News

The raging L.A. wildfires have brought several Hollywood productions to a screeching halt ... and there's no end in sight.

We're told fires across Southern California -- from Bel-Air and Malibu to Ventura and the San Fernando Valley -- have shut down FOX's 'Last Man on Earth' in Chatsworth, Bravo's "Flipping Out" in Encino and Amazon's "Goliath" in Griffith Park ... just to name a few.

Several commercials and marketing campaigns have also been affected -- from a Chevy commercial set to shoot in the Angeles National Forest to photo shoots for Subaru and luxury retailer Lord & Taylor.

The halt comes on the heels of "S.W.A.T." and "Westworld" shutting down.

Sources at Film L.A. tell us none of the sets have been damaged and production halt is out of precaution. It's unclear when filming resumes because it'll depend on the fire's intensity, containment and aftermath. This, of course, pales in comparison to homes lost and hundreds of thousands forced to evacuate.

Cynthia Bailey and Chrissy Teigen are alike in a lot of ways -- 'cause they'd both be super moms in an emergency fire situation.

We got the 'Real Housewives of Atlanta' star at LAX and briefed her on the latest news about the L.A. fires and people evacuating -- like Chrissy, for example.

We asked Cynthia what she would take in a hot second, were she in that same crisis. Turns out her priorities line up pretty closely with her pal Chrissy -- with a few exceptions.

Cynthia has 2 items on her list Chrissy left behind. Not that there's anything wrong with Oreos.

Adama Iwu -- one of "The Silence Breakers" for TIME's Person of the Year issue -- made the most of the honor during the cover photo shoot and a pretty cool meeting with Ashley Judd.

Adama, an activist who exposes sexual harassment, tells us she didn't think it was a sure thing she and the others speaking out sexual misconduct would land the cover. She says TIME swore them all to secrecy anyway.

She knew the odds of the cover were increasing when she was invited to a photo shoot -- and had a perfectly timed face-to-face with Judd. As Adama put it, Ashley is part of the reason she decided to speak out.

No such moment with Taylor Swift though -- Iwu says she posed separately from the group.

KYLE is absolutely devastated to see the house and hometown where he grew up reduced to little more than ashes.

The "iSpy" rapper tells us he was watching the news Tuesday when, all of a sudden, he saw video from his hometown of Ventura. It was ravaged so hard by the flames, more than 1,000 firefighters were battling.

Check it out ... it gets worse for KYLE, who couldn't believe what he saw next. The rapper pleaded with fans to help his community as they try to rebuild.

Matt Lauer hit up a Long Island deli late Wednesday morning ... the same deli his wife hit up hours earlier.

Matt walked out of the Jimmy Jims Deli with another customer -- the 2 clearly had some sort of conversation inside and said goodbye to each other as they walked out the door.

He was much more subdued with the photog who asked about the various allegations.

It's interesting ... his wife, Annette, was not wearing a wedding ring when she made her deli run. Matt was not wearing his ring either.

Don't expect the famed Getty Center Museum to pack up its billions of dollars worth of art as a raging wildfire gets closer ... because the museum might be the safest place in L.A. to survive a fire.

Getty spokesman Ron Hartwig tells TMZ ... The Getty was built and designed to withstand fires given its fire-prone location on a ridge of the Santa Monica Mountains. The exterior is made of travertine stone and metal, which would make it very difficult for fire to penetrate.

Even the plants around the museum were chosen specifically because they're fire retardant -- and the museum windows have automatic shades draped with water. The building also has a sophisticated air filtration system to keep smoke out of the galleries ... and a water reserve on-site to douse flames.

In fact, the Getty so believes in its systems ... there's NO vault to store the art.

TIME didn't pick a person of the year this time around ... they picked people who opened the floodgates in America's sexual harassment awakening.

TIME chose "The Silence Breakers," including Ashley Judd, Taylor Swift -- who sued a DJ and won earlier this year -- and former Uber engineer Susan Fowler. Also pictured on the cover ... activist Adama Iwu and strawberry picker Isabel Pascual.

TIME writes, "Movie stars are supposedly nothing like you and me. They're svelte, glamorous, self-possessed. They wear dresses we can't afford and live in houses we can only dream of. Yet it turns out that -- in the most painful and personal ways -- movie stars are more like you and me than we ever knew."

Also mentioned ... Terry Crews, Rose McGowan, Alyssa Milano, Selma Blair, Senator Sara Gelser, and Megyn Kelly.

Matt Lauer's punching in for his new gig ... picking up kids for his elementary school carpool.

Lauer was driving his 11-year-old son, Thijs, to school Monday morning, and also scooped up one of his kid's friends too. Coming off a $25 million/year gig at NBC ... we're guessing the disgraced news anchor is immediately in the running for world's richest school bus driver.

Interestingly, Lauer is still rocking his wedding ring ... as he was last week too.

Bill O'Reilly is being sued by a woman he settled up with in a harassment case, claiming he violated a clause in their agreement that prohibited him from talking trash about her.

Rachel Bernstein, who was a junior producer at FOX News, claims she settled a lawsuit in 2002 for an undisclosed amount. She claimed O'Reilly was extremely abusive toward her.

O'Reilly made a statement to The New York Times last April, which triggered Bernstein's lawsuit. O'Reilly said, "In my more than 20 years at Fox News Channel, no one has ever filed a complaint about me with the Human Resources Department, even on the anonymous hotline."

Bernstein says O'Reilly's statement is false, claiming she repeatedly complained to HR and various Fox execs.

Billy Bush is calling out Donald Trump ... asserting that it was, in fact, him on the Access Hollywood tape, and he DID say "Grab 'em by the p****."

