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The Omicron/Omarion jokes have reached the source -- and the man (not the variant) is here to set the record straight about the difference between himself ... and a new strain of COVID.

The B2K singer/dancer took to TikTok for the start of 2022 with a PSA of sorts -- three of them actually -- for New Year's Rockin' Eve, which are all about how he is NOT the Omicron variant ... despite his name often getting confused for it, and some apparent bad reactions from fans.

Omarion starts his first video by simply saying ... he's Omarion, an artist, and not Omicron ... which means if you run into him on the street, you don't have isolate afterward -- nor do you need a negative test to dance to his music. 😂

His second vid is pretty similar -- but this time, he notes ... yeah, you probably shouldn't touch or get too close to him in general ... but that that rule has nothing to do with him being able to give anyone COVID.

And finally ... Omarion gets (kinda) serious, by reading a letter he says his lawyers wanted him to spell out as a result of "confusion" on the internet. He again says he's Omarion -- the singer and entertainer -- and NOT the variant ... so keep the DMs chill and respectful.

Patton Oswalt did some soul searching to kick off 2022 -- and the deep dive into reconciling friendships with differing POVs was spurred by none other than ... Dave Chappelle.

The comic was catching some backlash over the past couple days for a set of photos he posted on IG, which show him palling around with Dave in Seattle, where they were apparently both performing to end the year ... and where they actually shared stage time.

PO says when Dave asked him to come next door for a drop-in set, he thought, "Why not?" ... noting he was happy to say bye to 2021 alongside a longtime friend, while singing his praises.

Of course, Patton was quickly met with criticism from folks offended by Dave's comments in "The Closer," which caused him to post a second time where he explained himself.

The guy had a lot to say, but the bottom line from his remarks is this ... he isn't going to just discard Dave completely -- whom he says he's known for over 3 decades -- although he does make a point to say ... they're completely at odds over the transgender issue.

Patton writes, "[W]e also 100% disagree about transgender rights & representation. I support trans peoples' rights — ANYONE'S rights — to live safely in the world as their fullest selves. For all the things he's helped ME evolve on, I'll always disagree with where he stands NOW on transgender issues."

He goes on to say he doesn't believe a "seeker" like Dave is done learning, however -- which is, in part, why he won't nix him from his own life ... especially after knowing someone that long. He goes on to ponder the ramifications of him cutting off other friends in recent years ... wondering if his hard stance pushed them deeper into what he calls ignorance.

Traxamillion -- a Bay Area hip-hop producer who was instrumental to the hyphy movement -- has reportedly died.

The blog account Thizzler On The Roof broke the story, writing ... "Rest In Peace @traxamillion The San Jose producer who helped create the "Hyphy" sound passed away today. This is a huge loss for Northern California We send our condolences to his family & loved ones. #RIPTraxamillion."

No info was provided on the circumstances of his death, or where he may have passed exactly. We're working to confirm the news. With that said, this appears to have been sudden -- because the guy was posting on social media regularly prior to this.

In any case ... Traxamillion certainly left his mark on the area and the local culture, which went well beyond the Bay as far as music is concerned. During the mid-to-late 2000s, the hyphy movement was worldwide ... and Trax was a seminal part in forming the sound.

Some of the notable songs he's produced ... Keak Da Sneak's "Super Hyphy" and "On Citas," Mistah F.A.B.'s "Sideshow" and "Da Yellow Bus," The Pack's "Club Stuntin," Izz Thizz's "Gas, Skrape," The Jacka's "From the Hood," Dem Hoodstarz's "Grown Man Remix" ... and many others.

Trax will perhaps best be remembered for his compilation album "The Slapp Addict," which featured a number of Bay Area artists ... including legends like Clyde Carson, Turf Talk, San Quinn, Zion I, as well as many of the above-mentioned rappers.

He's also worked with the likes of E-40, City Girls, Paul Wall, Yukmouth, Andre Nickatina, Mac Dre, Messy Marv, Joyner Lucas, T.I., Freeway, The Lonely Island ... just to name a few.

He was 43.

A news anchor made a reference to her Asian heritage during a New Year's broadcast, which drew the ire of what sounds like a good old-fashioned Karen ... who called in to complain.

Reporter Michelle Li of NBC affiliate KSDK in St. Louis posted a video of herself listening to the disgruntled viewer at home, who seems to have phoned the station to criticize Li's mention of dumplings while she was talking about go-to New Year's Day grub.

Li was plugging food like cornbread, black-eyed peas, pork and other greens -- delving into the metaphysical significance of each ... kinda like an astrology reading of sorts.

Once she'd finished, she added a fun line ... "I ate dumpling soup. That's what a lot of Korean people do." She later wrote, "It's subtle but people do notice! Something small but representation matters... we are not all eating cornbread, my friends... though it is delicious."

