(upbeat music) - Welcome to TMZ Live, Harvey Lemon here. - And Babcock here. - This may be the craziest story we have reported in, to me, 2024, maybe? And that's saying something? - It's too crazy to even make up. - So, RFK Jr., who is running for president of the United States. - Pulling quite well. - Pulling quite well. - Got some support. - Has come out with a story. And he's actually come out with a story, ahead of a story that the New Yorker was going to do. And it involves a dead bear. So, we're gonna try to set this up for you. He's a falconer, and he was in upstate New York in 2014. And he saw a car in front of him hit a bear. I cannot tell this story, as well as he can, telling it to Roseanne Barr. Here it is. - Woman and van in front of me had a bear and killed it. A young bear. So, I pulled over and I picked up the bear and put him in the back of my van because I was in the skin of the bear. And it was very good condition. And I was gonna, and with a meat in my refrigerator, I realized I couldn't go home. I had to go to the airport. And the bear was in my car and I didn't want to leave the bear in the car. At that time, this was the little bit of the red neck in me. There'd been a series of bicycle accidents in New York. They had just put it in the bike lanes. And some people, a couple of people had to kill. It was every day and people had been badly injured. I had an old bike in my car that somebody'd asked me to get rid of. I said, let's go point the bear in a central park and we'll make it look like he had to hit the bike. (laughing) Fun, funny for people. The next day, it was like, it was on every television station. And I was like, oh my God, what did I do? - Well, he's right about it on every television station. You probably saw this. This made national news. People were wondering, were bears in central park? I mean, it scared people. - People were scared, exactly. Like, can I walk in the park? Am I gonna get attacked by a black bear? - Right, because if there's a cub, there's a mom there somewhere. And, you know, it sent New York into panic. - Obviously, nobody had any idea Harvey that it was RFK Jr. that had placed it there. - Until today. - Right. - Until today, we're talking 10 years. - I got a couple takeaways from this. First, RFK to say he has some redneck in him. - I know. (laughing) - He's something else. I mean, this guy grew up the wealthiest possible New Englander ever. He's the farthest thing from a redneck. Secondly, politics is getting weirder and weirder and weirder, I mean, it's so weird that this story is the lead, but nobody's like, ah, what? It changes the scope of the election. Nah, just like another thing that happens in the world of Harris and Biden and Trump. - Right. It might not even be the craziest thing today. It's like, you get, if it was a 20 year old who pulled the stunt, a prank like this. Oh, okay, he's a stupid kid. He was 60 when this happened. - No, no, no. - Yeah. He's 70 now, and this was a decade ago. - Oh, you're right. - He was 60, he was 60, dropping a bear carcass off in Central Park. - Yeah, he was 60, he wasn't he. - Got it, when you put it that way. So look, we checked with NYPD. They are not investigating. There is an animal control agency in New York. And there actually is a law there, and in fact, in many states, about the improper disposal of an animal carcass. - Could he be in trouble? - Well, it's actually, it carries a misdemeanor, which is a criminal offense, but, and first of all, we don't know if they're gonna actively look at it, but if they are, it's futile. I don't think they will, because there's a two year statute of limitations, so it is long since run. So I don't think anything is gonna be done in terms of New York City, in terms of what Jason just said, does it affect the race? Maybe not the craziest story we've heard yet, but I don't think this affects the race, honestly. I mean, I don't think it affects it at all. - I don't think it's any effect. - It feels, it feels, Jason, very Teddy Roosevelt. - Is that a joke? - Yeah, you don't have to see. (laughing) It's not a joke. - I thought it was a 10. - No, because he was a hunter, you know. - Fun tears man, the whole thing, yeah. - Teddy bear? - Yeah, I have to tell you, I mean, it probably doesn't affect the race, and there is no criminal liability, but I think the bear's family could still have a suit against him for disheartening. - Okay, enough, enough. Now, again, he did this because the New Yorker, apparently, is coming out to this story, so we kind of cut him off at the pass. By the way, he had gone to, I believe, Peter Luger's steakhouse in Brooklyn with the bear in the trunk, and apparently they had a long dinner. He denied he did it when he wasn't drunk, he said. There were some reports that he was drunk, he says, nope, he was not drunk, he was just kind of clunky. - He valet is car at Peter Luger. - I was wondering the same thing. I was wondering exactly the same thing. Can you imagine if one of the valets smelled something and opened