Twitter

The newest 'Thor' movie crushed it at the box office this weekend -- but as far as how people actually feel about it ... well, it seems much of the internet thought it was trash.

The numbers are in, and per estimates ... "Thor: Love and Thunder" raked in a whopping $143 million domestically, landing as one of the highest-grossing openings in the MCU. That's all fine and good for Disney, we're sure, but general reactions to the film aren't great.

For starters, critics gave it a relatively low score -- just 68% on RT -- which is a drastic drop  compared to other Marvel movies, historically ... most have held up much better over the years under professional scrutiny, but that's not the case with 'L&T.'

Not only were the pros unimpressed ... it sounds like "Film Twitter," as it were, also found the movie to be absurdly bad -- especially compared to other 'Thor' entries. Sooo, what's their beef exactly??? It ain't hard to tell ... people seem to have found it to be juvenile.

Scroll through some of the "Thor" trends and you'll see -- it's either folks crapping on the movie, or a bunch of others piling on those same people while trying to defend 'Love and Thunder,' with their argument being ... it's a freaking comedy, turn off your brains and enjoy!

That might be true, but it looks like a good majority aren't thrilled with the direction 'Thor' is going under the watch of Taika Waititi -- who helmed the last beloved installment, "Ragnarok," and who apparently did more of the same in this new one ... perhaps too much.

Many say 'Love and Thunder' relies too heavily on gags and punchlines rather than savor in the heavy stuff -- and some feel like the character/franchise has jumped the shark.

There's also people saying Christian Bale's bad guy character, Gorr, doesn't get enough screen time -- nor does Natalie Portman, it seems, based on some of these recaps. In short, there's a good handful of viewers who felt the movie was all over the place and uneven.

The Rotten Tomatoes audience score is at just 81%, which might sound okay for a regular movie -- but for Marvel, that's fairly awful. To be honest, we haven't seen it yet ... so it's difficult to say if there's any validity to all this criticism -- or if it's overblown/exaggerated.

Twitter is yet again proving it's the worst for bulk bad takes -- this time, debating whether Anne Frank, who was hunted and killed by Nazis, had white privilege while alive. 🥴

You might've noticed the late Holocaust victim was trending Saturday, but finding out why is disheartening ... some, it seems, have floated an argument that Frank benefited from white privilege in Nazi Germany -- an argument that is rightly being shot down left and right.

Unclear how this toxic discourse first started, but it seems to stem from a warped notion that Jews had the benefit of their skin color to go unnoticed in public, if only temporarily, during that bleak time in history ... while POC, historically, haven't been able to do so.

The theory is so twisted, and yet ... it's being defended by a select few on the bird app ... despite a vast majority of folks swooping in to bat down the rhetoric by noting that Jews were, in fact, seen and treated as an inferior race in an ethnic sense ... and that Anne Frank was murdered specifically because she was Jewish. Plus, she was in hiding!

As someone wisely put it, "Anne Frank didn’t have white privilege…you wanna know why? Jewish people aren’t included when white nationalists define the perfect Aryan race. If you think she did, tell that to all the other innocent jewish people forced into concentration camps for not being white enough."

In other words, Jews were not considered one and the same as Nazis at the time, by said Nazis, even pigmentation-wise -- evidenced in their literal extermination by the millions.

This harkens back to another weird debate from a few years ago, when folks were going after Hellen Keller -- who was both blind and deaf -- for only have achieved such notoriety and success in her day due to her own "white privilege." That was bad, this is much worse.

This also seems to be in the same vein as what Whoopi Goldberg put forth on 'The View' this year ... when she likened the Holocaust to one group of white people against another, and not wanting to conflate that with the plight experienced by African-Americans.

She was suspended, and ultimately apologized. As some have noted, convos like these devolve into a contest of suffering -- with this new trend just being the latest iteration.

Elon Musk isn't going to be taking over Twitter after all, he just notified the company he wants to terminate the potential deal they had for the sale of the company.

CNBC reports Musk's lawyer sent a letter on his behalf Friday, claiming the social media company "has not complied with its contractual obligations.”

According to Elon's side ... Twitter allegedly didn't hand over business information that the Tesla CEO had requested, unclear specifically what he was looking for, but he's spoken in the past about wanting to look into the company's claims about spam accounts before a deal could be reached.

As we reported, Musk announced he was pumping the brakes on his $44 billion deal back in May ... and the stock tanked in pre-market trading -- down 25%.

While he said the pause had to do with the spam accounts, other theories began to circulate -- one idea suggested he wanted to make execs at Twitter sweat and get a better deal, while another theory believed it to be the beginning of the end of his deal with the platform.

