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Rihanna is fully embracing her journey to becoming a mother ... proudly showing off her bun in the oven.

RiRi just posted a brand new photo of her growing baby bump ... and it looks like she's clearly far along in her pregnancy.

As we reported ... Rihanna is pregnant with her first child, and the baby's father is boyfriend A$AP Rocky. The pregnancy was just revealed Monday, and Rihanna captioned Wednesday's baby bump photo, "how the gang pulled up to black history month."

She also included a bunch of other baby bump pics ... but we've already shown you those. This new photo is much more intimate, she's lifting up a jersey to show what's underneath.

The baby's sex is still unclear ... but Rihanna's dad Ronald Fenty says he's hoping it's a baby girl ... in part because he's already got a couple grandsons.

Tons of celebs are leaving a bunch of cute and supportive comments on Rihanna's post ... so she's not the only one thrilled about the baby bump.

Facebook went face down Thursday ... losing more than 20% of its value, and it's not only a sign TikTok is steamrolling Mark Zuckerberg's baby, but he seems to be acknowledging it.

Check this out ... in the last 3 months of the year, FB lost about 500k daily logins. To put that in perspective, it now only has about 1.93 billion users checking in daily.

It's still a big number for sure ... but when you're talking about the Benjamins, it makes a huge difference.

Meta took a huge hit Wednesday -- sinking 22.6% in value on the stock exchange.  That translates to a $200 billion loss.

Zuckerberg chalked it all up to folks spending more time on other apps, like TikTok. And that's gotta hurt because Zuck alone took a $29 BILLION hit.

Facebook's been on the ropes lately, with Congress breathing down its corporate neck. It's also lost traction with the youngins.

Dolphins owner Stephen Ross is breaking his silence on the Brian Flores allegations ... calling his ex-head coach's claims "false, malicious, and defamatory."

In Flores' bombshell lawsuit, which was filed on Tuesday, the 40-year-old alleged that Ross had offered him cash to tank in his first season as coach of the team in 2019 -- saying Ross was willing to give $100,000 per loss.

The owner, though, strongly denied the claims in a statement Wednesday night ... calling them a bunch of BS.

"With regards to the allegations being made by Brian Flores, I am a man of honor and integrity and cannot let them stand without responding," Ross said.

"I take great personal exception to these malicious attacks, and the truth must be known. His allegations are false, malicious and defamatory."

Ross added that he will cooperate with investigators -- but noted he doesn't anticipate them finding any validity to Flores' accusations.

"I welcome that investigation," Ross said, "and I am eager to defend my personal integrity, and the integrity and values of the entire Miami Dolphins organization, from these baseless, unfair and disparaging claims."

Ross fired Flores following the 2021 season ... and said at the time the decision was made due to the coach's "collaboration" issues with others in the Dolphins' org.

T-Pain is not here for folks celebrating Black History Month -- instead, he says Black people should always be recognized in history, and the rash of HBCU bomb threats prove the nation's still too divided.

When we caught up with rapper/producer at LAX he shared his thoughts about the bomb threats this week at more than a dozen Historically Black Colleges and Universities ... just as BHM was beginning.

To T-Pain, this sorta harassment is, unfortunately, normal -- as he points out, Black students have been blocked from getting educations, in different ways, for hundreds of years.

He says the only way these things will stop is if "we [Black people] make our own s**t" ... adding the fact that just 'cause it's an HBCU, doesn’t mean it’s owned by Black folks.

As far as the kids at these schools, Pain says stay strong... and for everybody else, the rapper says we should all stop celebrating BHM completely.

He says he doesn't think we should just have one month of Black History. Instead, he says "we want to be a part of history, not just one month of it."

A new Colin Kaepernick docuseries is promising to tell the former NFL star's story through his own words ... and Spike Lee has been tapped to direct it all.

ESPN Films announced the partnership and the plan on Wednesday night ... saying in a statement that production on the project has already begun.

No word yet on a title or how many hours/episodes it'll all end up being ... but ESPN officials promised the Lee-directed piece will tell a side of the Kaepernick story that has yet to be heard.