the trunk? I mean-- - And it's a bear cub. - I'd be a therapy. - Hey, it's Justin, little child calling from Matask in Canada. I don't think it's necessarily gonna affect this campaign. His political opponents might use it as ammo, definitely, to go against him, but not the craziest thing a president has done or said so. - No, no, no. As a matter of fact, I mentioned Teddy Roosevelt not that I was around, but that actually served him well in the campaign that he was a frontiersman, but God knows in this election. We are gonna move on to J.Lo and Ben. Everybody's wondering, are they filing for divorce? When are they filing for divorce? We can tell you they are getting divorced. We know that, and we have been reporting that, look, Ben's already moved out, bought his own house, where he's living alone now. They're selling the family house. She's out looking for her own house. She was out over the weekend looking with one of her kids. So this marriage is over, but it's going really slow because they're not talking to each other. There is radio silence between the two of them. Short story, it is not an amicable break. - And on paper, Harvey, they've been married for a year and changed. They had a prenuptial agreement. They basically own, effectively own one, albeit large asset, the $68 million home. This should be very simple on paper, but if you're not gonna communicate at all, it's not gonna get done. - And that's why it's going slow. - It's slowing down the divorce. They were being told that they haven't even hired attorneys. And obviously, when it comes to the financial stuff, they have business managers kind of communicating and figuring out, and there won't be any kind of documents filed until they figure out all the financial stuff. But this just shows you that everything they've been doing in public that has been confusing, them seeing each other in person, doing an air kiss, hugging, being all smiles. And then also continuing to wear their wedding rings. Now we know it is all for show, because behind the scenes, they're not even on speaking terms. - Right, it's weird. The wedding ring thing is weird, because what's the point of wearing a wedding ring sometimes and not other time? - I think it's just to throw people off, because that's every time we say it hard, they're getting divorced. This relationship's over, people wanna, they wanna glom onto that fact. Oh, but what about the wedding ring? It's over, guys, it's not being saved. - Yeah, but, but there is a thing, in California and in many, many states, I think most now, it's a no fault state, which means it doesn't matter who files first, but it matters to celebrities, because you don't wanna look like the person who is left. You wanna be the one to leave. And so, neither of them are doing this, and if they're really getting along, you could kind of understand why, and then they'd issue a joint statement. But because neither of them are doing it, and they're not getting along, it's a little weird to me that they're both playing this game. - Could you see somebody, would you be shocked if we said, found out tomorrow, Jennifer filed for divorce, as like an attack against him? - But that's what I'm saying. And also, I wanna say one other thing, I don't necessarily think that this started out nasty, because they were at each other's events for a time. - Right, the question, the recital. - I think something happened after they decided to split, and it just got really kind of ugly at that point, but they're not talking. - And by the way, more evidence that Ben wants to move on from this, he got a new haircut, you guys. He is sporting a new look. It's like a faux hook, which like, wow, like really like young-looking Ben Affleck here. Look at that Moto jacket. - I think he looks good, he does, he looks younger. - It looks like he's ready to bag a new check, you guys. Like he is in his single era right now. - It looks good. - He could have any haircut. - And still. - Right. - But he looks good though. - By the way, I had mentioned that J.Lo's that was out yesterday looking for property. She was actually in Beverly Hills with one of her kids. They looked at a super expensive house. $68 million, which is more than the marital house. They spent 60 in change on that. - Ben only spent 20 on his new place. - 20.5, but who's counting? But that kind of shocked me that she's looking for a house that expands. - Yeah, serious house. - That is shocking. Especially since they haven't sold the marital house, you got a lot of money. - Harriet Cheney, Dallas, Texas. Jennifer and Ben are adults that seems to be acting a little childish. - Hey, not speaking to one another to end the marriage. Seeing that they both have some growing to do internally. Let's stop playing games. Find a buyer for the house. Move on with your life. No need to prolong this divorce longer than the marriage itself. - That's true. - Yeah. - The marriage didn't last that long. - No, but expensive house. It's tough to find a buyer. (upbeat music) - Welcome back to TMZ Live, Harvey and Babcock here. So, Brittany Spears' kids. Sean Preston and Jaden James. They are reaching adulthood. One is 18, one is 17. And they are prepared to make their own decisions in life. One of the decisions we are told is that they want to reconnect with their grandfather on Brittany's side, namely Jamie Spears. - Wow. - Jamie Spears has become Brittany's lightning rod. At a point you'll recall, she said he should go to jail for what he did running the conservatorship. She has torched him in her book. She has torched him online. And now her kids want to reestablish relations with him. They're already talking to him frequently on the phone. And they want to go back to Louisiana and see him. - Right, they're talking to him maybe once or every two weeks or so hard, but they have not seen him in years. And yeah, like you said, actively talking about planning a trip to Louisiana. - And you know that Jamie has had real health problems. He lost a leg, it was amputated, because of an infection. So he's not doing great, but you gotta wonder how this is going to affect Brittany. Because she's already, I mean, it's almost like a roadrunner cartoon because her lawyer was fighting Jamie's lawyer for a year over the end of the conservatorship, who owed who money. And in the end, Brittany lost, it was a total shutout. - Right. - Not only did Brittany not get a penny, Brittany ended up having to pay through settlement, $2 million to Jamie's lawyer. So this was a stunning loss for Brittany against Jamie. So you gotta wonder how she's going to do it. - Well, and also as we know, Brittany and the boys, they don't have the greatest relationship. And I cannot imagine that she likes to see this. I totally get it though, like you said, he's had a lot of health problems. You don't want to wait until it's too late. I mean, see your grandfather, I completely get this, but I believe that Brittany is probably living about it. - Yeah. So from what I'm being told, the boys actually talk to Brittany every now and then, but yeah, she probably is not aware of this plan, aware of this trip that's being planned. The boys right now are living with Kevin Federline in Hawaii. And from what I'm told, they're likely to actually go out just the two of them. Kevin probably is going to stay at home. The boys now are older teenagers. They're going to go out probably in the near future, see Jamie in addition to their other relatives, like Lynn Spears and others that live in Louisiana too. - Hey, Toria in Detroit. And I am glad that the boys are taking the onus upon themselves to reach out to their grandfather on a more regular basis, because you don't want anything that happened to him and then they're in strain. So I hope the whole family can pull together despite all of the other legal battles and things they've been going through. - It would be nice. Peace is something that's been very elusive for them. Okay, we're going to move on next to the bear story. This is the strangest story we've covered in a week. - Right, most of these have been destroyed. - This is a weird story that's very mysterious still. Zach Afron, we broke this on the website yesterday, Zach Afron was hospitalized in Ibiza. He was found in distress in a swimming pool in the villa that he had rented. Two workers at the villa found him, pulled him out of the pool, took him to the hospital and nobody's saying what happened here. So we spoke with, well, actually we didn't speak, we tried. We were texting his rep over the weekend and here's what she had to say about this. She said there was a minor swimming incident last night at a private home in Ibiza and Zach was brought to the local hospital as a precautionary measure slash formality and was released this morning and is doing fine. No further comment will be issued. So here's the dilemma. So they say that he was released this morning, making it sound like he was in the hospital overnight. But we did text the rep back and the rep said, "No, you're misconstruing what we're saying." He was released the same day. We're still having a hard time understanding how you're released the next morning if you didn't stay overnight. - Right, it seems very clear to me, Harvey, that they are trying to downplay this. Anytime you're in a pool though and you've got to be rescued by people, I mean, that seems very serious to me. - But they say it's a minor incident. - I know. - But then we tried to find out what minor incident requires you to go to the hospital for a precautionary measure. Now they say he's doing fine now and Zach actually posted a picture of himself working out looking great. - Yeah, look, he says happy and healthy right there. And he was very, he was very sure to make sure he included the date there, Harvey. August 4th, which obviously was Sunday. - So the assumption then that picture was taken August 4th. - Yeah, if you take his word than it was, I mean, it seems either way, he's fine. But this is just so weird. Zach Efron has now developed this long history of weird incidents when he