TMZ.com Home

Yusuf Islam -- formerly known as Cat Stevens -- apparently had a tough time getting into the U.S. for Sean Penn's annual pre-Globes gala ... but it's unclear what the problem was.

The iconic British singer-songwriter was one of the performers at Penn's CORE charity event Saturday night, which raises money for disaster relief efforts in Haiti and other countries across the Caribbean every year ahead of the Golden Globes.

While introducing Yusuf, Penn noted he almost wasn't permitted to come. He doesn't elaborate beyond that, and Yusuf went on to play a beautiful set in front of folks like Julia Roberts, Anderson Cooper, Casey Affleck, Jamie Foxx, Mike Myers, Keegan Michael Key, Bonnie Hunt, Allison Williams, Larry David, Connie Britton, Ben Stiller ... and other stars in attendance.

However, based on Yusuf's history with the United States -- he was literally banned from entering the country between '04 and '06 for alleged ties to terrorist efforts, which was later found to be bogus -- it's possible his past gave him issues with U.S. Customs ... especially under the Trump administration.

Speaking of Trump ... Penn later joked that he'd applied to be Trump's new Chief of Staff in light of General John Kelly stepping down last month. Classic dry humor from SP here.

Kendall Jenner is partnering up with Proactiv to fight acne everywhere ... and the timing of the announcement is nothing short of ironic.

The supermodel shared the news Sunday alongside her new employer after teasing a clip Saturday in which she said she'd be helping a lot of people with her announcement. Proactiv tweeted ... "Welcome to the family, dahling! @KendallJenner is the new face of Proactiv."

The company also released Kendall's testimonial to plug their skin-care brand, and she recounted her Golden Globes appearance in 2018 ... when tons of people skewered her for not being able to cover up her acne. Kendall says Proactiv cleared her up for good.

Of course, Sunday marks the one year anniversary of that red carpet display ... so it's fitting that Kendall and Proactiv put out the news just in time for the award show.

She joins a long list of Proactiv celebrity endorsements, including those offered by Jessica Simpson, Katy Perry, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Kaley Cuoco, and many more.

Devin Booker made a young fan's dream come true by meeting him in person at the kid's first Suns game ever ... and it was all for a great cause.

The NBA superstar met with 17-year-old Phoenix resident Luke Tucker and Devin's #1 fan this weekend ahead of the Suns' game against the L.A. Clippers, and signed a bunch of Suns gear for him.

Luke -- who has autism -- was gifted 11 tickets for him and his fam by the Suns organization to attend Saturday's game, in partnership with the Playing Special Foundation ... which helps children with special needs become familiar with sports front and center.

We're told that when Devin heard Luke's story, he went out of his way to go meet the kid ... which was captured on tape. The heartwarming moment shows Devin and Luke embracing ... and it's clear the meet-n-greet was a complete surprise to Luke.

Snoop Dogg's got thoughts on the government shutdown and a message for furloughed workers who might still be team Trump after this ... Trump doesn't care about ya.

Snoop posted a hilarious video this weekend in which he directly comments on the shutdown that's now in its 16th day with no end in sight. He says everyone who works for the government that aren't being paid right now must reconsider their POTUS pick in 2020.

He goes on to say that any federal worker who still votes Trump in a couple years are some "stupid motherf***ers." He says furloughed employees are being treated unfairly, and the fact that DT can't (or won't) come to a resolution can only mean one thing ... "this punk motherf***er don't care."

The MC urges potential Trump voters to seriously reconsider and even makes an appeal to blue-collar workers whom he says are still suffering.

Snoop ends with one last F-U to Trump ... at least he's consistent on that front.

R. Kelly did not watch a single minute of the docuseries, "Surviving R. Kelly," that has now put him in the eye of a ferocious storm ... TMZ has learned.

Sources in day-to-day contact with R. Kelly tell TMZ, the singer is "disgusted" by the series, which makes shocking allegations against him including sex with various underage girls, physical abuse and mind control. People interviewed say he's running a sex cult.

