Awards / Awards Shows

Peter Berg ain't happy with all the praise being heaped on Caitlyn Jenner -- and is now mocking everyone from ESPN to President Obama for honoring her ... instead of military vets.

The "Friday Night Lights" director -- who also produces and co-stars in "Ballers" -- reposted a crass meme to Instagram following the ESPYs which compares a double amputee military vet to Caitlyn.

Berg co-signed on the meme with a simple comment -- "Yup."

Berg wasn't the only star to express outrage over Jenner getting the award -- Miami Dolphins wide receiver Jarvis Landry tweeted, "What exactly is 'COURAGE' these days?"

He was retweeted by NFL linebacker Sio Moore.

So, how is ESPN handling the criticism? Michelle Beadle summed it up this way:

"This rage over an arbitrary award is silly. Courage and bravery come in many forms and faces. I welcome progress for everyone. #BeYou."

Ben Affleck may be separated, but in the marriage department he has something Jimmy Fallon doesn't ... a wedding ring still attached to his finger.

Ben gave Derek Jeter his award at the ESPYs and the ring was front and center. He's been wearing it lately, even though the couple announced they were getting divorced.

It was pretty funny ... watching the diehard Red Sox fan handing an award to his nemesis. Actually, pretty awesome.

Jazz Jennings, one of the transgender community’s youngest crusaders, is a massive Caitlyn Jenner fan and she's gunning to meet her idol tonight at the ESPYs.

Our photog caught up with the 14-year-old Tuesday in Bev Hills. She's in town promoting her new reality show “I Am Jazz,” but the highlight of the trip ... she scored a ticket to the show, where Caitlyn will receive the Arthur Ashe Courage Award.

Jennings was born a male but started her transition at age 3. Kid drops some serious knowledge on transgender equality.

Rich Homie Quan is main stage or no stage at all ... and that's why you didn't see him at Sunday night's BET Awards.

RHQ was supposed to be on the telecast, but according to our sources ... he showed up to rehearsal Saturday and was told by producers he'd be the headlining act for the red carpet pre-show ... which did not go over well with him.

We're told Quan was pissed, feeling totally disrespected.

Fans noticed his absence, with one tweeting, "I mean this a real nice put together BET Awards but um... 😐👀 where's Rich Homie Quan???"

Meek Mill's party was overrun Friday night by both clubgoers and cops, who were determined to keep the peace in Hollywood during the BET Awards weekend.

The rapper hosted a big party at Playhouse Hollywood, which was packed to capacity just after midnight. A slew of cops showed up -- on the ground and in the air -- to control the crowd and prevent a repeat of last year's violence during pre-show parties.

An eyewitness says YG was rejected after he refused a pat-down.

All was calm and it looks like only one or two people were busted for disorderly conduct.

Kanye West is pissed off at the Billboard Awards for heavily censoring his performance of "All Day" and "Black Skinhead" because he says they cut his audio even when he wasn't dropping profanities.

Kanye's mostly-silenced closing act was the talk of the award show -- but sources close to the rapper tell us producers knew when he was going to curse because he gave them the lyrics exactly as he performed them ... and yet they yanked his audio for up to 15 seconds at a time.

Our sources point out that during "Black Skinhead" a lot of clean lyrics were censored. For instance, the lines -- "My leather black jeans on" ... and "Middle America" were dropped. In other cases, it appears the censor had an itchy trigger finger, and pulled the audio several seconds early.

As we reported ... Kanye did not attend final rehearsal -- but we're told that's because doctors had him on vocal rest. He even needed a cortisone shot over the weekend. Still, he did 2 rehearsals in L.A. earlier in the week for Billboard.

As for the fact you couldn't see Kanye -- we're told he gave producers a specific note about changing lighting and camera angles so he was more visible. We're told Yeezy's a perfectionist when it comes to his final product, and feels like they screwed him.

Jennifer Lopez threw a ton of shade at Mariah Carey ... by burying her head in her smartphone while MC was hitting high notes onstage at the Billboard Music Awards -- and the video is epic.

You've gotta see it -- while Mariah was singing "Infinity" ... J. Lo was casually scrolling through her phone, barely even glancing at the stage.

Even as Taylor Swift and the rest of the audience burst into applause for Mimi ... J.Lo chatted up Casper Smart from their front row seats. Jennifer's no fool though -- when the house lights went up at the end of Mimi's act, then and only then did she give her a hand.

It's hysterical -- you get the feeling Mariah could have been on fire and J.Lo wouldn't give a crap.

Kanye West totally blindsided Billboard Music Awards producers when he performed the n-word laced version of his hit, "All Day" ... and forced the censors to stand on the audio dump button.