smashed his jaw on a kitchen island, when he had a bottle thrown at him in the middle of a night in downtown Los Angeles this. He's always kind of mysterious about these weird injuries he gets. - Hi, Bob Matias in Belmont, California now. I like Zach Efron, I respect his work. But this brings me a little deja vu on two levels. In Baywatch recently, he played a Olympic swimmer with a drinking problem. And then about 10 years ago, he was involved in a melee late at night in a drug-riddled part of town. So in the absence of a plausible explanation from either he or his reps, one would have to assume this may have been a result. His distress in a pool may have been a result of drugs and alcohol, maybe I don't know. - We have absolutely no knowledge of that. We have absolutely no knowledge of that. They haven't said it, we have no evidence of that. We just know that he was pulled out of a swimming pool and taken to a hospital. Okay, we got to take a break when we come back. Kamala Harris is banking on the excitement of young voters. So far, they have responded online. The question, will they respond at the polls? Yvette Nicole Brown from Community has been working on this Get Out the Vote campaign for young voters and not just Democrat, anybody who is young who should register and get out and vote to make a statement to the country on either side. It's a unique thing that she is not advocating one side or the other. She is saying everybody should get out to vote. She is gonna be here live when we come back. (upbeat music) - Welcome back to TMZ Live. So Kamala Harris has caught lightning in a bottle with Gen Z, generally with young voters. They were not happy with the choices until she joined the race and you have seen her literally take over social media over the last two weeks. I've never seen something so Star Carvey from the no excitement to just a massive amount of excitement. - And I think part of it is just there's been this bottled up frustration that just went away when Joe Biden said he wasn't gonna win. - It was clear Biden wasn't going to win the race and I think there was a depression that had gone over the people on the left and not anymore. - So now the issue is whether these young voters are going to actually go to the polls, vote by absentee valid and that's a little diceier than just talking about excitement. So we are excited because we are about to be joined by Yvette Nicole Brown, a big, big star, community, Tropic Thunder, you've seen her in a million things. We are so thrilled because she is deeply involved right now in the Get Out The Vote campaign, Yvette. We are so happy that you are joining us in TMZ Live. - I am excited to be here with you guys and I want you to find like the first time I got stopped by TMZ, I was like in a parking lot, probably 15 years ago. And I was so excited, I wouldn't got Kim Whitley. He said, "Kim TMZ is here, come talk tonight." So I am so excited to have done enough to actually get the interview, the TMZ interview. So thank you for having me, Babcock and Harvey. - Well, let me tell you why I'm so excited to have you because you're doing something that I absolutely love, that I know you're a Kamala Harris supporter, but you are also working just to get people involved and to register to vote and to get out to vote, whichever way they go. And we are such a divided country right now where people say, "If you're not for me, you're my enemy." I think what you're doing is really noble. So tell us how you kind of divide that because you are a Harris supporter by telling everybody, whether they're a Trump supporter or a Harris supporter, get out and vote. - Yes, I'm here in a nonpartisan way today. I'm here on behalf of the Creative Coalition, a wonderful entertainment, the nonprofit arm of the entertainment industry. And we know that it's important for everybody to vote, no matter who you're voting for. And so if we have a call for Gen Z, those wonderful young people, there are 40 million of them this year that are eligible to vote and eight million of them will be voting for the very first time. So we wanna make sure that all of those wonderful Americans no matter who they choose, that they make sure they register and they vote. So we're having a call at 10 p.m. Eastern, 7 p.m. Pacific to teach them how to do it, how to register and there will be no conversation about where they should place their one precious vote. We just want them to use it. So I wanna say for sure the creativecoallition.org is where young people can go to sign up by five o'clock today. So that's, I think five o'clock Pacific, they have time to sign up. And we're gonna have great people. I'm gonna be on the call, David, oh, Yellowo is gonna be there. Tim Daly, Ian Armitage, Mandy Moore and Susan Kilechi Watson from This Is Us. It's gonna be a lot of wonderful people trying to encourage these young people to register and get in the game because they forget old people like me, we dying off. If you want climate change and air you can breathe and roads you can drive