Katy Perry sent a message this holiday weekend to express frustration about the Roe v. Wade decision -- but all Twitter wants to do is point out what it sees as hypocrisy.

The singer tweeted Monday about the 4th of July and what it means in her eyes in the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling to reverse the landmark decision ... effectively outlawing abortions almost immediately in several states across the country, and more to come.

She sarcastically writes, "'Baby you’re a firework' is a 10 but women in the US have fewer rights than an actual sparkler smh" -- clearly referencing her 2010 track of the same name.

NBD, or so you would think ... rather than getting praised for her pro-choice sentiment here -- as many celebs have been lately -- Katy is actually getting dragged to no end right now. And it all has to do with who she publicly supported for L.A. Mayor ... aka, Rick Caruso.

As we reported ... KP was one of many celebs who endorsed the billionaire entrepreneur and real estate developer running for Mayor. And while he didn't outright win in June's election -- he has a chance to take it home in Nov. in a runoff race with Rep. Karen Bass.

The problem ... Caruso, who's running as a Dem, has been perceived as wish-washy on his abortion stance over the years, at least that's what old interviews from the 2000s suggest. Until recently ... Rick was a Republican and has donated to a lot of GOPers, including folks some say have it out for abortion rights -- all of which he's been called out over of late.

Now, he says he's pro-choice and touts himself as an advocate for women's rights. Unfortunately for him (and for Katy, it seems) ... Twitter's not buying it, and they're telling Katy to sit this one out due to her very vocal support for him.

She's far from the only celeb who backed Caruso, though -- Kim Kardashian also got behind him in the run-up to the election last month ... but she appears to have wisely dodged Twitter to lament the abortion sitch lately.

Bette Midler has embraced an argument some are invoking to address the abortion crisis in the country -- bringing up transgender people to make a point ... a lightning rod one at that.

The actress has been very active on Twitter these past couple days, blasting the Supreme Court for reversing Roe v. Wade -- mostly hitting out at Clarence Thomas, it seems -- and in the same breath ... she's speaking up on women's rights. Emphasis on that first part.

BM writes, "WOMEN OF THE WORLD! We are being stripped of our rights over our bodies, our lives and even of our name! They don’t call us 'women' anymore; they call us 'birthing people' or 'menstruators', and even 'people with vaginas'!"

She adds fervently ... "Don’t let them erase you! Every human on earth owes you!" Of course, that gets to trans/non-binary people ... and some are calling this POV transphobic.

Interestingly, her comment piggybacks on a now-viral op-ed published in the NYT this weekend, titled "The Far Right And Far Left Agree on One Thing: Women Don't Count" ... in which the author makes similar arguments about cisgender women being "erased" on the extremes of both sides of the aisle ... either for inclusivity's sake, or outright oppression.

While some might agree, others say it's a false equivalency to compare trying to be sensitive to trans people/using mindful language to what the GOP seems to be doing (banning abortions) ... suggesting one is clearly a far more serious and dire threat than the other is.

In any case, we know where Bette stands on the issue. She seems to be very much an old-school feminist who's pretty pissed off about all this. One crisis at a time, though, perhaps.

Marilyn Manson's legal situation with Evan Rachel Wood -- who's accused him of abuse -- is being compared to Johnny Depp's ... this as a Twitter thread linking the two is going viral.

The thread -- consisting of several tweets that attempt to paint MM as an abuser -- got started Friday ... with the author, who says she's an IPV survivor/advocate, laying out what she claims is evidence that she insists backs ERW's horrific allegations against her ex.

At a few different points in her deep dive, the Twitter user mentions ties between Manson and Depp -- including the fact that they're close friends ... while suggesting Manson may be ripping a page out his JD's playbook by taking his accuser to court with a defamation suit.

As TMZ reported ... Manson accused Wood of concocting her claims against him in an alleged elaborate scheme he says was meant to ruin his reputation and career. He's denied all of her allegations, including those from the other women who've also accused him.

Back to Johnny for a minute, though, because there's a debate raging about whether the claims he leveled against Amber Heard -- which were found to be mostly true by a jury -- are, in fact, comparable to Manson ... who is also alleging his accuser is making all this up.

The Twitter user notes that the cases are totally separate with differing evidence and allegations -- but throughout, she appears to be implying that JD has established a dangerous precedent for men accused of abuse ... including Manson.

