Fired

Stunning news in the MLB ... the L.A. Angels have just fired Joe Maddon after hiring him less than three years ago.

The team announced the move Tuesday afternoon ... canning the 68-year-old as the Angels are currently mired in a 12-game losing streak.

The org. has named Phil Nevin manager in the interim.

Despite the team's skid of consecutive losses, most figured Maddon would at least make it through the year -- given his track record (he's a 3-time Manager of the Year and two-time World Series Champ) and the fact that the team just signed him before the 2020 season.

But, L.A. execs clearly believed the squad was underachieving ... especially with two of the best players in baseball in Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani on the roster.

And, it certainly didn't help Maddon's case that he was getting snippy with reporters lately -- becoming visibly upset with some following the team's loss to the Red Sox on Monday night.

Joe Girardi is out in Philadelphia ... the Phillies just canned the manager after the team's disappointing 22-29 start.

The team announced the move Friday morning, revealing bench coach Rob Thomson will replace the 57-year-old.

"It has been a frustrating season for us up until this point, as we feel that our club has not played up to its capabilities," president of baseball operations David Dombrowski said in a statement.

"While all of us share the responsibility for the shortcomings, I felt that a change was needed and that a new voice in the clubhouse would give us the best chance to turn things around."

The move is very early -- there's still more than 100 games left in the season -- but the Phillies are already 12 games behind the first-place Mets in the National League East division.

The Phils were a favorite to win the division this year ... after they shelled out huge contracts to Nick Castellanos and Kyle Schwarber this offseason.

"I believe we have a talented group that can get back on track," Dombrowski said, "and I am confident that Rob, with his experience and familiarity with our club, is the right man to lead us going forward."

Girardi was hired by the Phillies in 2019 and never made the playoffs with him as headman.

Matthew Morrison is taking a stand against claims he sent "flirty" text messages to a contestant on "So You Think You Can Dance" ... reading the alleged message out loud, and putting an end to speculation it was inappropriate.

Morrison, who was recently released from the show for failing to follow "competition production protocols" is clearly agitated in a video he posted on Instagram, captioned, "Just to clarify .."

He opens it by saying, "It's unfortunate that I have to sit here and defend myself and my family against blatantly untrue statements made anonymously, but I have nothing to hide. So, in the interest of transparency ... I will read to you the one message I wrote to a dancer on the show."

He then reads the message, which we've verified as being sent on April 25 at 12:34 AM and says, "Hey! It's Matthew. If you don't mind, would love to get your number and talk you through some things ..."

Morrison then explains he wanted to connect with the contestant because they share a "mutual respect" for a choreographer, and he wanted to get said choreographer a job on the show.

Our sources say it was the contestant who reported the message to show producers as being potentially problematic.

Sources close to Morrison tell us he was unaware of the no contact rule in his judge's contract. We're told he's worked on dance shows in the U.K. where collabing with contestants was encouraged ... and didn't think it was going to be an issue.

Mark Munoz -- a former UFC fighter who beat Demian Maia in 2011 -- has been placed on administrative leave from his high school wrestling coach job ... after he let quarreling students box each other, TMZ Sports has learned.

Munoz accepted a job to be the H.S. wrestling coach at Fairmont Private Schools in Anaheim, Calif. back in Sept. 2020 -- but we're told things at the gig went awry just recently.

According to sources close to Munoz, two students got into an argument on the playground ... and then went to Munoz -- who we're told was not made aware of the tiff -- to ask if they could put on boxing gloves and settle things.

The 44-year-old, per our sources, allowed the scrap to happen -- but we're told the ex-UFC fighter believed the impromptu boxing match was more jovial than violent.

We're told, however, one of the boys' parents was outraged about the scrap -- and went to administration over it all.

A school spokesperson declined to get into the specifics of the allegations against Munoz, but did confirm the coach has been placed on administrative leave through the end of this school year and will not have his contract picked up once it ends.

"[He] will not be returning to campus," the spokesperson said.

The school had previously been thrilled to add Munoz to its staff -- saying in a statement following his hiring that he has a resume that "reads like a 'Who's Who' in the sport."

Brazilian soccer star Marcelo lost his first team spot with French club Lyon for raising a stink -- literally -- with reports claiming the defender's "continuous farting and laughing" in the locker room led to his demotion last year.

The 34-year-old -- who now plays for Bordeaux -- was reportedly initially bumped down to Lyon's reserve squad back in August for laughing during teammate Leo Dubois' speech to boost morale after a bad loss to Angers ... which the club called "inappropriate behavior."