"Kaepernick, who has never given a full, first-person account of his journey, is collaborating closely with Lee who plans to use extensive new interviews and a vast never-before-seen archive to help Kaepernick tell his story from his perspective," ESPN said in a statement.

The two were spotted taking in a Knicks game at Madison Square Garden right around the time ESPN dropped the statement.

The director and the football player were seen chatting it up courtside -- and then they left the venue together as well.

The new docuseries, meanwhile, will be far from the first television project Kaepernick has been involved with ... you'll recall, his Netflix show, "Colin in Black and White," was released last year and received great reviews.

Anthony Anderson is sticking behind Whoopi Goldberg ... he says we all make mistakes and should be forgiven.

We caught up with the "Black-ish" star at The Dominick Hotel in NYC. Anthony says ... he only read Whoopi's comments, so he doesn't know the full context. But, he says he doesn't believe they came from a bad place.

Anthony added ... we all say things in the heat of the moment that we aren't fully informed about. He doubled down and said that as long a person can admit to being wrong and apologize, then he thinks that's fine ... something he says WG has done.

Anthony says these kinda things happen to us all ... for the most part, we come from a place of love and understanding.

As you know, Whoopi's been in the hot seat since she said that the Holocaust wasn't about race ... She has since apologized but ABC still decided to suspend her from "The View" for 2 weeks.

Rudy Giuliani's just as polarizing in reality TV, as he is in politics -- 2 'Masked Singer' judges revolted during a taping where Rudy was revealed as the mystery singer!!!

The taping went down last week, the first episode of the show's upcoming season, and -- not shockingly, we think -- Rudy was the first contestant eliminated. TMZ has confirmed ... as soon as the mask came off Rudy's head, Robin Thicke and Ken Jeong blew their tops.

As Deadline first reported, the judges were pissed and walked off the stage in protest.

Donald Trump's former attorney and advisor made jaws drop in the studio -- which is not uncommon during 'Masked' reveals, but we're told Robin and Ken's response went beyond the common reaction.

Wrestler Brian Kendrick was just yanked from making his AEW debut on Wednesday ... after the former WWE star's past comments about tragedies like 9/11, the Sandy Hook shooting and the Holocaust resurfaced.

42-year-old Kendrick was slated to face off against Jon Moxley at Dynamite just minutes from now ... but AEW president Tony Khan says that's no longer happening.

"We’ve been made aware of abhorrent & offensive comments made in the past by Brian Kendrick," Khan said in a statement.

"There’s no room in AEW for the views expressed by Brian. We think it’s best for all that Brian be pulled from tonight’s card as we gather more info."

It's unclear when exactly Kendrick made the comments, but some are at least 10 years old.

There are several videos currently published on the Internet of Kendrick spewing numerous offensive and hurtful conspiracy theories -- ranging from believing in the Illuminati-type group was behind the September 11 attack, the Sandy Hook shooting was "bulls***" meant to start a civil war, and the Holocaust was "overblown."

It doesn't stop there -- Kendrick also seems to believe Michael Jackson staged his own death.

Kendrick did several stints in WWE over the years ... and was just recently granted his release on Feb 1. That same day, it was announced Kendrick would make his first appearance with AEW.

Kendrick has yet to address being shelved from Wednesday's event ... but wrestler Wheeler Yuta has already been announced as his replacement.

"Women weaken legs" ... unless you're Chad Johnson, who says he literally had sex THREE TO FIVE TIMES the night of his boxing match at Hard Rock Stadium, and then stepped in the ring with a professional fighter!

Seriously. And he looked pretty damn good during the fight.

The 44-year-old 6x Pro Bowler sat down for Brandon Marshall's "I Am Athlete" show ... and admitted to the guys he did it multiple times right before his June 2021 bout against pro fighter, Brian Maxwell.

"We did three times, maybe four to five times in three-minute intervals," Chad said, as Brandon sat and listened in disbelief.

Chad says he had pent-up nervousness after arriving at the venue ... and that's when he turned to everybody's favorite relation technique.