on and the ability to control your own body, those things happen when you have the right people in office. So you gotta vote for what you want, the world you wanna live in. - And let me tell you, if you're an old person, what does that make me? (laughing) - You wanna take it out of Hungary? I'm older than I look. Trust me, I'm older than I look. - Event, you know, you know, oftentimes young people are very active on social media when it comes to politics, but then when it comes time to actually cast the ballot, a lot of times it's older folks who are going and voting the young people, not so much. So what is the, what's the bottom line message to any young people out there who haven't perhaps voted in the past, but this is a very consequential election as you've said. So what's the message? - I mean, it's kind of exciting to know that you have a say in what happens to you. You know, I know when I was young and I was coming up on being 18, I was 17 and a half and wrote a letter to my state and I'm sure I can vote, can I vote now? And they're like, "Baby, you got to wait till you're 18." I wanted a voice. I wanted to be able to say, when someone was elected, I'm in there. I'm in that number, you know? And so I feel like when you think about it, the people, there are things that are happening, gun control is an issue. These babies can't go to school without fear that they might get shot. We had hurricane and a tornado warnings when I was a kid. And now you may not be able to live through the day, vote so that you can make sure that you can go to the grocery store and get your rude abakers without somebody killing you. You know, these are things that matter and they happen at the voting booth. So it's important, your vote matters. You gotta sign up and you gotta vote. - So what animates young voters to do this? I know what you're doing matters. I always thought that the one person who really could make a difference just by one sentence tweet is somebody like Taylor Swift. So are you working with other celebrities who haven't necessarily joined this yet, just because of the power of somebody like Taylor Swift, who can get people, her fans to do just about anything? - Absolutely. If I had Tay Tay's number, I'd be texting her every hour on the hour 'cause it's so important. And again, it doesn't matter who they're voting for. It's important for them to get in the game. I think that, I mean, it matters that they vote for, but I'm not telling anybody who to vote for it. Let me say that. I think that it's important to remind them that it's your world. I know I keep saying that, but I think for the longest time, you're thinking like your mom and your dad and your teachers and everyone are making these decisions for you, when we go on to that great beyond, you're the one that's deciding these things. You're gonna be the president and the Supreme Court Justice and all that. You're gonna be the one that's gonna be in Congress or deciding who is. So get in the game now. And this is the other thing I wanna say. No one knows who you're voting for when you get in that booth. So it's your private business who you vote for. We're just trying to make sure that you exercise your right. Vote for whoever you want when you get in there. It's your vote. One, just like you get one life. Make it what you want it to be. You are a good, you are a good advocate. Yeah, we're a good advocate. Event, would you run for office ever? You know what? I used to think I wasn't smart enough, but in 2016, I realized it's a free for all, so I didn't know. (laughing) Okay, now you're playing your hand in that. Now you're playing your hand. (laughing) Your message is so strong and it's so refreshing to hear somebody who can say it without demonizing the other side. Very rare. I think it's great. Imagine that. How about if we're all just people with different ideas? I remember John McCain, this is not partisan at all because it's, you know, may rest in peace. He took up for a Barack Obama when someone said something about him that wasn't true. And they were opponents, but John McCain decided, I don't have to be hateful to promote what I believe is right for the country. That's what a party is. A party has different ideas about how they want to make their particular piece of land better. And you either agree with how they want to do it or you don't. But that doesn't mean the other side is a horrible person who hates you and hates the country unless it's true. (laughing) Same. For the most part, most people running for office, really they're public servants and they want to do well. And so I don't think you have to tear someone down. If your policies are good enough, you can just talk about what you want to do and people will follow you. - Yvette and Nicole Brown from mayor. That's the way I see it. - Carabats is great. No. (laughing) - Louisa. (laughing) - One more time. Tell people where they can go to participate. - Yes. Young people, Gen Z, if you go to the creativecoallition.org and sign up, you can join us on the