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Pete Buttigieg is firing back at Rush Limbaugh's homophobic remarks with poise and class -- and interestingly enough ... he's got Steve Bannon supporting him here.

Mayor Pete went on CNN Sunday to talk about the campaign, Nevada, polls and attracting voters of color -- but he was also given the opportunity to respond to the conservative radio host's recent controversial POV ... that Trump would easily defeat a gay opponent.

PB was pretty measured, but also firm. He says he loves his husband, Chasten, and doesn't care who knows it. More importantly, he won't take family advice from someone like Rush -- who says Pete seems to enjoy making a show out of kissing a man on stage.

Pete corrects the record there as well -- telling Dana Bash he usually just hugs Chasten.

As we've reported ... DT himself has actually taken the opposite stance, saying he doesn't think Pete being gay would affect voters all that much -- and certainly shouldn't hurt his electability.

Welp, as it turns out ... Trump's old campaign pal, Steve Bannon, feels the exact same way. We got him out in NYC as he was leaving the FOX News studio and asked him about it. You gotta watch this for yourself because Steve is incredibly strong in his statement to us.

An insanely violent movie scene parody video following a fake Donald Trump as he shoots, stabs and kills political rivals and media outlets is being condemned ... and The White House says the President agrees.

The video -- an edited version of the church massacre scene from the film "Kingsman: The Secret Service" -- was reportedly played at a pro-Trump conference by his supporters at his Trump National Doral Miami resort last week.

In the vid, the fake Trump begins a killing spree at the "Church of Fake News" of the major media outlets and news sites like Politico, NPR, Slate, The Hill, HuffPo and Vice News ... along with the activist movement Black Lives Matter.

He also assaults or murders critics like John McCain, Mitt Romney, Maxine Waters, Rosie O'Donnell, Bernie Sanders, Adam Schiff and Barack Obama ... before putting a stake in the head of a person with a CNN logo for a face.

Chris Cuomo became the target of some serious heat after jokingly assuming female pronouns during an LGBTQ town hall event ... and then offering up a quick apology.

Cuomo was one of several CNN personalities to take the stage Thursday with Democratic candidates to discuss issues facing the LGBTQ community. Kamala Harris joined Cuomo on the stage and announced, "My pronouns are she/her/hers."

Cuomo mockingly replied, "Mine too." Harris responded with, "Alright."

The backlash on social media was immediate ... and Cuomo apologized, tweeting, "PLEASE READ: When Sen. Harris said her pronouns were she her and her's, I said mine too. I should not have. I apologize. I am an ally of the LGBTQ community, and I am sorry because I am committed to helping us achieve equality. Thank you for watching our townhall."

Andrew Yang says folks should forgive Shane Gillis -- the newest cast member on 'SNL' -- over racist remarks he made about Asians ... and more importantly, ease up on seeking retribution.

The presidential hopeful -- who's Taiwanese-American -- went on CNN Sunday to elaborate on his thoughts from these past couple days ... calling for Shane to NOT lose his new job at "Saturday Night Live," but instead ... to be forgiven and used as a teachable moment.

As we reported ... as soon as Shane was announced as a member of the cast for the upcoming season, people dug up an old video of him making racist jokes about Asians. He has since apologized to those offended, saying he sometimes "pushes boundaries."

There's been a mixed reaction to Yang's approach -- as he tells Jake Tapper -- but he defends his position, saying our society has become too punitive in these scenarios, and that we as a country should strive to be better ... opting for forgiveness when possible.

He makes another interesting point, arguing Asian epithets are often not taken as seriously as others made about other ethnic groups ... despite being just as hurtful.

Still, even with that said ... he says we should let this one go, especially considering that Shane is a comedian, and -- in Andrew's eyes -- their words should be taken in that context.

Of course, Yang has offered to sit down with Shane to discuss the issue further -- going on to say he doesn't support the guy losing his job, adding that in the big picture of Shane's past work ... he just doesn't find Shane to be "malignant or evil" in his intentions.

April Ryan is going on TV this weekend to explain how and why a reporter was allegedly roughed up by her security this month, but we've learned she's denying responsibility.

Sources close to the White House correspondent and CNN contributor tell TMZ ... April insists that she did NOT give her security the go-ahead to remove, let alone get physical with, New Jersey reporter Charlie Kratovil a few weeks ago at an event she was speaking at.

Unfortunately, it appears that's exactly what went down ... and it got ugly fast.

On August 3, the New Brunswick Today journo told cops that April's bodyguard, Joel Morris, snatched his phone away from him while he was recording April's remarks at the Heldrich Hotel, and then twisted his wrist in an attempt to get him outta there.

April took to social media Saturday, teasing her appearance on CNN Sunday ... where she'll presumably tell her side of the story about the dust-up.

The whole thing was partially captured on Kratovil's smartphone camera, and you can hear what sounds like a physical confrontation. Before that though, you see Kratovil recording April come up to the podium -- where she's addressing some politicos -- but gets interrupted by Morris, whom we're told whispered to her, "Ms. Ryan, stop talking."

She does, giving him a head nod at the same time, and then stands up there silently while her guard walks over to the reporter. It's all downhill from there ... watch.

Our April sources tell us that the reason she stopped talking is because she and her team have a strict policy on people recording her speak in public, to avoid having her words taken out of context. We're told Kratovil was NOT pre-approved to film her here.

It should be noted -- in the police report filed by Kratovil, obtained by TMZ, he told cops he'd been invited to the event by a PR person who wasn't on hand to confirm or deny.