As it turns out, there was a lot more gas behind the decision ... with ESPN claiming Marcelo was punished for incessantly pooting in the dressing room and laughing while around team manager Peter Bosz and director Juninho.

Marcelo went on to make 11 appearances for Lyon II ... scoring 3 goals.

Lyon and Marcelo eventually farted parted ways in January, when the club terminated his contract. Two days later, he joined Bordeaux.

Fred Savage's alleged on-set behavior appears to have caught up with him -- the guy was just fired from the reboot of his old TV show ... stemming from how he conducted himself.

The one-time child star and former star of the original sitcom was terminated by ABC Friday ... meaning he won't be able to direct or executive produce the revived series, which is exactly what he was doing before getting booted.

A rep for 20th Television (now under the Disney umbrella) says ... "Recently, we were made aware of allegations of inappropriate conduct by Fred Savage, and as is policy, an investigation was launched. Upon its completion, the decision was made to terminate his employment as an executive producer and director of 'The Wonder Years.'"

Unclear when this investigation started or what the details of the grievances entail -- everyone's learning about this all in one fell swoop, as the allegations themselves had gone unreported until now -- but THR does say there were 3 separate complaints.

The news is fairly shocking, but perhaps not all that surprising ... Savage was at the center of another on-set investigation a few years back during his new show "The Grinder," when he was accused of treating female crew members like crap ... for which he was sued.

Ex-WWE and AEW wrestler Brian Kendrick is explaining his motivation behind spewing a wildly controversial conspiracy about the Holocaust a decade ago ... saying he was trying to "create a buzz" and become a villain.

The 42-year-old -- who was canned just one day after signing with Tony Khan's promotion back in February -- issued another apology for his hurtful comments on the "Duke Loves Rasslin" podcast this week ... saying at the time, he did not care if he offended anyone with his "horrific" words.

"When it gets thrown back in your face, one -- it's embarrassing, but two -- you start to reflect, you're forced to reflect on it," Kendrick said on Wednesday.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry for being so cold-hearted and trying to profit off of tragedy, I suppose it's what it was. I was trying to gain off of others' tragedies by making conspiracy to create a buzz for myself to gain some sort of bookings."

"It was a terrible idea and even if it hadn't affected anybody, it's still just horribly embarrassing. I am sorry for anybody -- to people I hurt, for making light of stuff that happened to them or their family. I hope you accept that."

As we previously reported, Kendrick claimed sometime between 2009 and 2011, to believe the Holocaust was "overblown and the Red Cross stated it was only 250,000 Jews who were killed and the number was blown up to justify the creation of Israel."

Shortly after the old clips resurfaced, he lost his job.

Brian isn't just sorry -- he says he's been working with The Survivor Mitzvah Project, which is a charity that supports elderly Holocaust survivors ... and is focused on becoming a better person.

Billy Bush has plenty of advice for Will Smith on how to deal with a moment that could badly stain his career in Hollywood ... and he's reached out to Will offering help.

We got Billy Wednesday at Judi's Deli in Beverly Hills ... and he scoffed at people who are calling for Will's cancellation, calling it "crazy" and "ridiculous."

Billy, who's been through it himself, says one bad moment doesn't define a person's life, even something as huge as Will slapping Chris Rock at The Oscars.

The "Extra" host isn't defending Will's conduct, but he says everyone snaps from time to time, and he does acknowledge Will's meltdown was epic ... nevertheless, B.B. thinks Will's already paid a steep price, asking, "You don't think that guy's hurting enough?"

Billy says he contacted Will's publicist and urged the actor to read a book called "The Daily Stoic," a book he says has critical life lessons that will help Will navigate troubled waters.

Of course, Billy was fired from "Today" after the infamous "Access Hollywood" bus audio surfaced shortly before the 2016 election, in which Billy laughs at Donald Trump's hyper-offensive comments about women. So now Billy wants to offer the lessons he learned about overcoming obstacles.

Mark Lye -- a former PGA Tour pro -- was fired from his golf radio host job this weekend ... after he said on-air that watching the WNBA made him want to shoot himself.

Lye made the disparaging comments on SiriusXM's "The Scorecard" show on Saturday ... while trying to explain why he's now a fan of women's golf.

"You know, the LPGA Tour to me is a completely different tour than it was 10 years ago," Lye said. "You couldn't pay me to watch. You really couldn't. Because I just, I couldn't relate at all."

He continued, "It’s kind of like, you know, if you're a basketball player -- and I'm not trashing anybody -- please, don't take it the wrong way -- but I saw some highlights of ladies basketball. Man, is there a gun in the house? I'll shoot myself than watch that."

