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Travis Scott and his foundation are working around the clock to make sure kids in his hometown of Houston don't go without a little something to bring home some holiday cheer.

TS and The Cactus Jack Foundation will distribute toys to more than 5,000 kids in Houston who come from struggling families. We're told the gifts will be pushed out across 6 Houston neighborhoods throughout the city before Christmas Day.

We've obtained pics of all the presents and toys for the kids, plenty of dolls, golf sets and even keyboards for the aspiring musician.

Families flocked to the distribution locations throughout this week, and if the kid's smiles were any indication, you can tell the gifts were well appreciated.

The massive donation comes on the heels of an effort Travis is spearheading to make sure a tragedy like what happened at his Astroworld Festival never happens again. TMZ broke the story, TS is working with government officials and music honchos to create a safety plan for cities interested in holding large events in the future.

It was a few weeks ago when Travis sat down with Charlamagne tha God and expressed he felt a responsibility to fix things moving forward and figure out what led to the deaths of 10 of his fans.

Tis the season of giving -- just ask Tory Lanez -- who put $100,000 to work, buying toys and clothing for single moms and their kids.

Donning a Santa hat and mask Wednesday, Lanez was busy giving out the items in Broward County, Florida area as vehicles pulled up to his distribution station. Lanez handed out bikes, Barbies, lightsabers, legos and more ... even passing out snacks and taking the time to chat with those in need.

In all, we're told Lanez spent about $100,000 on the event, telling us, "We’re still battling a pandemic that’s left so many people between a rock and a hard place. I’m just happy I can be a blessing to others and help them safely bring some joy back during the holidays."

If there's one thing Chevy Chase's Clark Griswold character in 'Christmas Vacation' inspired, it's lots of holiday shenanigans ... just ask one man who created a decoration prank based on the movie's most popular scene.

In a now viral TikTok, the decoration's creator shows how he constructed the homemade decoration to look like Clark dangling from his roof as he hung Christmas lights. The prank even comes complete with audio, making it sound like the struggling man is shouting for help.

In another video, you see the local fire department racing to the scene -- seemingly to help out the fake decorator -- though it's unclear if they were part of the gig as well.

James Franco admitting he slept with students at his acting school is a total sham, designed to make it look like he's apologizing when he really isn't ... at least according to the attorneys who sued him over the sexual misconduct.

Franco seemed to spill his guts during a SiriusXM interview this week, telling Jess Cagle ... "Look I'll admit I did sleep with students. I didn't sleep with anybody in that particular class, but over the course of my teaching I did sleep with students, and that was wrong."

It's also BS, if you ask attorneys at 2 different law firms -- Valli Kane & Vagnini, LLP and Hadsell Stormer Renick & Dai, LLP -- which filed lawsuits on behalf of students, including Sarah Tither-Kaplan, who'd attended Studio 4 ... Franco's school.

A rep for the firms tells us, "In addition to being blind about power dynamics, Franco is completely insensitive to, and still apparently does not care about, the immense pain and suffering he put his victims through with this sham of an acting school.

During the interview, Franco denied having any "master plan" to have sex with students -- he claims he had no role in selecting them for his class, and didn't start the school intending to bed his students ... and that's infuriating to women like Tither-Kaplan.

Her lawyers' statement continues, "It is unbelievable that even after agreeing to a settlement he continues to downplay the survivors’ experiences and ignore their pain, despite acknowledging he had no business starting such a school in the first place."

As for why Franco's coming forward now ... 10 months after he settled the class action lawsuit for $2.2 million, and nearly 4 years after the women first came forward -- the attorneys believe the interview was intentionally timed to avoid making headlines.

Josh Altman says there's no competition between 'Million Dollar Listing' and "Selling Sunset" ... but it's not the nice gesture it might sound like at first glance.

The 'MDL' star joined us on "TMZ Live" Thursday and we asked him if there's any competitive fire between his group and the folks on 'SS' ... because we know how fiery L.A. realtors can be.

Josh ripped a page outta Jay-Z's playbook, telling us the 'Sunset' folk aren't even in the same conversation as his show, because the 'Million Dollar' team's doing way bigger deals than anyone over at Oppenheim.

While Josh brags about the massive dollar figures over on his side -- and there are some really BIG numbers -- he does give the Netflix show some credit, but mostly for fashion.

He's got a new spinoff, "Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles: Josh and Josh" premiering tonight on Bravo. It costars his frenemy-turned-BFF Josh Flagg, and while there's been plenty of friction between them -- Altman acknowledges 'Sunset' might have 'em beat in the drama department, but NOT if you're talking bottom lines on a sales ledger.

The funny thing is Josh told us, "I'm not trying to start a fight" with that other cast.

Kim Potter -- the MN cop on trial for shooting and killing Daunte Wright -- has just been found guilty of manslaughter.

The jury returned the verdict Thursday after starting deliberations Monday, finding Potter guilty of one count each of first-degree manslaughter and second-degree manslaughter.

