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Larry King seems baffled by everyone he's known for decades ... and yes, you can add Roseanne Barr to that list.

The ex-CNN talk show host was out Wednesday in Bev Hills reflecting on Roseanne's swift nose dive following her extremely racist tweet, saying he didn't think that was the woman he's known for 30 years ... calling her recent pivot into extreme bigotry "bizarre."

Sounds like the people he was once chummy with have changed A LOT since the good ol' days, including President Trump ... whom Larry also said he didn't know anymore.

9:35 AM PT -- CNN has just released a response, stating, "The unfounded accusations made by Mr. Freeman's lawyer are disappointing and are difficult to reconcile with Mr. Freeman's own public statements in the aftermath of the story."

CNN also says it "stands by its reporting and will respond forcefully to any attempt by Mr. Freeman or his representatives to intimidate us from covering this important public issue."

Morgan Freeman is lashing out at CNN over its report that he sexually harassed women ... his lawyer calling the story "the product of malicious intent, falsehoods, slight-of-hand, an absence of editorial control, and journalistic malpractice."

CNN's report profiled 8 women over several years on the sets of his movies and other related events, claiming he made inappropriate sexual remarks and one time allegedly tried to lift up a woman's skirt to see if she was wearing underwear.

Morgan's lawyers fired off a lengthy letter to CNN, saying the report emanated from the bias of CNN reporter Chloe Melas, who claimed during a interview she had with Freeman when she was 6 months pregnant he allegedly shook her hand but did not let go and repeatedly looked her up and down saying, "You are ripe," and "Boy, do I wish I was there."

In the letter Freeman's lawyers wrote to CNN, they say Melas' version of the interview is false. They say the only comment on tape is "I wish I was there," and that was a reference to a story Michael Caine had told about congratulating a woman who he thought was pregnant when she was not.

The letter states, "One cannot know if [Melas' version of events] was the product of something as innocuous as Ms. Melas having misheard what Mr. Freeman said, her runaway self-centeredness, or her search for a sexual harassment perpetrator to 'expose' so that she could grab attention and advance her career."

The attorneys say CNN gave Melas a "greenlight to use CNN's considerable resources to launch a year-long witch hunt against Mr. Freeman."

The letter also says at least 2 of the alleged victims have said CNN misreported what they said.

When Van Met Winnie, it was nothing like Harry and Sally ... but CNN host Van Jones still got an unforgettable story out of it.

We got the CNN host Monday at LAX as he was heading to Memphis to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination. He also reflected on Winnie Mandela's death ... and the moment he, unexpectedly, came face-to-face with her.

As we reported, Nelson Mandela's wife died Monday after a lengthy battle with illness -- and even though her life was filled with scandals, Van says it's hard to judge her.

Rick Santorum says students who were protesting for gun control this weekend should look inward to help to solve mass shootings ... by learning CPR instead of taking to the streets.

You heard right. Santorum -- a former Republican U.S. senator -- gave his controversial hot take Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union," where he actually said student survivors should stop asking law makers to solve the gun crisis, and simply help themselves ... literally.

He suggested students oughta learn how to properly respond to real-life threats in the moment rather than doing a big song and dance for new gun laws, like the March for Our Lives rally Saturday. He also criticized Hollywood elites who helped organize the event.

Santorum was immediately met with pushback from the host running the panel, but we're not even sure if she understood exactly what he'd just said. We hardly believe it ourselves.

Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal got emotional talking about her relationship with Donald Trump, and although she admits she knew it was wrong ... she says the 2 were in love.

The 1998 Playboy Playmate of the Year sat down with CNN's Anderson Cooper ... and got misty-eyed talking about her alleged affair with Trump in 2006. McDougal says she's sorry for what she did and felt guilty about it, but she put the guilt aside because she was having fun ... and truly believed they had a meaningful thing going.

Karen claims she and Trump were much more than just sex partners -- they even said "I love you" to each other frequently -- and he had lovey nicknames for her too.