Knockin' boots.

Of course, many athletes -- especially boxers -- abstain from sex for days, weeks, or even months leading up to their fights ... as many people believe it severely hampers athletic performance. Sex right before a fight is unheard of.

"Matter of fact, I had to be at the stadium at Hard Rock," Chad said. "I think I fought at 8 o'clock. I needed to get that out of my system to relax me."

#85 went on ... "And it put me in a sense of, a state of calmness going into war. That's fighting. I'm out of my element stepping in a ring with someone that fights for a living."

And from the sound of it ... Chad thinks it helped him in the ring.

"Getting that up out of me was the best thing to do for me," Johnson said, prompting an amused Brandon (who's been boxing for years) to make sure he heard Chad right, asking ...  "You had sex the day of the fight?"

Marshall joked Chad tasted canvass in the fourth round (Maxwell dropped him with a vicious right hook) due to exhaustion from the pre-fight activities.

"That's why your ass got tired in four rounds."

The full interview Monday on IAA's YouTube channel ... where Brandon, Chad, and the rest of the guys chop it up about life as a professional athlete -- from women, money, and entourages to eating habits and working out.

Before this rosy-cheeked little lady gained a following by her self-produced shows on YouTube, she was just another blue-eyed girl cuddling up for the camera in Gold Coast, Australia.

This blushing baby was inspired to start her career -- as a singer, model, and actress -- by her older brother who has made waves in music. You may recognize him for his lovely voice ... or for dating a rockin' singer who's been known to make headlines.

Recently, this celebrity personality was in the news for having a near-death experience and being hospitalized for a broken neck. Thankfully she's okay now!

What a difference a day makes -- Elizabeth Lyn Vargas is looking totally cheerful 24 hours after a terrifying experience where she feared she might be killed by an ex.

Check out these pics of the 'RHOC' star Wednesday outside her Newport Beach home ... where just yesterday her ex-boyfriend was armed and threatening her life. As you can see, she's all smiles now as she hangs out with a friend and her dog.

Looks like ELV was chatting up a guy -- possibly a neighbor -- just before or after walking her husky pooch. Whatever they were discussing, he got her to LOL ... no small feat considering the ordeal she just survived.

Like we told you, Liz had to get the cops involved after claiming the guy, who she'd briefly dated, started acting erratically -- constantly following her around, and allegedly asking for money. Things came to a head Tuesday, and she felt compelled to report it to cops as attempted extortion.

The situation escalated when the guy showed up armed at her home -- allegedly roughing her up before letting her go ... but barricading himself in the home in a standoff with police.

Cops say 33-year-old Ryan Geraghty was charged with assault with a deadly weapon, burglary, felon in possession of a firearm and extortion for the incident.

Whoopi Goldberg’s suspension is unnecessary, because she’s already made good with the community she offended -- so says AOC, anyway.

The New York congresswoman gave us her take on the controversy Wednesday in D.C., saying this was a learning moment ... and suggesting WG had, indeed, learned her lesson.

Check it out ... she says in situations like these, context matters -- and in Whoopi’s case, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez says it’s clear she’s got a good track record with the Jewish people -- who were in the crosshairs of her controversial comments about the Holocaust.

In her mind, that’s pretty evident in the fact the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, Jonathan Greenblatt, accepted Whoopi’s apology -- especially after he was invited on to explain why her take was misinformed.

Just a refresher ... Whoopi said the Holocaust wasn’t about race because a majority of the Jews who were killed were white. However, as many people have since explained ... the Nazis viewed and treated the Jews as an inferior race -- and carried out the Holocaust with an ethnic focus. So, yes ... the Jews are seen as a race in this context, even if it isn’t something you can check off on a census form in 2022.

Like we said, Whoopi saw the error in her thinking and delivered a mea culpa Tuesday -- yet she was suspended by ABC anyway, a decision that’s drawing a lot of criticism.

Young Buck got busted in Nashville after allegedly kicking the crap out of his ex-girlfriend's car ... TMZ has learned.

