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How does LeBron James feel about Nike's new deal with Colin Kaepernick?

"I stand with Nike ... every day, all day."

It's a huge statement from the biggest athlete in the world -- as Colin and Nike continue to get blowback from people like country star John Rich, UFC star Tim Kennedy and others who have vowed to boycott Nike.

But Tuesday night, as LeBron accepted the Icon 360 Award at Capitale in NYC ... he ended his remarks with a statement on Nike (though he didn't mention Kaepernick by name).

"Last but not least, I stand for anybody that believes in change. I stand for anybody that believes in a positive attitude and a positive matter ... and I stand with Nike every day, all day."

Of course, LeBron is a Nike athlete who reportedly signed a $1 billion lifetime deal with the company. But, it seems he's genuinely proud of the company.

As for the award, the Icon 360 was presented for Bron's contribution to fashion and philanthropy.

During the ceremony, LeBron also thanked his wife and daughters and said, "I believe African-American women are the most powerful women in the world."

Before she became the Notorious R.B.G. ... Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a high school twirler who also played for the school orchestra!

Turns out, a TMZ staffer's grandfather went to high school with Ruth at James Madison High School in southeast Brooklyn back in the day (class of 1950!) ... so we dug up the yearbook and found the Supreme Court justice back when she was an over-achieving teen!

According to the yearbook, Ruth had a busy extracurricular schedule -- which included being the treasurer of the Go-Getters club (a student pep group) and playing in the school orchestra.

She was also part of the "Twirlers" (guess that means baton twirling) and was the Secretary to the English Dept. chairman. She was also the feature editor of the term newspaper.

Pretty impressive for a high school senior -- and a prelude of big things to come for Ruth.

Jaden Smith loves Colin Kaepernick and the movement he's leading ... but his new ad isn't gonna make Jaden go on a Nike shopping spree any time soon.

We got Jaden at LAX Tuesday and asked him about the "Just Do It" push with Kaep. At first, Jaden was silent on any Nike praise, but he gave props to Kaepernick as a person, and what he's done to bring awareness to police brutality.

Ex-UFC star Tim Kennedy -- who's also a Green Beret -- says he's boycotting Nike in the wake of their Colin Kaepernick ad ... and says his special forces buddies feel the exact same way.

Kennedy is currently participating at a military school course at Fort Bragg in North Carolina -- where he told us he feels the ad is disrespectful to the flag and to the men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces.

"When I walked into the team room this morning, there were some people who were fuming," Kennedy tells TMZ Sports ... "I'm not gonna speak for them, but there was no one happy about it."

Kennedy's got a huge problem with the words in Colin's Nike ad -- "Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything."

Tim says every member in this special forces team room has lost at least 10 friends who died while serving their country ... and he finds it offensive that Colin would describe what he's been through as "sacrificing everything."

"I'm talking about REAL heroes and I'm surrounded by a bunch of them right now."

O.T. Genasis says Eminem should stand down in his latest beef with Machine Gun Kelly ... 'cause Marshall's just too good to get deeper in the gutter with the kid.

We got the "Too Blessed" rapper Tuesday at LAX where he weighed in on the surprise feud that erupted over the weekend, when Em dropped a surprise album and took shots at MGK for talking about his daughter in 2012. Kelly promptly fired back Monday with "Rap Devil."

Kelly's song was met with a lot of praise in the hip-hop community, and some say he's got the upper hand in the war of lyrics for now. Naturally, a lot of folks are wondering if Slim Shady's gonna pull a Pusha T and go for round 3 ... but O.T. advises against that.

Farrah Abraham's getting ready to fight Nicole "Hoopz" Alexander, but first she's gonna hit you ... with a damn-near naked training session!

The ex-'Teen Mom' star is partnering with porn camming site CamSoda to webcast her Wednesday night training for the celebrity boxing match. The hook, as ya probably guessed, ain't watching Farrah work a speed bag ... it's watching her do it in skimpy workout gear.