The sources say R. Kelly views the series as a "vendetta" against him by producers and others who have hated him throughout his professional career.

We're told R. Kelly's team downloaded him on the various people who appeared on the show and he claims he doesn't even know half of them. He claims the other half hate him for various personal and professional reasons.

R. Kelly also claims there were various people who wanted to go on camera and defend him but producers shut them out.

The sources say R. Kelly is resolute -- as one source put it, "He's going to sue everybody who had anything to do with this."

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West are getting in touch with God ... by having a choir sing some of Kanye's songs and calling it a "Sunday Service."

KKW has been posting a ton of videos on her Instagram story throughout Sunday morning which shows Kanye leading a full choir in what appears to be a private studio, as they sing old and new tunes of his, like "Heard 'Em Say," "Father Stretch My Hands," "Lift Yourself," "Reborn" and others.

Interestingly enough ... we didn't hear "Jesus Walks" in any of her posts.

Kim tweeted about the gathering, saying, "Our new Sunday Service is starting. Check out the rehearsals on my Instagram stories." She didn't add much context to what the "Sunday Service" entails or when exactly it's starting ... but it seems they're ramping up for a church venture of some sort.

BTW ... Kid Cudi's in the studio too, as is baby Chicago -- who's big enough now to get her groove on.

Tank is going on a full offensive blitz against R. Kelly -- saying he can't separate the music from the monster after watching Lifetime's docuseries.

The R&B crooner posted a lengthy message on social media Sunday, in which he skewered Kelly and what Tank calls his "facilitators" ... including Kelly's team, record company, promoters, and radio stations. He says what he saw on "Surviving R. Kelly" made him come to a realization he wishes he would've reached sooner ... he believes Kelly's accusers.

Tank goes on to say that his 3 daughters will not allow him to continue supporting Kelly, adding that he "choose(s) the lives of these young black girls!" He says enough is enough, and that he's sick to his stomach from the allegations made against the R&B legend ... whom Tank calls a musical genius which so many other artists have tried emulating.

He also ends on an ominous note, claiming there are other men guilty of the same crimes Kelly is being accused of ... adding that society should not let them slip through the cracks.

Tank's firm stance on the issue comes after Lifetime's special wrapped Saturday. A lot of celebs are speaking out against R. Kelly ... including Jada Pinkett Smith.

Jada Pinkett Smith is really upset there's a spike in R. Kelly's record sales in the wake of the Lifetime docuseries about various alleged sexual misdeeds, and is wondering out loud if black women matter.

The actress posted this video Sunday, wondering how R. Kelly's streaming numbers have spiked after a parade of people made shocking claims on "Surviving R. Kelly."

Jada's asking for some feedback ... if she's missing something -- specifically, do black girls not matter enough?

Tons of R. Kelly fans have been defiantly supportive of him, tweeting out messages all weekend like, "Still listening." Based on the reported numbers, they clearly are.

Chance the Rapper says he was taken out of context a while back when he said he didn't believe R. Kelly's accusers because they were black women.

Chance did indeed make that comment on Lifetime's docuseries, "Surviving R. Kelly," but the full statement is a little different. He said, "We're programmed to really be hypersensitive to black male oppression, but black women are exponentially [a] higher oppressed and violated group of people just in comparison to the whole world. Maybe I didn't care because I didn't value the accusers' stories because they were black women."

He went on ... "Usually, n***** that get in trouble for s*** like this on their magnitude of celebrity, it's light-skinned women or white women. That's when it's a big story. I've never really seen any pictures of R. Kelly's accusers."

Couple Chris Pratt and Katherine Schwarzenegger are showing more signs they're heading for some sort of union.

Chris and Katherine were hanging out Saturday at a swanky Cabo San Lucas resort. That's nothing earthshaking until year see who they were with.