Lye told GOLF.com the comments almost immediately got him fired ... saying SiriusXM officials canned him a short time afterward.

"I was terminated about comments made about the WNBA," said Lye, who added that he did apologize for the words in the ensuing segment.

SiriusXM confirmed the firing to GOLF.com, saying the 69-year-old "will no longer be hosting."

Lye put out a statement on Twitter on Sunday following the firing ... appearing to defend the comments.

"The fact that I can’t relate to WNBA does not make me sexist in any way," he wrote. "All you haters should listen to the whole segment, where I completely glorified womens golf, which I love to cover. Thanks for listening."

A youth basketball coach who was overseeing a team full of kids 10 years old and younger was fired over the weekend after he appeared to choke a ref during a game.

The wild scene all went down Saturday at the Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks, Calif., when the coach of the Cavs Youth Basketball's 10U team appeared to snap on a ref following a controversial call.

The founder of the Cavs' org., Darryl McDonald, tells TMZ Sports his coach was hit with two technical fouls ... and then a verbal altercation ensued.

McDonald, who was not at the venue at the time of the incident but says he launched a thorough investigation into it all, tells us after a back-and-forth between the coach and the refs ... his coach put his hands around the ref's neck.

Video from the scene shows the man was locked on the ref for several seconds ...  before another ref came in and appeared to punch the coach to get him to let go.

McDonald says the fight was broken up just moments later.

McDonald tells us he immediately suspended the head coach, and after a probe into the incident, he ultimately fired the guy on Sunday.

"It was unfortunate," McDonald said. "Our program has been around for over 30 years and before it even went viral, the coach was no longer part of our program. It's completely unacceptable to behave that way in front of our youth. There's no excuse, I don't care what someone says to you. You have to find a better way to handle that particular situation."

McDonald says it does not appear that anyone was seriously injured in the incident. He did not know if criminal charges were being pursued.

The Antonio Brown cross-country turn up continues ... the NFL star spent Wednesday night partying with Rick Ross at the rapper's 46th birthday party in Miami, and TMZ Sports has video of the bash.

The ex-Bucs wideout hit up the invite-only, star-studded event last night at Mr. Hospitality's El Tucan restaurant in south Florida to celebrate another trip around the sun for Rozay (and the release of his new album, "Richer Than I Ever Been")

In addition to AB, we're told Nelly, Timbaland and French Montana were also in the house.

Brown and Ross are both Florida natives ... and have been friends for years. In fact, Ross made a cameo in AB's "Whole Lotta Money" music video.

Of course, AB pulled up in grand style ... sporting a grey suit and black turtleneck and lots of jewelry to accompany the drip.

Alina Kozhevnikova -- a fan fave on "90 Day Fiance" -- ain't gonna be seeing any more screen time in the future ... and it's all over old racist comments.

Sources tell TMZ ... the Russian bride-to-be, who's risen to prominence during this season of 'Before the 90 Days,' has been fired by TLC brass ... this after a handful of social media posts resurfaced showing her using the n-word and other offensive language.

One Facebook post is from 2014, where she uses the n-word at least five times to describe a party to which she was invited. Another post shows her commenting on a photo, again using the n-word ... except she replaced the Gs with Qs.

A third post references Hugh Grant and how handsome she thinks he is, while noting he'd had children with a Chinese woman and expressing dismay his kids would be "kinda Asian." There's another post where she appears to be mocking Muslim people.

These comments have all surfaced in recent weeks, and now ... we're told Alina's been booted from the franchise.

Here's the thing ... our sources tell us TLC has already wrapped filming for the season — so it's unclear if they'll edit her out of episodes yet to air. She will not appear in the Tell-All episode or any future "90 Day Fiance" shows.

Her American partner, Caleb Greenwood, has stood by her side ... insisting she's not racist, and that he knows her heart.

The Ashley's Reality Roundup first reported news of her departure.

Jennie Nguyen has just gotten the boot from Bravo. The Real Housewives star will no longer be a cast member on the show ... something folks have demanded, after some of her allegedly racist posts started making rounds on social media.

In an Instagram post, the network acknowledged it failed to take action once some of Jennie's offensive posts came to light ... but from here on out, execs say she will NOT be filming on "The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City".

As you know, the (now former) real housewife came under fire once her Facebook posts from 2020 began to resurface on social media. During the Black Lives Matter protests, Jennie re-shared and posted tons of photos and memes that some folks saw as a direct attack on Black Americans.

The post (above) is just one example. She also reposted and shared posts that mentioned phrases like "BLM Thugs" and "Violent Gangs" ... in other words, mocking the BLM movement.