Apparently, though, that quip pissed off one woman who dialed in and left a VM ... saying she didn't appreciate Li's explicit mention of her culture, calling it "very Asian" while adding ... "She can keep her Korean to herself."

The argument this woman was making ... a white anchor plugging food that they/white people liked to eat on NYD, specifically, would be considered offensive -- and this lady was speaking about a hypothetical double standard she preemptively perceived.

Twitter says it booted Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene for misinformation -- which may well be true -- but there's another scary topic she polished days before Jan. 6 ... civil war.

The Georgia congresswoman got permanently suspended from the bird app Sunday, with Twitter honchos saying she'd racked up 5 separate strikes regarding their COVID-19 misinformation policy ... the latest violation of which went down on Saturday, per the NYT.

The tweet that apparently pushed her over the edge was about reported deaths from vaccines -- and how, from her POV, they were taken way more seriously pre-COVID compared to now ... which she suggested was part of some big-government plot.

That was enough for Twitter to turn her account dark ... even though she still has her official Congress account. Still, some can't help but notice the timing and the other recent rhetoric she's been espousing of late -- especially with a terrible national anniversary drawing near.

Of course, we mean the day of the Capitol riots ... which happened almost a full 365 days ago starting Thursday -- and something MTG appears to have been inviting anew with tweets like the ones she posted a few days ago -- where she was talking about a national split.

In response to another tweet about Californians and New Yorkers fleeing their respective states during the pandemic and heading to places like Texas -- which the OG tweeter advocated for discriminating against those transplants -- Rep. Greene replied dubiously.

She wrote, "All possible in a National Divorce scenario," going on to bash the people leaving blue states ... while also supporting a moratorium on their voting rights once they move. There's a lot more tweets she's posted over the past year which seem to have stoked the flames of secession and a repeat of Jan. 6 -- but Twitter put its foot down just in time.

Drake doesn't always fly on a top-tier private jet to get the hell out of Dodge -- sometimes he's gotta settle for what's around ... which was the case for him in St. Barts this weekend.

The rapper hit the Gustaf III Airport in the village of St. Jean Saturday after partying the night away on the island for New Year's Eve. It was just him and a small entourage he was with -- and in a video obtained by TMZ ... you can see just how small of an airport this was.

The planes here seem to be turboprop ones -- which usually have a single-engine and are meant to go relatively short distances and not very high ... unlike a regular jet.

We're told Drizzy and co. appeared to be heading to a different airport on the island of Saint Martin, which carries larger aircrafts and is meant for rigorous trips. So, in other words ... this was a pitstop on his journey out of the Caribbean.

As you can see ... Drake seemed to be kinda upset about something. A witness tells us there was some sort of confusion about which plane they were getting on, which apparently got on Drake's nerves a bit.

All good -- who isn't crabby after a long night ... which is certainly what Drake and friends experienced less than 12 hours before this was shot. Dude was on a yacht ... naturally.

Word is, St. Barts was the place to be for New Year's -- there were sightings with big names over the past several days ... including folks like Leonardo DiCaprio, Dua Lipa, Mike Tyson and even Jake Paul, who actually posed with Drake on the vessel.

Kanye West has gotten back on the horse, because he's back in the dating game.

Kanye and actress Julia Fox hit up Carbone restaurant in Miami Saturday night, and he was clearly having a good time.

Sources familiar with the situation tell us it's nothing serious, but that he's embracing single life ... this after Kim Kardashian made it clear she's going through with the divorce.

Kanye has been out a lot lately, from Belize to Miami and parts elsewhere, as he retools his life as a single man.

As we reported, he was out partying recently with IG model Yasmine Lopez, although we're told it was not a date. They happened to be at the same party, but still, he's getting on with his life. BTW, this was at James Harden's Thirteen restaurant with J Mulan, where Kanye rolled up with Justin LaBoy.

Sources familiar with the situation say he seems happier now than he has in a long, long time.

It's unlikely Kanye's feelings toward Kim have been Etch A Sketched away ... just a few weeks ago Kanye was performing with Drake at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum when he changed the lyrics to "Runaway" ... "I need you run right back to me, more specifically Kimberly."

The plea didn't land ... the next day Kim filed to restore her marital status to single, STAT, and leave all the other issues for another day.

Kanye and Kim are actually far along in dealing with property issues ... he's deeded her his interest in their family home, and he just bought a $4.5 million fixer-upper directly across the street from the family house. We're told he bought the house abruptly -- so he could be close to the kids -- and our sources say this fixer-upper is going to be stripped right down to the studs ... it needs everything.

A-Rod and Kanye West have something in common -- THE DATING GAME!!!