Sources at CamSoda tell us Farrah will slip into 4 outfits during the workout, and whoever tips her the most during the camshow ... will win one of the sweat-drenched items. For example, we're told she'll be wearing this little number, as well as a see-through version.

As we reported, Farrah agreed to fight Hoopz for a celebrity boxing match going down on November 10 in Atlantic City. Drita D'Avanzo wanted to fight Farrah, but Farrah turned her down.

Bow Wow flew into a destructive rage while shooting his TV show because his girlfriend called to tell him about a dispute she had with the production crew ... TMZ has learned.

Production sources tell us the rapper's GF was venting about the disagreement she had with a crew member on the set of "Growing Up Hip Hop: Atlanta." What's more ... we're told Bow Wow was told he was being set up by crew members to start fights with people on set.

We're told the rapper had been pretty chill last Thursday, but went absolutely ballistic after the phone call. As we first reported, BW shattered tons of equipment to the tune of nearly $300k, and attacked anyone who tried to stop him.

Vic Mensa is excited about the future of Chicago now that Mayor Rahm Emanuel has announced he won't be running for re-election ... because he says the guy wasn't fit to lead his home city in the first place.

The Chicago rapper tells TMZ ... Emanuel is a corrupt, dishonest career politician who has always been about power and not the well-being of the people. Vic calls Rahm a "slimy dog" with no morals, no spine ... and no true connection to the city.

Mensa also fires off a list of examples how he feels Emanuel has failed Chitown ... including closing schools and mental health facilities, and the mayor's alleged role in keeping police footage of the shooting of Laquan McDonald from the public.

Vic is hopeful that Emanuel's successor will be someone with roots in the city and the background needed to fully understand the problems that have plagued Chicago ... and do whatever it takes to fix them.

Mensa's love of this city runs deep ... just last week he gave away thousands of free shoes in the Englewood neighborhood in response to cops planting "bait trucks" loaded with sneakers earlier in August in hopes of catching people in the act of stealing.

Asia Argento says Jimmy Bennett -- who had sex with her when he was 17 years old -- is lucky she didn't file charges that HE sexually assaulted and then extorted her.

Argento's lawyer, Mark Jay Heller, tells TMZ, his client's text messages that TMZ posted tell the real story about what went down at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Marina del Rey, CA. The text in question read, "The horny kid jumped me ... I had sex with him it felt weird." She goes on to say she was "frozen" when he was on top of her.

Heller says, "Asia chose at the time not to prosecute Bennett for sexually attacking her."

As for her statement after the story broke -- "I have never had any sexual relationship with Bennett" -- Heller says she was being honest because it was a one-time only encounter and not a relationship.

Heller goes on to claim Bennett smelled a payday and tried to extort Argento, especially when he found out she was dating Anthony Bourdain. He says Bennett "chose to intrude on that relationship and demand financial payment from Bourdain in consideration for not embarrassing Asia and indirectly Bourdain ..."

Heller says Anthony chose to protect Asia by agreeing to pay $380k even though she did nothing wrong.

And, Heller says, Bourdain paid $250k up to this point, but Argento will not pay the balance.

Heller ends by attacking Bennett, saying, "Asia does not intend to prosecute Bennett for his conduct and recognizes that his unfortunate past, his stalled acting career, and a lawsuit against his own parents for allegedly misappropriating more than a million and a half dollars from his account might explain his desperation to seek money from Asia and Bourdain for this falsely alleged incident that took place more than 5 years ago."

The attack against Bennett is odd ... because Argento has spoken out against shaming alleged victims in sexual assault cases.

Montel Williams can't believe some people have the nerve to shame actors who work non-showbiz gigs between roles.

We got the talk show host Tuesday in NYC and asked about former 'Cosby Show' actor Geoffrey Owens taking heat for working at Trader Joe's ... and Montel didn't hide his disdain for those talking trash behind their keyboards.

Montel says it's a stain on humanity for people to think it's okay to job shame ... and he shares stories of some of the hard work his father went through to make ends meet.