call at 10 p.m. Eastern, 7 p.m. Pacific. There can be a lot of great people there. Aldous Hodge is gonna be there. Who else got it? Wilson Cruz is gonna be there. Haley Joel Osman is gonna be there. I'm gonna be there. Tim Daly is gonna be there. It's gonna be a lot of great people talking about why your vote matters. Please join us. - Your voice, your vote is Tuesday night at 10, nine central. - You are terrific. - Thank you so much for joining us. We really appreciate it. - Thank you for having me. I'm very honored to be here. Thank you. (upbeat music) - So TI had a really tough situation go down last night at the Hart's Field Jackson Airport in Atlanta. He was arrested. He went into the terminal, TSA apparently nabbed him, took him downstairs below the terminal where there was a waiting police car and they took him to the station and the charge involved a domestic violence matter. - Oh, no. - That involved a gun apparently. - That's not good, TI? - Thing is, the person they were looking for wasn't TI at all. It was somebody with TI's real name but it was just a case of mistaken identity. So TI is sitting in a jail and his lawyer, Steve Seydau, gets on the phone with the sheriff's department and says, "You got the wrong dude here." And you know how they knew that in Hart? - How? - Well, number one, the arrest warrant, the arrest was for an outstanding warrant in Baltimore. TI has no connection there. Number two, the guy who they were looking for weighs 205 pounds. - TI's a small guy. - TI weighs 165. - So, unless it was a Zempeh. - This might be a case where his celebrity actually might helped him, you know, because, you know, like, after they cleared it up, he was only there for two hours but if he hadn't been TI, the rap star, you know, they might have been convinced that he might have lost weight and they might have had the right clipper. - All right, I mean, you're absolutely right. But they knew. I mean, they knew it was TI's. - You can only imagine how frustrated he must have been. It's not me, I wasn't in Baltimore. - You can imagine. - And they don't believe you. That's so frustrating. - The other thing is, it's just weird to me that nobody in the airport said that's TI. - And it's in Atlanta. It's like where he lives. - What? Like, he's a legend. He's TI, but gosh, in Atlanta? - It's really shocking. So, the guy, apparently, they're still on the look. They're looking for the actual guy. - What do you guys think of today? - But by the way, there was also, because this was in Georgia, there's an automatic extradition hearing, because they would have to send him to Maryland. And so, the sheriff contacted the judge who was gonna hear the extradition case and said, look, we got the wrong guy here. So, the judge dismissed it. - Does he have a case for our lawsuit here? - No, I mean, you know, you have to show, if there's anything like this, you have to show malice. And there's really no malice here. They let TI go. It's just a miserable two hours. And I'm assuming he missed his flight. - Hi, my name is Raymond Concept from Atlanta, Georgia. And I'm commenting on the TI mistake and identity. I just felt it's an unfortunate event. Based on, you know, TI celebrity, I think that really helped him in that situation. But it's just a real tragedy, you know, just being mistaken for somebody else that you're not in trying to convince these people that you're not who they say you think you are. You know, I'm very sure it was very frightening experience. A very, you know, experience where he felt like, you know, this is very wrong. And, you know, in his world, you know what I mean? So, I'm glad that they cleared it up. And, you know, he didn't have him in there for weeks or months or whatever, it was only two hours. And, you know, they took care of the problem, you know what I mean? But it's a very important event that's crazy. - He is lucky he had Steve Sadau at the ready there to make the phone call. Okay, we are gonna move on. Megan Markle and Prince Harry were on CBS Sunday morning. And she talked again about something she talked about on Oprah, which was suicidal thoughts while she was in England as a member of the royal family. And Jane Polly kind of pressed her on it to find out why she felt she wanted to talk about this. Megan explained. - The connection that you have with people is they know you had suffered too personally, contemplating killing yourself. Part of our healing journey, certainly part of mine, is being able to be really open about it. And I haven't really scraped the surface on my experience. But I do think that I would never want someone else to feel that way, and I would never want someone else to be making those sort of plans, and I would never want someone else to not be believed. So if me voicing what I have overcome will save someone, or ask for, encourage someone in their life to really genuinely check in on them, and not assume that the appearance is good so everything's okay, then that's worth it. - And you have to understand totally getting