A-Rod brought a date to The Langham Hotel in London Saturday night. Eyewitnesses tell TMZ ... they arrived together at around 9:45 PM and got super cozy ... as they talked J Lo's ex put his hand on her thigh as he sipped a non-alcoholic drink.

Folks at the bar say they were not looking for attention .... in fact, at one point they moved to another part of the bar that was further away from other folks. There wasn't any kissing or hugging, but they were clearly affectionate and into each other ... so say the witnesses.

No one approached A-Rod, but some folks in the bar clearly recognized him.

A-Rod and Kanye really do have things in common -- they're both recently single, and not of their own doing. But, A-Rod and Ye seem to be moving on ... a good start to 2022.

Jeff Bezos went all John Travolta with girlfriend Lauren Sanchez ... as they celebrated a new year disco fashion.

Bezos posted pics of him and Sanchez looking super affectionate as they partied by a pool in St. Barts.

Now here's what's interesting. Check out this pic of Jeff with Lauren's son Nikko and Nikko's dad, former NFL star Tony Gonzalez. Tony was married to Lauren, and we're told Tony and his wife are vacationing with Lauren and Tony ... and we're told that's not the first time.

Jeff posted that 2022 will be a time for personal growth. For her part, Lauren commented and wrote, "I love you baby. For every reason and no reason."

You gotta check out Bezos's duds ... an orange patterned vintage '70s shirt, cream chinos and shades.

Lauren's was a little more current ... a black crop top and black leather pants.

They've been hanging in St. Barths for more than a week ... lounging like royalty on the super-yacht they rented for the vacay.

The 57-year-old's going through -- well, some might say a mid-life crisis -- as he showed off his buff bod, and our Bezos sources flatly denied its the result of HGH, despite what some speculated on social media.

Halle Berry clowned everyone Saturday by making it seem she tied the knot again ... and she got over on lots of her famous friends.

Halle posted pics that made it look like she and boyfriend, Van Hunt, are now hubby and wife. The photos were taken in a chapel on what appears to be a resort. We believe they're at a super fancy hotel in Bora Bora.

Well, it looked real enough for Dwayne Johnson and Octavia Spencer to fall for it hook, line and sinker.

It's actually easy to miss the joke. Halle captioned the pic, "well, IT'S OFFICIAL!" When you read the caption next to the pic of the 55-year-old actress wearing a flower crown as she gets up on her toes to kiss Van, well, it's easy to get clowned.

The joke is unmasked with the next caption ... "It's 2022!" So, it's official -- it's 2022. We get it.

Halle actually hashtagged '#Gotcha,' but apparently, that was too obvious so she edited it out.

"The Rock" reacted by posting a bunch of clapping emojis with the caption, "congrats you two!!! Beautiful!!"

Octavia Spencer chimed in ... "Congratulations!!!!!"

There's a little backstory here. Halle's been married 3 times -- and some of the splits have been super difficult -- so a 4th plunge is, well, a little surprising.

Halle and Van have been together for a while, but she never really acknowledged it until September 2020.

There was something strange appearing in the sky over Tennessee ... and it prompted an eyewitness' super funny reaction to the prospect of UFOs.

Check out this wild, hilarious video obtained by TMZ, which appears to show multiple lights in different formations high above Memphis.

We're told this was shot a couple days ago, on Dec. 27, in the evening ... and you can see the lights forming a line and a triangle.

The eyewitness who shot the video is beside herself ... "Y'all, what is that y'all?!? Y'all what the f*** is that?!? Oh my God, y'all!!!"

It's unclear what we're seeing here, but they don't appear to be planes ... and it's the latest in a string of unidentified objects being spotted in our skies.

Earlier this month, we obtained video of a swarm of lights darting around the airspace above Chino Hills, CA ... looking like giants orbs in the heavens.

And, there was also the pilot who recorded what appeared to be a fleet of UFOs over the Pacific.

The Dept. of Defense is launching a new UFO task force ... and it would be hilarious if this Memphis eyewitness narrated all their evidence.

Fake vaccine cards are selling like crazy ... and demand has shot up over the past few weeks, smack in the middle of the omicron surge.

First of all, this is terrible, and if it's not a crime ... it should be. The cards are going for around $250 ... $50 a pop more than they were going for back in September, and that means demand is high.

We're told thousands of people are hawking fake vaccine cards ... pretty shocking.

The folks studying the surge of fake cards tell us the price of the bogus cards will continue to rise as Omicron spreads and as people need to prove they've been jabbed ... and the holidays are accounting for increased sales.

The cards were originally sold on the dark web, but sellers have become emboldened as everything gets even more political and they're now selling the cards much more openly ... on various forums and chatrooms.

Max Julien -- famous for his leading role in the blaxploitation film 'The Mack' -- has died.

The actor/writer/producer passed away on Jan. 1, due to undisclosed circumstances -- this according to his PR team ... who says his wife discovered him early him Saturday morning.