Earlier in the interview, McDougal reiterated one of her previous claims -- Trump tried to pay her money for sex. She says she declined and it made her sad because she couldn't believe he thought of her that way ... and she cried the whole ride home.

Anderson Cooper has officially split from his longtime boyfriend, Benjamin Maisani.

Cooper released a statement Thursday confirming that he and Maisani, a night club mogul, had "separated as boyfriends some time ago." He added, "We remain the best of friends, and will continue to share much of our lives together."

The two were spotted together earlier this week leaving the home they still share in Manhattan, so it seems they're still on good terms. They were together for nine years.

Rumors the two had broken up began to surface after several photos of Cooper with Dallas doctor Victor Lopez made their way onto social media over the past few months.

Cooper has not confirmed or denied if he and Lopez are dating, but all signs seemingly point to yes.

CNN's Erin Burnett's interview with ex-Trump campaign aide Sam Nunberg ended with a bang ... Burnett saying she smelled booze on him after a wild live broadcast.

Nunberg made the rounds on all the major networks Monday after making a big stink about a subpoena he'd been issued by Special Counsel Robert Mueller in connection to the Trump-Russia investigation -- saying he wouldn't comply and basically daring Mueller to arrest him.

He also said a BUNCH of other bizarre things on the air -- from claiming Trump had to have known about the Trump Tower Russia meeting in 2016, to accusing Carter Page of colluding with the Russians ... and calling Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders a "fat slob."

One of his last stops was apparently on Burnett's show, and she asked him point-blank if he'd been drinking at all throughout the day. Nunberg denied drinking, saying he'd only taken some anti-depressants.

TBS and CNN make their African-American employees work way harder to get a promotion ... according to an ex-employee who's now suing both networks, and their parent company.

Wanda Byrd, who is black, says she's worked for TBS for 13 years, and describes her job as a mid-level manager in quality assurance. She says she was passed over for a promotion to a senior level position, and claims a less-skilled and qualified white man got it.

In the suit, Byrd says that's par for the course.

According to docs, obtained by TMZ, black employees at TBS have a significantly lower promotion rate than Caucasians -- and zero people of color ever obtain the title of senior VP or higher. Byrd goes further, saying the company segregates ... keeping most black employees in certain divisions that she calls "less powerful and non-revenue generating."

Byrd says in her suit there is a dramatic difference in pay between blacks and whites -- and African-Americans have to work 3 times as long as Caucasians to receive any type of promotion.

She's not only suing for herself ... Byrd wants to make this a class action suit against TBS, CNN and Time Warner. To be clear, she never worked at CNN, but seems to be gunning for all Turner properties.

Patty Hearst was a rape victim and it's deplorable to run a movie or television show viciously attacking her ... this according to her family.

Hearst family sources tell TMZ ... Patty's relatives are beside themselves over the upcoming film and TV docuseries based on the book, 'American Heiress' by Jeffrey Toobin. The film and TV series paint Patty as a woman who embraced her captors and then tried to manipulate the system during her trial.

The family says Toobin's sources for the book are sketchy ... notably Bill Harris, one of Patty's captors, and Steve Weed, her former fiance who himself was disgraced.

Our sources say the best evidence that these projects are hit pieces is how they downplay Patty Hearst's rape ... which set the stage for a harrowing 19 months of captivity. To minimize rape, they say, is appalling but not surprising in a project driven by men. According to family sources, "When you strip it away in the midst of all this #TimesUp, #MeToo and 'listen to the victim' they are essentially saying she loved it. She was asking for it."

We're told the family's stance is this -- "They are making a victim who suffered, and still suffers, culpable for her trauma while showing a blatant disregard for the victim and the human aspect of the story. This is another example of men trivializing women."

Danielle Bregoli is unimpressed at Anderson Cooper, thinks Andy Cohen looks like a human Q-tip and doesn't care these "60-to-70-year-old men" trashed her during their CNN New Year's Eve show.