A handful online agree -- namely, that the support Depp amassed throughout his trial could backfire by automatically lending itself to other stars in similar scenarios ... in this case, Manson, who some believe has been credibly accused, considering the deets of his case.

Others, however, are standing firm that supporting Depp doesn't automatically mean support for Manson ... and that trying to conflate the two cases just because they're pals is wrong.

What almost everyone seems to be missing is that Johnny was within his right to take his accuser to court and have the facts laid out ... as is Manson, as is anyone else. It's called due process -- and everyone is entitled to exercise it if they have a legal bone to pick.

Jussie Smollett is back in the limelight just 3 months after getting released from prison ... after attending the BET Awards and getting incredulous reactions online.

The actor showed up at Sunday night's ceremony in LA, all smiles ... telling ET he's excited to be "expanding his empire."

He was asked how he feels about working his way back into Hollywood, but Jussie doesn't see it that way -- he says this has always been the plan.

Twitter was on fire as JS walked the red carpet and took his seat ... memes were created in his name, while some called out BET for allowing "race-baiting liars" in its space.

Sunday night's host, Taraji P. Henson, has been a vocal supporter of Jussie -- they both worked on "Empire" ... but she was silent about her co-star during the ceremony.

Jussie still insists he did not lie about what he says was a homophobic and racist attack, because IF he had lied he'd be a total piece of s**t -- and he claims everyone knows he's not that.

Beyoncé dropped her first new song in what feels like a lifetime ... and fans are loving every second of the upbeat track.

Her new track "Break My Soul" dropped Monday night ahead of her anticipated 7th album, "Renaissance," which is set for release late next month.

"Break My Soul" sends a message of breaking out of that normal 9-5 gig -- which a lot of people actually did during the pandemic -- and finding some new motivation ... she says what all her fans are thinking -- "Bey is back, and I'm sleeping real good at night."

Big Freedia, who has collabed with Beyonce before, is featured on the song too, and unsurprisingly -- the song's been trending on Twitter and is aiming to break the charts. It's Beyoncé's first solo track release since 2016.

Jen Psaki has been spreading proverbial burns all over Twitter lately -- that is, if you're dumb enough to believe it's actually her ... which the real McCoy is here to clear up.

President Biden's ex-Press Sec. -- who recently stepped away from the role -- made some apparently needed clarifications over a string of tweets that have popped over the past couple weeks ... with snarky messages aimed at the GOP, and trying to pass them as hers.

The tweets are being peddled by an account called Follow Plz? Faith Back Rub, which notes it's made for satire. At any rate, it seems to have been spreading these phony Psaki bombs.

One in particular that's made the rounds this weekend is about Biden falling off his bike and the need for kneepads ... invoking Donald Trump and Putin. After going viral with people apparently giving her kudos for the diss, the actual Jen Psaki set the record straight.

She writes, "Hate to disappoint, but…This is not my account. This is not approved by me on any level. (And there have been a number of these in the last few weeks)."

JP adds, "Anything with 'Parody..' in it means it is someone tweeting with an image and twitter account that looks like me and is not." You'd think that wouldn't need saying, seeing how most of the tweets have "Parody" written in -- but fake news never sleeps.

Some on Twitter claim to have personal insight into Psaki's psyche, suggesting while this isn't her -- she's probably thinking this privately. Others have noted she's too classy for all that ... but the truth is ... none of these people actually know her or what she thinks.

Bill Maher eviscerated a millennial reporter for the Washington Post and the paper itself for punishing one of its best reporters over a joke, and Bill says it's way bigger than just an H.R. issue -- it's a threat to Democracy.

As he put it, Felicia Sonmez -- whom he characterizes as "a lot" -- was enraged by fellow reporter David Weigel, who retweeted a joke ... "Every girl is bi. You just have to figure out if it's polar or sexual."

Well, that sent Felicia into orbit, enraged someone could make such an offensive remark. As Bill says -- IT'S A JOKE. Men joke about women all the time and VICE VERSA.

But, the "Real Time" host says Sonmez went to war, and the Washington Post quickly waved the white flag and suspended Weigel for a month without pay, saying retweeting the joke was a gross violation of its values -- Bill says one of those values clearly was NOT the First Amendment.

One of Weigel's colleagues dared to tell everyone to calm down -- that it was just a joke -- and Sonmez then went after him, demanding he be punished.

There was such a s*** storm over this, Bill called the Post newsroom an "unlicensed daycare center"

Bill is convinced ... Sonmez is emblematic of a generation that is comprised of "emotional hemophiliacs" who feel a crushing sense of entitlement and have the attention span of a gnat.