In a statement, they say in part ... "During Julien's decades-long career, he was known for being bold, honest and straightforward. He would live and speak his own truth both professionally and privately. He was thought of as a rare 'man among men'."

Comic book writer and film producer David F. Walker broke the news about Julien's death in a social media post, honoring his friend.

He wrote, "I met Max back in 1996. He was a great human being, and we had so many amazing conversations. He was brilliant and hilarious and charismatic... R.I.P" DFW's caption accompanied an artistic rendering of Julien in his prime, depicting a classic scene from 'TM.'

No cause of death was revealed.

While he's got handful of acting credits, Julien will be most remembered for playing Goldie in the '73 cult classic film -- in which he portrays an ambitious up-and-coming pimp in Oakland, who faces off with corrupt cops and a drug kingpin upon being released from prison.

Along the way, he builds his roster of women with his sidekick, Slim ... who, funny enough, is played by a then-young Richard Pryor, well before he blew up as a big time actor. RP, of course, was already well established as a comedian at this point.

Several different lines and scenes from 'The Mack' have made their way into popular culture -- especially in hip-hop, with multiple rappers sampling snippets of the film into their songs. Some of those MCs who paid tribute -- Too Short, Snoop Dogg, Raekwon, Mobb Deep, LL Cool J, Public Enemy, Jadakiss, MC Ren, Kriss Kross and Big K.R.I.T. ... just to name a few.

Some other notable movies and shows Julien has starred in ... "The Black Klansman," "Psych-Out," "Uptight," "Mod Squad," "Getting Straight," "How to Be Player," among others. He also helped create the 'Cleopatra Jones franchise -- another blaxploitation saga.

Julien is survived by his wife, Arabella. He was 88, despite what his public birthday is listed as online. We've been assured ... Max was born in 1933.

They say when life gives you lemons, make lemonade ... and when life gives you frigid temps and frozen bodies of water, strap a pair of sharpened blades to your feet a go for the bone-chilling ride of your life!

Hollywood elite like Kendall Jenner, Rebel Wilson and Manolo Gonzalez Vergara are all putting their careers on ice to try and live on the edge and continue to skate through life in a blades blaze of glory!

Kourtney Kardashian, Molly Ringwald, Jonathan Van Ness and a bunch of other freezing famous faces are getting a good workout by sliding into the trend and sharing their ice shots on social media for you to chill with.

AJ McKee has conquered the cage ... and now the Bellator champ tells TMZ Sports he wouldn't mind spending time in a ring boxing against arguably the 2 biggest combat sports athletes in the world.

Floyd Mayweather. Conor McGregor.

We talked to the 26-year-old undefeated MMA star at the Jake Paul-Tyron Woodley boxing match in Tampa ... and we asked AJ about all things his combat sports career.

First, on boxing.

"I wanna test my skills against some of the best and that's why I've always called out Floyd. It's not like, 'Oh, I wanna beat Floyd.' I wanna test my skills in hand-to-hand combat with one of the best athletes in hand-to-hand combat," McKee says.

We then asked about McGregor ... and AJ says he's down to box the Irish superstar -- or anyone else.

"I'm down for anybody. If it's 145, 155, 170. In boxing, I'll go up 3 weight classes."

Of course, Floyd and Conor boxed in 2017 ... a fight Mayweather won by TKO. It was one of the biggest sports events ever. Floyd then went on to box Japanese kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa and Logan Paul.

Now, about McKee's day job as Bellator champ. We asked him where he goes from here ... after beating fellow badass Patricio "Pitbull" Freire, winning the promotions 145 lb. million dollar tournament.

"I would like to be double champ," AJ says.

"Becoming double champ is definitely bucket list. Be a champ-champ and then see where the path lies after that."

But, promotions aside -- UFC, Bellator, ONE, PFL -- who's the best 145 pounder on the planet?

McKee says he's all about finding out ... if that means scrapping with guys like Brian Ortega, Max Holloway and Alexander Volkanovski.

"Send the contract, bro. I'm gonna sign it. Cross-promotion, any promotion, backyard bully stuff. I'm just about the fight. I love to fight, outside of the money, the fame, the clout, clearly that's not what I do it for."

Bella Thorne's bling has some serious bite ... check out the new piece she's got hanging around her neck, complete with two alligators and a hefty price tag.

Bella hails from Florida, and told jeweler Alex Moss she wanted something that would pay homage to her home and her roots. Moss went to work, designing the necklace ... complete with 18k white gold, 33.1ct VVS diamond D-F color and 16.7ct natural Zambian cushion-cut emerald.

As for the price, the piece is 1 of 1 and we're told it rings in right around $300,000.

Moss says the whole look is not only iconic, but practical, with the alligator tails even bending for some flexibility while Thorne rocks it.