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Julia Fox insists Kanye West wouldn't hurt a fly, or Pete Davidson, because he's quite harmless ... and his shots at Kim Kardashian's BF are just a form of "artistic expression."

We got Julia after a workout at Barry's Bootcamp in WeHo, and asked her about Kanye's string of threats against Pete ... which started while she and Ye were still dating. Many people think Kanye's crossed a line, Julia sees no real danger on the horizon.

Julia says Kanye wouldn't follow through on any physical threats, and thinks it's all just creative expression. While she does admit her ex comes off aggressive, she dismisses it as nothing more than talk ... despite what D.L. Hughley or Trevor Noah might think.

However, Instagram clearly thinks his posts have become a problem. TMZ broke the story, Ye was suspended from posting, commenting, DM'sing and other actions on the app for at least 24 hours on Wednesday. A spokesperson told us he'd gone against community guidelines.

There are others who think Kanye's rants are a sign he might be a threat to himself ... and Julia has an opinion on that too.

Remember ... Julia got super close to Kanye during their recent fling, so you'd think she has a decent handle on what's going on with him behind the scenes.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is using the power of his celebrity to reach Russian citizens and members of the military ... applauding the Putin dissenters from within and giving others the lowdown on what is REALLY going on in Ukraine.

Arnold posted a 9-minute video in which he praised those who are taking a stand against the Russian President, saying, "The world has seen your bravery. We know that you have suffered the consequences of your courage. You have been arrested. You have been jailed, and you have been beaten. You are my new heroes."

Schwarzenegger may have unique power to break through the modern version of the Iron Curtain ... he's such a massive, world star, his social media posts may seep through the cracks for his Russian fans.

Arnold has history in Russia ... he was the first Western star to film in Moscow -- in "Red Heat" back in 1988.

Arnold is urging Putin to "Stop this war." Putin won't care, but again, if Russian citizens hear this, they're gonna think twice about Putin's claim it's not a war at all.

All that remains on the surface is smoldering wreckage, but underneath this theater, in Ukraine, more than 1,000 civilians are sheltered trying to survive another wave of Russian shelling.

Russian bomber planes demolished the theater Wednesday in the southern city of Mariupol, and images of the aftermath are devastating when you realize somewhere between 1,000 and 1,200 peaceful Ukrainians were inside hiding for their lives.

The number of casualties is unclear, although Parliament of Ukraine member Dmytro Gurin told BBC, "It looks like most of them have survived," noting the basement where many are taking cover remains standing.

The Mariupol mayor's office says emergency workers are still struggling to get to the building due to constant shelling.

This latest airstrike on defenseless civilians comes after Russia's previous attacks on a church, apartment buildings and a maternity hospital.

President Volodymyr Zelensky says Russia targeted the theater deliberately, and added, "Our hearts are broken by what Russia is doing to our people. To our Mariupol."

Satellite photos taken on Monday -- 2 days before the attack -- showed the Russian word for "children" written on the ground, warning Russian jets to avoid the building.

Local authorities say at least 2,400 people have been killed in Mariupol since the war began.

An estimated 300,000 residents are trapped in the city, while gas, electricity and water have been cut off.

Kanye West is being put in Instagram timeout after going after Kim, Pete, Pete's writing partner and a racist attack on Trevor Noah.

A spokesperson for Meta tells us Kanye's recent posts violated Instagram's policies on hate speech, harassment and bullying. As a result, we're told his account has been suspended for 24 hours -- where he won't be able to post, comment, send DM's, among other things.

The spokesperson tells us they'll take additional steps if further violations happen.

If you look on Kanye's page, at least one post has been deleted already, where Yeezy repeatedly hurled racial slurs at Trevor Noah.

As you know ... Kanye's been lashing out at more than just Trevor on social media, he's also posted and deleted a bunch of dirty laundry about estranged wife Kim Kardashian and her new boyfriend Pete Davidson, plus D.L. Hughley.

In all honesty, it's surprising it's taken this long ... but supposedly the previous attacks -- some of which could've been perceived as threats -- just weren't enough.

Yeezy wouldn't be the first big name to get the boot from Mark Zuckerberg's app ... remember, Kanye's good friend Donald Trump got the heave-ho in the wake of the Jan. 6 riots.