And, he hilariously if not seriously suggested on the 50th anniversary of Watergate ... if someone called the Post and said they were "Deep Throat" and wanted to meet in a parking garage to give a reporter info about the break-in, the young reporters would refuse to go and instead call H.R. and say it made them feel unsafe!

Eventually, Sonmez was herself fired for insubordination and not respecting her colleagues -- FYI, her tweets continued and blasted the paper itself -- but Bill says the whole episode is super embarrassing for a media org that fundamentally changed and inspired investigative journalism.

Kenny "The Jet" Smith says Shaquille O'Neal had every right to clap back at a hater trying to diminish his success ... telling TMZ Sports no superstar has won a championship on their own.

As we previously reported, Diesel went OFF on a Twitter user for claiming he wouldn't have won his 3 rings with the Lakers without Kobe Bryant ... saying, "no person can win without another star big dummy."

We spoke with Smith about Shaq's issue with the heckler ... and he says anyone who knows hoop understands winning a ring isn't a one-man gig.

Worth mentioning -- Shaq brought Kenny into the debate with his rebuttal to the hater ... saying Smith wouldn't have won a championship without Hakeem Olajuwon.

Smith backs up the Big Aristotle ... saying the Hall of Famer is just spitting facts. And if the argument were about Kobe, it would be the same result -- no one wins without a stellar supporting cast.

Amber Heard is speaking out and showing her face for the first time since losing big in the Johnny Depp case -- saying she holds no ill-will toward the jury, but social media is another story.

The actress sat down for an interview with 'Today,' which is going to be aired in pieces throughout the week ... but right out the gate, NBC is teasing a couple juicy soundbites from her chat with Savannah Guthrie in which AH gets into her feelings about the trial.

For starters, she discusses the social media coverage -- which was overwhelmingly in favor of her ex, Johnny Depp, and which she was clearly aware of during the 6-week proceedings.

She says even if you don't believe her/think she lied, you can't deny the posts in the digital world have been lopsided, suggesting there hasn't been a "fair representation" of both sides online.

Interestingly, Amber's attorney, Elaine Bredehoft, also tried to deflect blame toward the viral aspect of the saga, rather than take ownership of the loss.

As for the 7 men and women who said they didn't buy her account, Amber says there's no hard feelings, but she thinks it was Depp's personality and super-stardom that won them over.

Watch the clip, she seems to think JD charmed their pants off, and she also believes the fact Depp's side was able to present witnesses first also helped.

Shaquille O'Neal just eviscerated a hoops fan for trying to discredit his success with the Lakers ... telling the guy to "enjoy my stats and STF up."

The whole interaction started after the Legion Hoops Twitter account posted Diesel's insane stat lines from the NBA Finals during the Lakers' 3-peat from 2000-2002 ... which was meant to praise the big man's dominance.

Naturally, one user had to provide his unwarranted take on the topic ... tweeting out, "Even with all of this Shaq doesn’t win those rings without Kobe."

The jab got Shaq's attention ... and pissed him off so much, he clapped back with a fierce response.

"No person can win without another star big dummy," he said over the weekend. "How many would Magic (Johnson) have without Kareem (Abdul-Jabbar)? How many would Kenny Smith have without Hakeem Olajuwon?"

"WTF u talking about I hate dumb ass people," the Hall of Famer added. "Enjoy my stats and stf up."

The heckler has yet to respond to Shaq directly, but has been forced to defend his take with those backing O'Neal up.

While Henry Cavill's future as Superman remains undecided, comic book Twitter is up in arms after someone suggested he's probably not coming back ... because he's a dinosaur.

The theory was posted by YouTuber/blogger Matt Jarbo, who last week said Cavill likely wouldn't reprise the role -- despite a massive amount of clamoring for him to do so -- because he felt HC had gotten a little too old, and perhaps a little too expensive.

He wrote, "A month ago Henry Cavill turned 39. He started playing Superman before the age of 30, and hasn't filmed anything new in 5 years. Its safe to say he's aged out of the role. As sad as it is, WBD will definitely be pushing for a younger actor to take on the role."

On Sunday, which happened to be Superman Day, he doubled down -- saying that Cavill was over the hill, and not what Warner Bros. Discovery wanted ... especially price tag-wise.

But it was Matt's age commentary that had people doing a double-take ... 'cause yeah, Cavill might be in his late 30s -- but the dude still looks great ... far from an old geezer.

Of course, a lot of what-about-ism was offered ... with many pointing to a number of "older" actors who've been tapped for superhero roles in the recent past, including some fellow DC alums like Jason Momoa and Gal Gadot, who are in their 40s and late 30s, respectively.