where Megan Markle is coming from. From this interview and what she's talking about, she's obviously gone through a lot to these last several years with the backlash from the royal family and things that were going on behind the scenes when she first entered the family when her name was. And Harry got together to all the press onslaught. She's been through a lot, so this interview and what she's saying in the interview makes total sense. - Just wondering, you know, look, Jane Polly is the one who raised it, but she did kind of vet this during the Oprah interview, and it's just interesting, and they're doing something, I think it's a new show on bullying, so maybe that aligns with this. - But she never seems to jump head in, Harvin, and really discuss it, it's always on the periphery. - Well, what she said was that she encountered a lot of racism, she was kind of oblique on who the perpetrators were within the royal family, although she said there were some. - Right, with the name of the baby. - And everything we're seeing is there is no love loss now between the royal family and Harry and Megan, and that, by the way, includes Harry, that he seems pretty much estranged from his dad, certainly estranged from William, and it does not seem like there has been any move to repair that, and who knows if there ever will. - If anything, they've gotten further apart. - Yeah. - Hey, guys, it's Coco Louis Chummingen from Washington, DC on the Meghan Markle story. And first thing, you know, of course, I think her talking about her mental health and everything that she experienced, it's a little tricky, it's a slippery slope, but it is commendable, commendable, and I think it's very beautiful that she is creating such a safe space, and like she said, it's a part of her healing, and you just never know what her talking about it, even just if it's a little bit, what that could do for someone else that may be dealing with the same thing, so I'm here for it. - Yeah, I think it's a good thing, too. (upbeat music) - So the stock market, as we speak, is a thousand points down today, and this is the second day where some people have said it is just cataclysmic what's going on in Wall Street, and now the question, are we headed into a recession? If we are, what does that do to the presidential campaign? Donald Trump has already weighed in saying that this is the Biden-Harris administration's fault, Trump cash versus Kamala crash is what he put on truth social, so obviously that's gonna be a campaign issue, the economy is already the number one issue. So the question, what does this pretend for the Harris campaign? What does it mean for possible recession? Neil Irwin is the economics correspondent for Axios, and he is joining us right now. Neil, welcome to TMZ Live. - Thanks, guys. - So first of all, is this kind of a one-off or two-off, or is this the beginning of something way more serious? - Look, the unemployment rate we found out on Friday is up to 4.3%. That's pretty low by historical standards, but it's been moving upward all year long. It started the year at 3.7, we're now at 4.3. You can do the math. If you keep going up, you end up at a pretty high unemployment rate after another several months. So the issue is not that the economy's in terrible shape today. The issue is that the direction of travel is pretty bad, and raising worries that we might be headed for a more serious downturn, we might be headed for a recession. - Neil, I know there's a lot going on in the world, obviously we've got Israel, Iran, we've got Russia, Ukraine, a ton of things. What fundamentally is the cause of this? If there is one larger than any other reason out there, what is the reason for what we've seen today? - But the single biggest thing is this time two years ago, the Federal Reserve was raising interest rates like crazy to try and bring inflation down. That's mostly worked, inflation has been coming down, but they've left rates super high. So we have five and a half percent interest rates, we have seven and a half percent mortgage rates, and as long as interest rates are that high, it's slowing the economy, but gradually with a lag. And so we're starting to have that effect catch up with us. And the question now is, when does the Federal Reserve say, that's enough, we're ready to cut rates, looks like that'll probably be next month in September. - So they could cut rates, but it's still gonna take time for things to kind of reset. So I'm gonna ask you to put your political hat on now, that in the best of times when the economy was unquestionably doing well, for some reason, a lot of people, in fact, the majority of people, were very critical of the Biden administration, saying they didn't like the administration's economic policies, largely because of inflation. If the numbers are not good, how do you think this is gonna impact the election? Because right now, Kamala Harris has a lot of goodwill and excitement. What happens if these numbers don't get better? Does the economy then dog her the way the Vietnam