They traveled south of the border with Katherine's mom, Maria Shriver and Katherine's brother Patrick Schwarzenegger, along with a few other family members. No sign of Arnold Schwarzenegger, although he's also spent time with Chris.

As we reported, Chris also hung out with Katherine's fam during Thanksgiving.

Chris and Katherine started dating last Summer.

Diane Warren is a big, a huge fan of Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib for her Donald Trump battle cry, "Impeach the motherf*****!"

We got the legendary songwriter Saturday night at an art exhibition at the Art of Elysium in Los Angeles ... and she couldn't have been more hyped up about Tlaib's comment.

Although some Dems and others have criticized Tlaib for her tone, Diane thinks Tlaib's words are more than fair game ... after Trump cracked jokes about grabbing women by the p***y.

You gotta hear Diane ... she's been down in the dumps over Trump for the last 2 years, but with the Democrats now controlling the House, it sounds like she sees it as a new dawn.

David Arquette made a triumphant return to the ring Saturday night, defeating behemoth wrestler Jocephus and then getting his just reward with a pair of clippers.

David teamed up with former NWA champ, Tim Storm for the 2-on-1 "hair match" at the Wilma Rudolph Event Center in Clarksville, Tennessee.

There was lots of back-and-forth ... at times, David took a beating and a few slams, but he and Tim eventually prevailed. Before the 3 counts, Jocephus' spiritual advisor tried to hypnotize David, but he blocks her with a dip and a kiss.

NWA President and former Smashing Pumpkins frontman, Billy Corgan entered the ring so David could do the honors and he proceeded to scalp Jocephus.

Pete Davidson's lookin' good these days ... chillin' with his buddy Machine Gun Kelly Saturday night at the Denver Nuggets game.

Pete and MGK were sitting courtside at the Pepsi Center in Denver, as they watched the Charlotte Hornets lose to Nuggets by a score of 110 to 123.

Cardi B and Offset are putting the drama of 2018 behind them and turning over a new leaf in the new year ... and their friends are confident they'll be rock solid again soon.

Sources close to the hip-hop couple tell TMZ ... they've been communicating regularly -- including while they were thousands of miles apart over the holidays -- and are focusing on fixing their marriage.

We're told Offset's vowing to change his ways and be faithful and honest with her, and Cardi's been receptive ... because she misses what they had together.

Cardi's still not wearing her wedding ring ... but not because she's acting like she's single. We're told she's just not emotionally ready to put it back on quite yet.

We broke the story ... the 2 looked like they'd reconciled shortly before Christmas on a fun-filled, jet ski-riding, Puerto Rican vacation -- and they admittedly miss each other ... at least, sexually.

They were apart for New Year's, though, because she was touring Down Under, and he was with Migos in Miami ... but it seems like they're always on each other's minds.

Ex-NFL star Jamal Anderson -- the guy who created the Dirty Bird dance -- was so zonked out of his mind during a Dec. arrest, he handed cops a bag of chips when asked for his I.D.

Cops were called to a gas station in the Atlanta area to respond to a limo driver who complained that Anderson stiffed him on a $50 ride around 5 AM on Dec. 23.

When cops arrived, Anderson was a mess -- stuffing his face with a bag of potato chips.

One of the officers asked for his driver's license, Anderson reached into his pocket and presented the cop a pack of cigarettes.

When that didn't work, Anderson offered up his chips. She didn't accept that as a proper form of identification either.

Anderson denied being intoxicated, but cops say he was hammered and arrested him for public intoxication. The limo driver declined to press charges over the $50 fare.

Cops also asked Anderson how he paid for the smokes and the snacks -- and someone inside the gas station said another patron ponied up the dough for the Atlanta Falcons legend.

Anderson was placed in cuffs and hauled to a nearby police station where he continued to profess his innocence.

The 46-year-old has had tons of problems ever since his NFL career ended back in 2001 -- he's been arrested multiple times for things like cocaine, DUI and exposing himself in a gas station.