Forget ice cream and movies ... Joe Judge is getting over his New York Giants breakup with beer and pizza -- and a whole hell of a lot of it!!!

The former G-Men head coach -- who was canned on Tuesday following two abysmal seasons with the team -- ordered a boatload of 'za and suds to his New Jersey home on Wednesday, presumably to help drown out his newfound sorrows.

Pictures, taken by a photo agency, show the newly unemployed 40-year-old had nine boxes of pizza as well as several cases of Michelob Ultra and Coors Light delivered to his place. We're also told Judge had flowers arrive on his doorstep as well.

No word yet on if anyone is joining Judge in the pity party -- or if the massive amounts of food and booze are strictly for Judge.

But, if the latter is the case, and it seems excessive -- it quite frankly might not be.

Judge had a brutal two-year stretch as head man of the Giants -- going 10-23 -- and things got so bad, New York co-owner John Mara said Wednesday this year was his "lowest moment" with the team.

Antonio Brown's NFL career is over -- at least, that's what legendary NFL coach Dick Vermeil thinks ... telling TMZ Sports he can't see another team giving him a shot after his wild, shirtless exit from the Buccaneers.

"I can't believe somebody would," Dick tells us. "A man demonstrates what he is by what he does and he answered everybody's evaluation questions when we saw him doing that stuff."

Of course, Vermeil is referring to AB taking his pads and jersey off and heading to the locker room -- in the middle of Sunday's game against the Jets -- after a disagreement with coach Bruce Arians.

"I have never in my 30-something years of coaching from high school, junior college, Division I and the NFL -- I have never seen anything like that," he added.

Vermeil -- who coached the Eagles, Rams, and Chiefs -- gives Tampa Bay credit for trying to help AB get his career back on track by signing him last season ... but says the controversial star was never going to change his ways.

"I think sometimes even though you're trying to do the right thing that you bring your own problems," Vermeil said.

"You create your own problems by bringing people that have been a problem," he continued, "What makes you think that you're gonna change 'em?"

Vermeil says he never would have given AB a shot to begin with ... saying, "I try to stay away with players that had problems because you have enough problems with players who don't have problems."

"To bring somebody in with a profile like he has, you only asking for problems."

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have formally released Antonio Brown ... and in announcing the news, the team called its former star a liar.

The Bucs said in a statement after officially cutting the wideout that he never indicated to their medical personnel that his ankle was too hurt to play in Sunday's game against the Jets.

Brown, of course, said the opposite in a lengthy statement Wednesday night ... claiming he did tell the team he was too injured -- and that head coach Bruce Arians still wanted him in the game nonetheless.

"While Antonio did receive treatment on his ankle and was listed on the injury report the week leading up to last Sunday's game, he was cleared to play by our medical team prior to the start of the game," the Bucs said Thursday.

"And at no point during the game did he indicate to our medical personnel that he could not play."

The Bucs went on to say that they've asked Antonio several times this week to be evaluated by "an outside orthopedic specialist" ... but say Antonio "has not complied."

"Maintaining the health and wellness of our players is of the utmost importance to our organization," the Bucs said.

As we previously reported, Brown melted down on the sidelines of the Bucs' game against the Jets at MetLife Stadium, stripping off his pads and shirt before running into the locker room.

After the blowup, Arians suggested that Brown had quit on the team ... telling Jay Glazer that he tried to get the wideout to go into the game multiple times, but AB refused and then left.

Brown, though, said Wednesday that's not the way things went down ... writing in a statement, "I took a seat on the sideline and my coach came up to me, very upset, and shouted, 'What's wrong with you? What's wrong with you?' I told him, 'It's my ankle.' But he knew that."

"He didn't call for medical attention," Brown added. "Instead, he shouted at me, 'YOU'RE DONE!' while he ran his finger across his throat. Coach was telling me that if I didn't play hurt, then I was done with the Bucs."

Arians previously said this week that Brown did not indicate to him at the time that he was hurt.

"I didn't quit," Brown insisted in his statement. "I was cut. I didn't walk away from my brothers. I was thrown out."

Brown says on Monday he saw a specialist, who told him that his ankle injury was so bad, it'll require season-ending surgery.

"What they did know until now is that on Monday morning I had an urgent MRI on my ankle," Brown said. "It shows broken fragments stuck in my ankle, the ligament torn from the bone, and cartilage loss, which are beyond painful. You can see the bone bulging from the outside."

Brown is now a free agent ... and he said Wednesday night he has no plans to retire.

"Once my surgery is complete, I'll be back to 100% and looking forward to next season. Business gonna be BOOMIN!"