If you're feeling down about your job, don't worry, Montel thinks you're not much different from him.

The Lord didn't send thunder or hail, but maybe a lightning strike at the White House can jolt President Trump onto a righteous path ... because a little shock therapy never hurts.

There's a thunderstorm in the nation's capital and the White House was right smack at the center of it. A bolt found its way to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

CNN photographer Khalil Abdallah caught the moment.

There's a storm brewing over Trump's SCOTUS nominee who's getting scorched for snubbing the father of a Parkland shooting victim. Then, there's legendary journalist Bob Woodward's book. The excerpts released Tuesday paint Trump as an egomaniac with "the understanding of a fifth or sixth grader."

Among other claims ... White House chief of staff John Kelly told colleagues Trump's "an idiot. It's pointless to try to convince him of anything. He's gone off the rails. We're in Crazytown."

Kelly's predecessor, Reince Priebus, reportedly called the presidential bedroom where Trump does most of his tweeting as "the devil's workshop." And, according to the book, Trump said of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, "This guy is mentally retarded. He's this dumb Southerner."

Jason Whitlock believes Colin Kaepernick is a "pawn in a game he doesn't understand" ... and the people pulling the strings desperately want to take down the NFL.

The host of FS1's 'Speak for Yourself' appeared on "The Red Pill Podcast" hosted by Van Lathan -- where Whitlock spelled out his theory about what's going on behind the scenes with the QB.

"He's being used by people who want to destroy the NFL," Whitlock explained.

So, who are those "people?" Whitlock says the shadow group is made up of people on the left who believe "the NFL is the head of the snake in terms of toxic masculinity."

"They want to bring the NFL down."

Van respectfully disagreed -- and argued that Colin's intention with his protest was simply to put a spotlight on social injustice in the U.S. and that his actions are not part of a diabolical plot.

Check out the full episode below ...

The U.S. Open tennis fan who disgusted viewers by dunking chicken tenders in soda says her quirky, acquired taste will become socially acceptable ... if someone would just invent a new condiment!!

Alexa Greenfield tells TMZ ... she's been dunking her tenders in ice cold Coca-Cola since she was young and her dad told her it was a way to cool the food down (so really, this is all his fault).

She says she knew it was strange, so she gave up the habit for years when she became an adult. That is, until she said screw it ... the heart stomach wants what it wants!

Alexa's fully aware most people find her cola dunking disgusting, but adds the right dipping sauce would make people realize Coca-Cola flavoring is "really actually good."

As for her notorious TV moment, Alexa tells us she was with her nephews, and told them to keep her dipping routine a secret, but the U.S. Open cameras blew up her spot.

3:44 PM PT -- According to the divorce settlement -- obtained by TMZ -- Slash will pay Perla $6.6 million as well as $100,000 per month in spousal support and $39,000 per month in child support.

Slash will keep all his guitars and any musical compositions he owns ... with future proceeds belonging to Slash. He'll also get a 2011 Ford F-150 and the Beverly Hills house. Perla will get the house in L.A., a 2014 Range Rover, 2 Mercedes.

Perla gets primary physical custody -- and get this -- each kid will get .09% of Slash's income for the next 20 years.

9:57 AM PT -- Slash and Perla are both single, officially! Both sides informed the judge they reached an agreement in their divorce, and the judge just signed off.

Mazel tov?

Slash and his estranged wife, Perla Ferrar, are coming face-to-face in front of a judge Tuesday to hash out parts of their contentious divorce ... and she's already won one battle.

The Guns N' Roses rocker and his ex are both in an L.A. courtroom trying to reach an agreement in the divorce that's been ongoing since 2014. Perla just got one of the things she'd been asking for -- access to Slash's Internet provider records with Charter Communications. We broke the story ... Perla thinks the records will prove Slash's gf has been harassing her online.

The judge says she's granting that motion, but there are several other issues on the table. The hearing is still going.

Originally Published -- 9/4/2018 9:38 AM PDT