Production sources at the award show tell TMZ ... Kanye never did a dress rehearsal of the song, so they just expected him to be on his best behavior, and perform a clean version. One source said, "He knew it was national TV."

We're guessing that's exactly the point, and Kanye knew exactly what he was doing.

Think about it ... his closing act is the one everyone's talking about -- even though they couldn't hear or see most of it.

The production source told us ... "He's Kanye. What are we supposed to do?"

Kanye West gave ABC censors a collective heart attack Sunday night at the Billboard Music Awards -- because the rapper dropped so many n-words ... most of his act was dead silence.

Kanye closed the show with his hit, "All Day" -- but about all you could hear on TV was the song's title. Censors killed the audio for so much of the song ... you're really left wondering -- why bother? The censoring went as long as 15 solid seconds at times.

Plus, you could barely SEE Yeezy through all the fireworks and smoke. Again ... why bother?

One thing you could hear clearly -- the boos for Kylie and Kendall Jenner as they introduced their bro-in-law.

Harry Styles paid tribute to 1D, as in ... DEEZ NUTS ... in Las Vegas.

One Direction won the Billboard Music Award for Top Duo/Group, and Harry celebrated by slyly grabbing a hold -- playfully and gently, we hope -- of bandmate Niall Horan's balls.

Watch ... Niall plays it off pretty good.

Taylor Swift and Calvin Harris are a lot closer than expected at the Billboard Music Awards -- and he got the full GFE after she won an award.

Ok, Calvin wasn't the first person she hugged after winning Top Billboard 200 Album -- but he IS the only one who got an extended hug combined with a neck snuggle. They haven't exactly been undercover, but this qualifies as a full couple coming out.

5:55 PM PT -- Crisis averted. Mariah performed 2 songs -- "Vision of Love" and her new hit, "Infinity." Not only did she show up ... she NAILED one of the closing notes. Like, old school Mariah ... nailed it.

Mariah Carey knows how to cause a mass panic -- she bailed on her final rehearsal before the Billboard Music Awards, which air LIVE in a few hours -- but Mimi's got one word for the haters ... CHILL.

TMZ has learned BMA producers are scrambling because they don't know what's going on with Mariah -- especially on the heels of her bronchitis issues earlier this week. Our BMA sources say the other reason for concern is ... it's been 17 years since she was last on the award show.

But our Mariah sources are laughing off the panic, because producers shouldn't be shocked at all. As one source put it, "Nobody does dress [rehearsal]. WTF?? No big stars go ... ever."

It's true, you'd think award shows are old hat for a vet like Mariah. Plus, she performed as scheduled last night at Caesars Palace, and seemed fine.

As for what happens tonight on live TV? Stay tuned ...

Taylor Swift's playing the old music game -- make your fans think you're single, 'cause it's good for business -- and that may be why she'll sit 2 seats away from her boo at Sunday's Billboard Music Awards.

Taylor and Calvin Harris have been seen together in public showing lots of affection, but we're told Taylor requested that several of her friends form a human barrier between her and the famous DJ.

Apparently she wants to have interaction without reaction.

Miguel won't be celebrating the 2nd anniversary of his disastrous Billboard Music Awards performance -- unless he wants to raise a glass to the fan who's suing him for crash landing on her in Las Vegas.

One of the women who claimed to be injured during Miguel's infamous failed stage leap has finally lawyered up -- and in her lawsuit, Cindy Tsai says she took the brunt when Miguel came up short and landed on her head. She says her cabeza met the catwalk ... hard.

Tsai is suing Miguel -- as well as the MGM Grand Hotel, where the event was held -- for negligence and is seeking damages to cover medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering.

Another woman had considered suing for the incident ... but it looks like she never did.

Gotta hand it to Karrueche Tran ... girl dreams big -- on the heels of getting a tiny taste of Hollywood's award season she's already eyeing an Oscar-winning career.

Karrueche was leaving a party for "The Bay" -- the online soap opera she's on, which just got a Daytime Emmy nomination -- and we asked where she saw her career going.

KT replied, "I wanna be like Halle Berry."

Mind you, Karrueche did NOT get an Emmy nomination, only the show did -- still that's not stopping her from aiming high. And this is weird ... but Karrueche's not even sure Halle's her fave actress.

Kanye West had a great excuse for shooting Amy Schumer the death stare when she pulled her red carpet stunt on him and Kim Kardashian ... at least according to Amy's good friend, Questlove.

The Roots, and 'Tonight Show' drummer thinks Amy's pratfall at Time's Most Influential gala went right over Yeezy's head because the guy never lets his guard down in public ... and is way too worried about getting trolled.

The other reason, according to Questlove is ... Kanye thought Amy was just a random troll, and not a popular comedian -- with her own TV show, btw.

Check out the clip ... Q seems to think Amy can try this again next year -- and get different results.