As we reported ... Potter took the stand Friday and was emotional as she was questioned about what happened in the moments leading up to Wright's fatal interaction with cops.

Potter started sobbing and grabbing for tissues as she fought back tears to tell the court, "I remember yelling Taser, Taser, Taser and nothing happened. And then, he told me I shot him."

Remember ... Potter always maintained she thought she was reaching for her Taser, when in fact, she pulled out her firearm.

Wright's shooting death back in April was captured on police bodycam footage, which showed the exchange between Potter and 20-year-old Wright, who was trying to flee from police after cops made a traffic stop for an outstanding warrant.

Tesla is under fire and under federal investigation for a feature that allows riders to play video games while driving.

On Wednesday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration shared docs that say the video games that appear on the dashboard touchscreen are supposed to be for passengers -- hence its name "Passenger Play" -- but there is nothing stopping drivers from playing while the car's moving.

According to the investigation docs, this feature became available to drivers back in December of 2020 ... but before it only worked if the car was in park.

Well-known YouTuber AndrewSchrock made a video sharing this unique feature and playing all the video games in his Tesla ... you can see that he did have to wear his seatbelt, in order to play the video games. But ... despite precautions like this one, Tesla has gotten a lot of backlash over the safety concerns of its cars.

The high-tech vehicles known as "self-driving" cars have gotten criticism for features that allow drivers to slow down, speed up and switch lanes without even touching the wheel ... basically, without even having to be in the car!

Tesla insists that it intends for drivers to stay safe and keep their hands on the wheel, even when these features are on ... but their track record hasn't been all clean.

Love isn't dead after all -- NBA baller Kyle Kuzma and supermodel Winnie Harlow are officially dating again ... just five months after breaking up.

TMZ Sports has learned ... Kuz and Harlow picked up right where they left off earlier this month, deciding to give their relationship another try.

We're told the split wasn't ugly to begin with -- both sides kept in touch and remained friends during their time away from each other.

We broke the story -- the Wizards forward and former "America's Next Top Model" contestant ended things back in August after more than a year of dating.

They were one of the biggest quarantine couples to develop during the pandemic ... after Harlow says Kuz successfully slid into her DMs on Instagram.

Their love remained strong during the NBA bubble in Orlando ... with Winnie sending a plane over the Disney campus on Kuz's birthday to give him a special message.

Jeff Bezos and his GF Lauren Sanchez are getting back down to Earth for their Christmas vacay -- well, as much as you can when you're the second richest man in the world.

The couple couldn't keep their hands or lips off each other while hiking in St. Barts. The PDA fest went down while there were plenty of other folks on the trail ... but looks like they're too chill to give a damn.

The scenic stroll seems pretty pedestrian compared to what Jeff's been doing a lot of lately ... either riding into orbit himself aboard his Blue Origin spacecraft or greeting his companies astronauts -- like Michael Strahan and William Shatner -- when they touch down.

As you may know, the former journalist and the big-time billionaire went public with their relationship back in January 2019... after Bezos and his ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott announced their high-profile divorce.

Lauren and Jeff have come a long way since then -- and by that we mean they've traveled tens of thousands of miles together. Fabulous trips like this one to the Caribbean island are kinda their thing.

"Wheel of Fortune" fans can rest easy knowing all their outrage toward how one contestant's show ended has actually paid off ... in the form of a new Audi!

If you missed it, a woman named Charlene made it to the final round and caught a nice break when the standard "RSTLNE" and her guessed letters "GDHI" nearly filled out the entire puzzle.

The winning phrase was, "CHOOSING THE RIGHT WORD." At first, Charlene guessed, "CHOOSING THE RIGHT CARD," but when that was wrong, she shouted out "CHOOSING THE RIGHT" before taking a 4-5 second pause and yelling out "WORD!"

The crowd thought she had won, but Pat Sajak delivered the tough news ... telling her she took too long to say the word "Word," and that the phrase needed to have been said all at once to be a winner. It was then revealed Charlene lost out on a $40,000 Audi Q3.

Lucky for Charlene, both "WoF" and the people at Audi took notice of her blunder ... and Charlene is getting an Audi after all!

Kim Kardashian is getting very opposite emotional reactions after lending her support to a man sentenced to 110 years behind bars for an accident that killed 4 ... getting praise from the driver himself and blasted as an uninformed loudmouth from the victim's family.

Kim recently posted about Rogel Aguilera-Mederos, a 26-year-old Colorado truck driver, who in 2019 caused a pile-up crash that killed 4 when his brakes went out. Rogel was given a mandatory minimum sentence of 110 years for the accident.

Rogel's attorney, Leonard Martinez, says while he hasn't spoken to Kim directly, they're aware she's spoken in support of reducing Rogel's sentence. Martinez says the legal team is very thankful Kim has lent her voice to the cause and understands how important it is to get the word out.

On the other hand, we spoke to Kathleen Harrison, whose husband, Doyle, was killed in the crash. Kathleen certainly didn't mince words ... she thinks Kim is just a loudmouth who has no clue about the case. Kathleen says the accident was avoidable, but Rogel just threw caution to the wind.