According to the arrest affidavit, obtained by TMZ, Nashville police officers responded to a domestic disturbance Wednesday involving Young Buck and his ex.

Cops say when they got to the woman's home, she told them Young Buck texted her early in the morning that he was coming over. Police say the woman told them Young Buck began kicking the front door when she did not answer.

Buck's ex also told cops she went outside after he bounced and noticed damage to both the passenger and driver side of her car, which was parked in the driveway.

Police say they confirmed there was damage to the woman's car, and there was security footage of the alleged incident.

Not long after, cops say they found Young Buck driving the car he took to the woman's home and he was arrested during a traffic stop.

Young Buck was booked into jail on a vandalism charge ... but he's already out on a $1,000 bond.

Former Miss USA Cheslie Kryst was suffering from depression before taking her own life -- this according to her mother ... who's speaking out in the wake of her daughter's death.

April Simpkins says ... "I have never known a pain as deep as this. I am forever changed," adding the family had confirmed Cheslie died by suicide last week in NYC.

She continues, "While it may be hard to believe, it’s true. Cheslie led both a public and a private life. In her private life, she was dealing with high-functioning depression which she hid from everyone -- including me, her closest confidant -- until very shortly before her death."

April goes on to say Cheslie's life, despite being short, was full of beautiful memories ... and, naturally, she'll be missed by her loved ones.

Her mother also said, "Cheslie -- to the world, you were a ball of sunshine wrapped in smiles. We talked, FaceTimed or texted one another all day, every day. You were more than a daughter -- you were my very best friend. Talking with you was one of the best parts of my day. Your smile and laugh were infectious."

She finished with, "I love you baby girl with all my heart. I miss you desperately. I know one day we’ll be together again. Until then, rest easy and in peace."

Rather than ask for flowers, her family is asking for donations to Dress for Success -- an org Cheslie held in high regard. Her mom also posted a number for the National Suicide Hotline ... encouraging anyone with suicidal thoughts to seek help.

Former Patriots linebacker Ted Johnson says Robert Kraft was so pissed about being left out of Tom Brady's retirement note ... he heard the New England owner threw a fit over it.

Johnson said shortly after Brady omitted Kraft, Bill Belichick and the Patriots from his goodbye letter to football on Tuesday, he was told the Pats honcho exploded.

"I was told earlier tonight, you guys, that Robert Kraft, it was an unpleasant day today at the executive offices in Foxboro," said Johnson, who played 10 seasons for the Patriots from 1995 to 2004.

"And that Robert Kraft, when he initially first heard the news, was very upset. And he was screaming and he was yelling. And then there was a significant temper tantrum that he threw after he read this IG post."

It's unclear why Brady left New England out from his note -- he thanked practically everyone else that he's crossed paths with in his career -- but his former teammate, Antowain Smith (who played with Johnson too), told TMZ Sports he believes the snub was unintentional.

Brady did ultimately end up acknowledging the Pats in an IG story later Tuesday, writing, "Thank you Patriots and Patriot Nation. Beyond grateful and love you all."

Kraft has not spoken publicly yet about the Brady retirement, though he did release a statement Tuesday saying, "I have the greatest respect for Tom personally and always will."

Elizabeth Lyn Vargas is traumatized, but lucky to be alive after the terrifying situation at her Newport Beach home in which she was allegedly held at gunpoint.

A source close to the former "RHOC" star tells us Vargas had briefly dated a man in the area who quickly became obsessed with her. We're told he'd show up to her home, and places where she frequented ... and recently asked for money.

Our sources say Vargas occasionally helped the man out financially, but his financial demands had recently gotten more aggressive.

We're told Vargas decided she needed to call the police Tuesday to report him for extortion, and to tell officers she believed the man was coming to her house at some point that day.

Cops responded to Vargas' home, and we're told they spoke to her and decided to watch the property from a distance. However, the ex was still able to get inside -- our sources say he was armed, roughed Elizabeth up and would not let her leave.

Finally, Liz was let go -- she exited wearing a white robe -- but the man remained inside the home ... only to surrender to police a short time later.