Bush penned an op-ed for the New York Times Sunday with the title "Yes, Donald Trump, You Said That." In the piece, he says it clear as day ... "He said it. 'Grab ‘em by the p****.' Of course he said it. And we laughed along, without a single doubt that this was hypothetical hot air from America’s highest-rated bloviator."

Trump has reportedly tried casting doubt on the authenticity of the Access Hollywood tape, suggesting it could be a fake. But Bush crushes that notion completely.

The op-ed also covers Bush's rise at NBC, with a seemingly defiant Bush writing ... "Was I acting out of self-interest? You bet I was. Was I alone? Far from it. With Mr. Trump’s outsized viewership back in 2005, everybody from Billy Bush on up to the top brass on the 52nd floor had to stroke the ego of the big cash cow along the way to higher earnings."

He adds ... "None of us were guilty of knowingly enabling our future president. But all of us were guilty of sacrificing a bit of ourselves in the name of success."

Bush ends by saying the past year has been an awakening for him, and he feels he's a better man now for his 3 daughters. He left NBC after the tape surfaced last year during the election.

Tomi Lahren doesn't think President Trump has anything to fear despite his former national security adviser pleading guilty to lying to the FBI ... so she says he can just keep on making America great again.

We got the Fox News contributor at LAX Saturday and asked if Trump should be nervous about Michael Flynn deciding to turn state's evidence in his plea deal. She says no way, because if there was a smoking gun ... we'd already know.

Tomi's confidence seems to echo Trump's, who claimed earlier Saturday he fired Flynn because of his lying and said there's nothing to hide.

Lahren then steered the topic to something she and her fellow conservatives seem to care more about. Hint -- it doesn't involve Mueller's investigation ... or Russia.

Meredith Vieira and Matt Lauer loved sharing a good joke and she had no problem when Matt leered at her and asked her to bend more so he could see her cleavage ... so says Meredith's husband.

Richard Cohen -- a noted journalist and author -- tells TMZ he's aware of the 2006 video TMZ posted Wednesday and said it was not inappropriate. Cohen says they had that kind of relationship where such comments were not off limits.

Richard says during Meredith's 10-year run at "Today" she was never aware of any sexual misconduct allegations lodged against Matt. He was emphatic ... Matt never did anything untoward with his wife. Richard goes on to say he and Meredith occasionally had dinner with Matt and he was nothing but a great guy.

As we reported ... Matt and Meredith had another now-cringeworthy moment last year when she confronted Matt about a "huge bag of sex toys" in his office. As you know, he allegedly gave a sex toy to a female staffer as a gift.

Larry King saw some smoke he liked, decided to take a puff and it was a horrible idea ... according to the ex-cable news guru himself.

We got Larry leaving Craig's Wednesday where he was talkin' possible Matt Lauer replacements -- but quickly got sidetracked by a woman with a vape pen. She told LK it was cucumber flavored -- which was more than enough to peak Larry's interest.

Just one puff is all it took to launch him into a coughing fit. Watch what happened when she tried to talk him into puff #2.

Matt Lauer exposed himself to a female co-worker, and gave another one a sex toy as a present -- and that's just the tip of the iceberg -- according to dozens of current and former NBC staffers.

The former "Today" co-host also allegedly enjoyed playing the game "F**k, Marry, Kill" in regards to his female co-hosts at NBC. The bombshell allegations came out in a Variety investigation.

One woman says Lauer once delivered a sex toy to a female co-worker, and attached an explicit note ... detailing how he'd use it on her. Several accusers claim his office was ground zero for much of the sexual misconduct. For instance, he allegedly called a female employee into his office ... dropped trou, and flaunted his penis.

That particular allegation is interesting, considering a Dec. 2014 skit that aired on "Today" depicting Lauer removing his pants after a spill, showing off his boxers to female co-hosts and saying, "Drink it in, ladies."

According to the report ... Lauer's office also had a secret button under his desk, so he could lock the door without getting up.

One former producer claims several of Matt's office flings were consensual, but added they were still problematic because of the power he had as the face of the network. The producer added, "He knew people wouldn't ever complain."

NBC News honchos have addressed the troops about Matt Lauer's firing, and they said they have to do a better job letting alleged victims know they can safely report sexual harassment and assault.

NBC sources tell us in one of the meetings NBC News President Noah Oppenheim did not further explain why Matt Lauer was fired, nor did he say who would get his job at "Today."

We're told Oppenheim said Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb said it well when they expressed the difficulty of reconciling their affection for Matt with his apparent behavior.

Oppenheim said his heart goes out to the woman who came forward who triggered the firing, and added his heart also goes out to any other woman who might have been victimized.

The news boss said NBC has "zero tolerance" for sexual misconduct and the company has "multiple channels" to report such abuse. He then said NBC needs to do a better job letting employees know they are safe to report such misconduct, even anonymously. He said, "We implore you to come forward."

We're told a video editor at MSNBC said they were about to run an interview Matt did with George Clooney and asked if MSNBC should scrub Matt from the show. Oppenheim said he hadn't thought about it but "probably yes."

NBC is scrambling to meet with talent and production staff from its news shows to go over various issues related to Matt Lauer's firing.

We're told Noah Oppenheim, President of NBC News, will be leading the meetings. Our NBC sources say Oppenheim and other execs will be addressing staff from each of its shows, including "Today," "NBC Nightly News," "Meet the Press" and "Dateline." There will be a series of meetings ... one for each show.

Our sources say virtually everyone at NBC was in the dark that Lauer was on the chopping block.

The lawyer for the woman whose complaint triggered Lauer's firing told The New York Times he and his client met with NBC Human Resources and the legal depts. Monday at 6 PM and lodged her complaint.