For instance, the trial laid out Rogel lied about his experience in getting the trucking job, noticed earlier in his trip that his brakes were smoking -- yet proceeded -- and failed to yield onto a truck ramp and avoid a collision.

Kathleen thinks 100 years is harsh, suggesting 20, but says this of Kim -- "I don't think that we want our local proceedings in any state taken over by who has the loudest mouth out there, because people don't know all the details, they are running on emotion."

Jacob Batalon looks and feels like a whole new man after dropping an astounding 112 pounds!!!

The "Spider-Man: No Way Home" star says he knew he had to make a change starting back in 2019, "I felt like I could barely walk upstairs without being out of breath, and this one day I kind of just saw myself without a shirt on and it was just ridiculous ...”

Jacob says COVID-19 and the lockdown that followed really helped him to work on himself, hiring a trainer and hitting the gym 6x a week for hour-and-a-half sessions.

Not only did Jacob hit the gym hard, but he says his girlfriend introduced him to a plant-based diet as well ... and the results have been huge for him.

When it comes to vaccinations, Blac Chyna is downright tired of people she calls 'selfish' making travel miserable for everyone else ... and believes it's high time for a government mandate.

We caught up with Blac Chyna right after she'd landed at LAX, and was clearly fed up with the experience ... which included ridiculously long lines. She said, "It's way too much. People need to get vaccinated and start thinking about everybody else ... the s*** is annoying!”

She showed us the 2nd layer of clothing she wore for added protection -- although we haven't heard Dr. Fauci (or even Joe Rogan) suggest that's a COVID defense. BC is, however, wholeheartedly for getting the "vaccine mandate popping" ... so everyone can travel with peace of mind.

Chyna was slightly calmer this time than she was the last we saw her in an airport -- she completely lost it on a fan back in October because they asked for a photo. Let's just say, she's not taking ANY chances!!! Seriously.

She started off by yelling, "Go get f**king vaccinated" ... and it escalated from there, with Chyna eventually telling a passenger to "stop being stupid, hoe!"

Picture, meet 1,000 words ... because this mega-line shows the depth of the problem getting tested for COVID.

This is not a packed-to-the-gills airport parking lot ... it's a line Wednesday at a Miami testing site, filled with folks who wanted to know if they're COVID positive.

This is not a one-off ... there are massive lines all around the country with people struggling to follow the CDC's advice to get tested before traveling or sitting down at the XMAS table.

Miami-Dade is testing somewhere between 40,000 and 50,000 people every day. Some of the sites are operating 24/7 to keep up with demand.

Fact is ... there aren't nearly enough tests out there. In many areas, they're almost impossible to get and the wait time is sometimes 5 days and even longer. Given the rapid spread of Omicron, that doesn't cut it because as people wait for results they can and probably will infect others.

If Kanye West is upset about Pete Davidson hanging out with Kim in L.A. this week, he certainly isn't showing it on his face ... Ye was all smiles while he watched his Donda Academy team hoop from the best seat in the house.

Ye sat courtside next to his buddy French Montana and chatted with O.T. Genasis Wednesday night during the Donda Doves Homecoming matchup in Whittier, CA. While he was seated for most of the contest, at one point, Ye got up and chatted with some of the team's players.

As for his attire, Kanye certainly didn't wear a team jersey ... sporting the look we've become accustomed to seeing him rock over the last few weeks -- boots, black hoodie, gloves, sunglasses and a baseball hat. Fans were also instructed to wear all black, and obliged.

Kanye advertised the game on his Instagram a few hours before tipoff, and resale tickets ranged anywhere from $25 to $500 ... aka, not your regular high school game prices.

Kanye started his Donda Academy earlier this year, recruiting basketball prospects to the program which mostly centers around hoops -- usually with multiple practices per day -- and online learning for academics.

Kanye and French go way back ... remember, French used to date Khloe Kardashian, and O.T. Genasis has a child with Khloe's bff Malika Haqq.

Super conservative Congressman Madison Cawthorn is consciously uncoupling after only 8 months of marriage, and the divorce has political overtones.

Cawthorn and Cristina Bayardelle Cawthorn said in a joint statement, they made the "enormously difficult decision" ... citing the boilerplate irreconcilable differences.

Cawthorn wrote, "When Cristina and I were engaged, I was not a member of Congress. I felt called to serve and we both agreed that I should run. Our victory was unprecedented, but overnight our lives changed."

He went on ... "That change has been both hectic and difficult, it's neither the pace nor the lifestyle we had planned for."

The marriage had a quick beginning as well as ending ... he said he knew he wanted to marry her just months after they started dating.

It sounds like there was trouble almost from the get-go... saying, "From the outset, we committed to make things work, to fight for our marriage, and seek counsel for balancing the enormity of such a transition in life." The word "fight" seems relevant here.

During their engagement, Cawthorn was accused of sexually harassing a number of women during his college years -- he has denied the allegations.