saying her heart simply gave out ... without any explanation whatsoever.

The U.S. congressman from Illinois broke the sad news Friday -- elaborating on his earth-shattering post from June ... when he told the world his 17-year-old, Gwen, had passed away suddenly. At the time, he didn't share any details ... but now, he's shedding some light.

Casten says Gwen died of a cardiac arrhythmia -- adding, "[S]he was fine, and then her heart stopped. We don't know what caused the arrhythmia, and likely never will."

The Representative says his daughter was a healthy teen who got regular checkups, exercised, ate well, didn't suffer from any behavioral health issues and had strong relationships with her friends and family. He notes ... she was also fully vaccinated.

Casten says Gwen came home one night after a night out with friends, and didn't wake up the next morning -- something doctors haven't been able to make sense of ... and ditto for the family. He says they're completely heartbroken and devastated -- exacerbated by such a freak thing with no real rational reason behind it. This is rare, he says, but it happens.

He ends his thoughts with a poignant remark ... "None of us know when our last heartbeat will come. The best we can hope for is when our loved ones do pass, we will have no regrets about the time we were lucky enough to share."

Casten finishes with this -- "So hug the folks you love a little harder today. Be present in their lives. And spread your love a little farther. Because in the end, it's all that matters."

Kanye West wore his 'White Lives Matter' shirt at his daughter's basketball game ... right behind Kim Kardashian, no less.

The controversial long-sleeve was on display Friday night while North played in Thousand Oaks with other kids -- plus, a bunch of parents on hand to watch. Ye was rocking it proudly, and he was within arms reach of the mother of his children too.

Kim doesn't appear to acknowledge him in the photos, and eyewitnesses say she never turned to look in his direction either while they were both there. We're also told KW had a cameraman with him who looked busy. No word of any trouble due to his wardrobe choice.

What we do know ... Kim completely avoided him outside of this seating arrangement. We're told she actually moved her car to the opposite side of the building once he rolled up ... in order to avoid any run-ins afterward. Indeed, her focus was all on North for this outing.

It's interesting ... Ye seemed pretty animated here, and he wasn't trying to hide what he was wearing either. If anything, you could argue he was trying to draw attention to himself.

He's obviously sticking to his guns on this -- remember, he first trotted out the 'WLM' shirt earlier in the week during a fashion show ... and after a lot of criticism, he doubled and then tripled down online. Eventually, he went on Tucker Carlson's show to try and explain.

Even at this point, though, Kanye's rationale behind the move isn't all that clear. He did say he thought Black Lives Matter was a scam, but aside from that -- he hasn't thoughtfully laid out his position ... although he has thoroughly described the backlash coming his way.