There's also Dwayne Johnson -- who's about to don a cape as Black Adam in his 50s, no less -- as well as Robert Downey Jr., who became Iron Man a bit later in life as well.

While Matt didn't elaborate on his old man hypothesis much, what he seems to be getting at is that he thinks WBD wants to go in a totally new direction with the character ... perhaps even a younger Superman in his 20s or early 30s, sorta like they did with 'The Batman.'

As for moola, yes ... Cavill would be costly to hire. He'd already made a reported substantial salary during his original run, and is in even higher demand now. A lesser-known actor could be brought on for significantly less money, and just as much fanfare. More importantly, HC appears to be over it. He hasn't even posted any Superman stuff today, and he's the guy!

What this seems to boil down to is regret among the fan base that Cavill was grossly underutilized in his heyday, and now that WBD is turning the page ... folks can't let go.

Shocking comments from NFL coach Jack Del Rio ... who just called the Jan. 6 attacks at the nation's Capitol "a dust-up."

The Washington Commanders defensive coordinator made the remarks during a meeting with media members on Wednesday -- in an attempt to explain his controversial post on his Twitter page earlier this week.

If you missed it, in a tweet on Monday, the 59-year-old questioned why the 2020 riots following George Floyd's murder were not being investigated with the same fervor as the January 2021 attack at the Capitol.

"Would love to understand 'the whole story' about why the summer of riots, looting, burning and the destruction of personal property is never discussed but this is ???," he wrote. "#CommonSense."

Del Rio elaborated further on his tweet to reporters at Commanders practice Wednesday ... making comments that raised eyebrows.

"Let's get right down to it," Del Rio said. "What did I ask? A simple question -- why are we not looking into those things if we're going to talk about it. Why are we not looking into those things?"

"Because it's kind of hard for me to say, I can realistically look at it -- I see the images on TV, people's livelihoods are being destroyed. Businesses are being burned down -- no problem. And then we have a dust-up at the capital, where nothing burned down. And we're going to make that a major deal."

FYI -- the insurrection, which occurred following the results of the 2020 election, resulted in the deaths of five individuals.

"I just think it's kind of two standards," Del Rio continued. "And if we apply the same standard, and we're going to be reasonable with each other, let's have a discussion. That's all it was. Let's have a discussion. We're Americans. Let's talk it through."

Del Rio, who posts polarizing opinions on his social media page daily, insisted his players are not concerned by his comments ... but added, "If they are, and they want to talk about it, I'll talk about it with anybody."

"I'm for us having a great opportunity to have a fulfilled life," he said.

Del Rio was hired by the Commanders following the 2019-20 NFL season. He previously worked as the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Oakland Raiders.

L.A.'s mayoral race is officially a 2-horse competition between Rep. Karen Bass and Rick Caruso, and Hollywood -- like the rest of America -- seems torn.

More celebs have shelled out traditional donations for Bass -- including some high-profile names like Steven Spielberg, Jennifer Aniston and Samuel L. Jackson, but Caruso (who's a commercial real estate titan) seems to have more vocal support on social media.

That makes sense, as billionaire Caruso's been self-financing his campaign.

Here's a breakdown as Tuesday's election results continue to pour in.

Aside from the names mentioned above, Congresswoman Bass has also pulled in cash contributions from the likes of Jennifer Garner, JJ Abrams, Ken Jeong, Octavia Spencer, Sally Field and William H. Macy ... all of whom pitched in $1,500 each.

Jane Fonda donated $1,200, Donald Glover chipped in with $1,000, Rashida Jones another $1,000 and Helen Hunt pledged $500. So, a fair amount of dough from Hollywood.

While Caruso doesn't have nearly as many famous financial donors in his corner, his team tells us he's received a huge outpouring of online support ... which, arguably, is equally valuable.

Tweets for Caruso have come in from Kim K, Katy Perry, Elon Musk, Gwyneth Paltrow, Snoop Dogg and Kris Jenner -- just to name a few.

Bass is no slouch on social media either ... she's gotten backing from Tiffany Haddish and John Legend, who openly called for Angelenos to support her at the voting booths.

It remains to be seen who might emerge victorious, but if the latest polling can be believed ... neither candidate will get 50 percent of the vote in Tuesday's primary -- and that means they'll have a runoff in November.

BTW, Caruso -- who'd been a lifelong Republican until recently -- is running as a Dem, as is Bass. He's got the biz expertise, but she has years of legislative experience in D.C. and Sacramento.