We got the 14-year-old rapper at LAX, and she made it crystal clear ... Anderson and Andy are waaaay outside her demo. Her point was that ancient Anderson had no reason to know who she was or what she's done given his position in life -- aka old.

CNN says it's gotten to the bottom of Anderson Cooper's Trump-bashing tweet ... and all signs point to a forgetful assistant.

The mystery was cleared up Wednesday when the network said the message was sent from Cooper's assistant in NYC, while Anderson was in D.C.

CNN says the assistant, who's been on the job for 10 years, left his phone unlocked and unattended at the gym, and someone grabbed it and fired off the tweet. He's apparently the only other person besides Anderson with access to the account.

As we reported ... Anderson's verified Twitter account replied to Trump early Wednesday morning -- calling 45 a "tool!" and a "Pathetic loser."

Roy Moore's spokesman was a deer in the headlights when he got into a brief, but epic, debate with CNN's Jake Tapper about Muslims swearing on Bibles.

Ted Crockett was a guest on Tapper's show Tuesday when Tapper asked him why Moore doesn't believe Muslims can serve in Congress. Crockett fired off a shaky explanation related to Muslims and the Bible -- but, when Jake dropped some legal knowledge on him ... there was super awkward silence. Like, biblical.

Things got even more uncomfy when it came to the topic of homosexuality.

Less than 2 hours to cast your vote, Alabama!

The Game has some strong advice for all those judging LaVar Ball's parenting tactics -- DON'T -- 'cause he says whatever the Ball family leader decides to do, it's in the best interest of his kids.

TMZ Sports spoke with the Compton rapper at Ace of Diamonds in West Hollywood about LaVar pulling LiAngelo outta UCLA ... and Game says no matter how he personally feels about the move, LaVar's doing what he thinks is best for his sons.

LaVar Ball says the punishment UCLA dropped on his son, LiAngelo, is worse than him going to jail ... saying the school shouldn't "hang him on a cross" over one mistake.

TMZ Sports broke the story ... LaVar is pulling LiAngelo from UCLA due to the school's decision to indefinitely suspend his son. The Ball family patriarch now tells CNN's Chris Cuomo the decision wasn't just his and, in fact, Gelo agreed with the call.

LaVar says Gelo trusted him to make the decision because ... he was gonna be 1 and done -- leaving UCLA after one season, and then heading to the NBA or Europe.

LaVar says there's no reconsidering -- the decision's done.

LiAngelo -- along with LaVar -- also appeared on the Today show ... and talked about shoplifting in China, getting caught by the cops, and spending time in Chinese jail.

CNN political analyst Angela Rye is getting flooded with menacing threats, and she says it began after she started dating Common ... TMZ has learned.

According to court docs, Rye said she's received annoying, harassing and threatening messages on her phone, social media and email. She says they were just annoying and derogatory at first, but got scary when the sender got specific.

Angela and Common reportedly became a thing over the summer -- and cops say some of the messages referenced locations they visited that were not publicized. Then on August 5, Rye got an email that included the following: "Yr dumb dead ass gonna be found in a river" and "Let me catch ya ass I'm put the paws on ya."

LAPD obtained search warrants to dig through the sender's social media. They have his or her screen name, and we're told the Threat Management division is on the case.

Andy Cohen's stoked about co-hosting CNN's New Year's Eve show with his pal, Anderson Cooper, this year, but has severe amnesia about the comedian who had the gig before him.

The 'Watch What Happens Live' host was at LAX when he told us he and Anderson are already prepping for their 4-hour spectacular. He got really quiet though when we asked if he'd talked to Kathy Griffin -- who CNN fired from the NYE show after the Trump beheading photo debacle.

Andy's response was hilarious -- unless you're Kathy. Remember, she called Anderson "spineless" when he publicly called her out over the Trump thing. It seems Andy's holding a grudge.

If you never saw that classic Mariah response to someone asking her about J Lo, just watch ... Andy does a dead-on impression.