War dogged Hubert Humphrey back in 1968? - Look, there's no question these are not headlines that Biden administration or the Harris campaign would like to be seeing. As you mentioned, Trump has really seized on this already and blaming Kamala Harris for the drops in the stock market. That's it, look, the stock market is not the economy. And as long as the job market stays pretty good, people keep seeing raises in their paychecks. Things ought to work out okay, but the messaging's terrible. We've still had high inflation. People are still grappling with higher prices, more expensive groceries, all of that. If now the job market's starting to crack and the stock market's starting to crack, that combination is really a triple whammy. And really, we're only three months out into the election, roughly, that is the kind of thing that can really weigh on sentiment and confidence in a time when it's already been pretty frayed. - Neil, is there anything, and if there is, what could President Biden or Vice President Kamala Harris do to sort of blunt the negative momentum here? - You know, there's not much on this kind of time horizon that any president can do to affect the economy. Again, the Federal Reserve, which acts independently, there are poised to cut interest rates next month, maybe as much as half a point. You know, there is some reason to think that this has just been a couple of rough days. There's been some developments out of Japan that have really sent global markets rattling. There's a reason to think that this isn't going to be a lasting crisis. At the same time, the direction things are moving is not great, and the timing is, of course, terrible with your Kamala Harris. - Thank you so much for the time. - It's not hard, really appreciate it. (upbeat music) - Welcome back to TMZ Live. So Morgan Wallen had a big concert Friday night. At Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, this is where the Chiefs play. So not surprising, that two dudes showed up, and that would be Travis Kelsey and Patrick Holmes. Patrick brought his wife Brittany along for the ride, and they had a great time. They came on stage, they were broing out, all great, right? - Awesome, great time. - By the way, number seven, that's Harrison Bucker. - Yeah, which could be seen as him making a big time statement backing what Harrison Bucker said a few weeks ago at that commencement ceremony. - Although, number seven is what Morgan Wallen always was. - Right, and the back of the Jersey Harbor, it did not say, Bucker, it said Wallen. - It said Wallen. So we don't know that he was doing that. So it was really fun, it was great that they came out, but there was something that happened. There was a guy in the audience. His name is Aaron Brown, and he had sent this threat on social media, and we're gonna kind of guess here that they're saying Mr. Mahomes at Arrowhead with the white, that would be Brittany. If he brings out, and he mentions two people, I would assume one of them is Travis Kelsey. I'll take the blanking shot, blank 'em. Also, blank you, blank. - And cops obviously were very concerned about this tweet. They were made aware of it, and actually were monitoring it. So cops reached out to Aaron, and basically texted him, and we're, "Oh, are you at the Morgan Wallen show?" He answered, "Yeah, I'm here." He was there with his actual pregnant wife, so they arrested him on the spot. I guess he told cops, "Oh, I made it a huge mistake." Yeah, definitely made a huge mistake. You can't make these kind of threats. - So we don't know how this is gonna play out, but they're constant. - With their pregnant wife, dude. - By the way, the concert went great other than that. - Right. - And I have to say, social media has ruined the world. People are searching for their five minutes of fame by any means necessary, even risking their freedom at this point. Why on earth are you threatening to the coolest guys on earth? As soon as the position, you're going to the precinct, just cancel the internet. - Cancel the internet. You might be right about-- - That is terrible idea. (upbeat music) - So Leo DiCaprio has a better life than you, and me, and you. - Back, back. - He was on a yacht in Sardinia with his girlfriend, Victoria. And what could go wrong? - Right. - I mean, on beautiful yacht with this beautiful woman. Well, he encountered a jellyfish. And by the way, that hurts like-- - Oh, it's the worst. - He looks like he hadn't been out in the sun. - Isn't that weird? I was thinking this, and hurt too, really. I mean, well, you know what, good on them. We just finished this show, by the way, Strange and Suspicious. You know what the enemy is? The enemy is son. That there was a trucker that we showed that when he drives this part of his face, this is the son, and this part is-- - Right. - Was he had a lot of wrinkles on the one? - It's like two different faces. It's like two different faces. - Wow. - So Leo is going to be on forever. Me? - Forget it. You're done. - We'll see you tomorrow. (upbeat music)