As for why she even has security with her in the first place, well ... she gave us the rundown on that back in November, after she'd received multiple threats on her life.

Anyway, our sources tell us April is doubling down on the fact she didn't sign off on how Kratovil was handled, as she's a huge advocate for First Amendment rights. BTW, Kratovil has a history of filming confrontational encounters for NBT ... it's kinda his thing.

Morris was ultimately booked for assault, harassment and theft, and he'll reportedly be arraigned next month. Either way, we're told he no longer works for April.

We've reached out to Charlie Kratovil for comment ... so far, no word back.

Larry King is moving on ... once again -- he's divorcing his 7th wife, Shawn Southwick King.

Larry filed divorce docs Tuesday in L.A. Superior Court ... pulling the plug on his 22-year marriage to Shawn. The couple does not have any minor children -- their 2 sons, Cannon and Chance ... are 19 and 20 years old, respectively.

They've been down this road at least once before. In 2010, the former CNN host filed for divorce, and it was actually a race to the courthouse -- Shawn tried to file first, but Larry's legal team was faster on the draw. Didn't matter in the end ... he and Shawn eventually reconciled.

They dealt with more marital turmoil in 2016, when they publicly addressed cheating rumors.

The breakup comes on the heels of Larry's medical crisis in April, where he suffered what doctors described to Shawn as a heart attack.

This will be 85-year-old Larry's 8th divorce ... assuming he goes through with it this time. He married one of his wives, Alene Akins, twice ... that was way back in the 1960s.

Lord, he was born a ramblin' man ...

Chris Cuomo losing his s*** over being called Fredo deserves a Don Corleone slap in the face -- so says a guy who acted in "The Godfather," and thinks CC completely overreacted.

We got Gianni Russo -- who played the treacherous, wife-beating Carlo in the OG 'Godfather' -- and he tells us Chris made an ass out of himself, and his family, by flipping out over the insult ... not to mention suggesting it was an ethnic slur against Italians.

Gianni says that's nonsense ... all Fredo means is that someone's weak, there's nothing else to it. He also says Chris's dad, ex-Gov. Mario Cuomo, woulda smacked him over this.

Of course, Chris came out publicly and issued an apology of sorts after he was caught on camera  in a profanity-laced tirade, threatening to beat up a guy who called him Fredo. He said he shouldn't allow himself to be baited like that, and had to be better.

As for why Chris responded the way he did -- Gianni says he has no clue ... as he doubts his family would ever use such a term in referring to him. But, as our camera guy suggests -- it's possible Chris might have heard it from others throughout his life.

His older brother, Andrew Cuomo, is the current New York governor, after all.

Whatever the case, Gianni seems to believe Chris hurt his career by doing what he did. In his eyes, not even a plea to the Godfather himself could make this one go away.

CNN anchor Chris Cuomo went nuclear on a guy who called him a derogatory name, threatening to beat his ass.

Chris was in NY Sunday when a guy approached him and called him "Fredo" ... the insulting name of a character in "The Godfather" ... a name that connotes weakness.

Chris is from a proud Italian family and it set him off, challenging the man, threatening ... "I'll f***in' ruin your sh*t. I'll f***in' throw you down these stairs."

Cuomo told the guy ... the name "Fredo" is as offensive to Italians as the n-word is to African Americans.

He's a popular anchor who's made a name for himself as a fair-minded guy, but everything dissolved into abject rage as he scoffed at the guy who claimed -- clearly falsely -- that he thought Chris' name was Fredo.

It escalated even further -- Chris was clearly looking for a fight ... challenging the guy to take a swing at him.

He did not anchor his show Monday night ... CNN says he was scheduled to be off.

CNN's Don Lemon says he wasn't shocked to see President Trump congratulate Nick Bosa on being the #2 pick in the draft -- while ignoring Kyler Murray -- in part because Bosa is white and Murray is black.

Lemon was leaving the CNN building after his show Monday night when we asked about Trump's congratulatory tweet to Bosa ... who had been very vocal about his support for #45.

"Bosa is a supporter of Trump," Lemon said ... "[Bosa] doesn't like Kaepernick. It's everything this President is about."

Lemon added, "I think we should be congratulating the #1 person [Kyler Murray] as the #1 person made history."

Of course, Murray became the first person to be selected in the first round of the NFL and the MLB draft ... an amazing accomplishment.

"Don't forget the #1 person [Murray] is also black," Lemon added.

As for Bosa, he had previously called Kaepernick a "clown" on social media -- but later deleted the tweet.

When pressed about Kaepernick at his first press conference with the San Francisco 49ers, Bosa backtracked ... saying the name-calling was a bad decision.

Bosa also said he "respects what [Kaepernick] has done" and apologized for the initial tweet.

Van Jones brought a murderer together with his victim's child for his new show about restorative justice -- and the meeting was so powerful ... he cried so hard his nose started bleeding!!!

Van was on "TMZ Live" Friday, giving us the lowdown on his new series, "The Redemption Project With Van Jones." It brings offenders face-to-face with the people most affected by their violent crimes.

He says the process offers victims and criminals a way to finally heal their wounds. He adds ... every word uttered during the series is an authentic expression of someone "trying to climb out of hell." Riveting stuff, for sure.

As you might imagine, Van says he and his team struggled with the ethics of bringing victims together with convicts ... and explains the steps they had to take to make sure things didn't spiral out of control.

'Redemption' premieres Sunday night on CNN.