NeNe Leakes once called Kandi Burruss the racial "c" slur ... so claims Kandi, who says she doesn't understand where the animosity comes from, but she has a hunch.

The former 'RHOA' star -- who now has her own new show, "Kandi & the Gang," on Bravo -- dished some tea to Raquel Harper on the 'It's Tricky' podcast, insisting her old castmate hurled the term at the peak of their feud.

Unclear when this happened, or what exactly triggered it ... but according to Kandi, NeNe said it.

Their beef has long been documented on reality TV ... but when Raq tries to drill down and get to the heart of the matter to understand where all this bad blood comes from, it leaves more questions than answers.

Kandi herself doesn't seem to know why NeNe's had it out for her, but she does have a theory -- it has to do with their respective success on the network, or a lack thereof (for NeNe, anyway).

As for the whole "c" slur thing ... Kandi thinks it's laughable -- and we'll let her explain why.

Jussie Smollett is going free -- at least for now -- while he tries to get his sentence for the hoax attack overturned.

The appeals court ordered Jussie's release during the appeal process. He's being released from Cook County Jail on his own recognizance, but if he misses any future hearings it'll cost him $150,000. It's unclear when exactly he'll be walking free.

Clearly, the state isn't happy with the decision ... its response to the ask for release reads, in part, "Rather than attempt to meet his burden of showing good cause for his immediate release, Mr. Smollett makes only cursory, woefully undeveloped arguments. Each fails to demonstrate good cause to stay his jail sentence."

As you know, Jussie had begun serving his 5 months last Thursday -- and immediately after the judge sentenced him he was defiant ... shouting he was innocent and raising his fist in the air as he was taken out of court in handcuffs.

His defense team and family members never stopped pressing for his release, though ... claiming Jussie was in physical danger while behind bars. They cited racist and homophobic threats they'd received, and also said Jussie was immunocompromised ... and highly susceptible to contracting COVID-19 while in jail

Story developing ...

Josh Flagg just bought a massive, multi-million dollar estate, and he's spending almost as much on the renovations as the purchase price itself!!!

The "Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles" star just scooped up a baller, 7,100-sq-ft. Beverly Hills mansion for $9.2 mil  ... just 2 weeks after announcing his divorce from his model/real estate agent husband, Bobby Boyd.

The 7-bedroom, 8-bath estate comes with a 3-car garage and chauffeur's quarters ... oh, and a large pool. We're told Josh plans to give the house a massive makeover that could cost $7 mil!!! He's collab'ing on the renovations with starchitect William Hefner.

Josh tells TMZ, "Just because Bobby and I will be getting divorced does not mean life stops. Business continues as usual. I have been aggressively courting the owners of North Bedford Drive to sell me their house for years, but earlier last year I was told by a few people they were more seriously considering a sale and I would not take no for an answer."

You'll recall ... Josh recently announced, he and Bobby decided to go their separate ways, after 5 years of marriage ... though it seems there are no hard feelings.

Josh is currently living at The Beverly Hills Hotel while Bobby is living at the home they shared in Beverly Hills.

Actor Samm Levine was just 19 years old when he shot "Not Another Teen Movie" -- starring as the Asian-influenced character Bruce -- a high school freshman who is parodying Jim Levenstein from 'American Pie' and Daniel LaRusso from 'The Karate Kid.'

Samm shared this iconic role with Cody McMains who played the little brother of Chyler Leigh AKA Janey Briggs, as well as A-lister Chris Evans, the high school jock who falls in love with the nerdy-hot girl -- a parody on "She's All That."

21 years later, Levine recently celebrated his 40th birthday.

One mystery contestant on "The Masked Singer" isn't looking to make any more friends ... pissing off fellow masked celebs with maybe the biggest entourage ever.

Backstage sources at 'TMS' tell us ... in the past 6 seasons, they've never seen a contestant show up with a crew this big. Usually, celebs roll solo at rehearsals to avoid revealing their identity, but this person seems unconcerned, opting to bring a massive group with them!

Friends, managers, beauty and hair team, family members... this contestant rolls deep.

We've also learned that the sheer size of this celebrity's entourage has pissed off other contestants backstage ... one contestant in a trailer close to them complained to producers about the noise coming from the giant posse ... turning relaxing downtime into a giant headache.

Our sources won't reveal which contestant rolls with the giant entourage -- not wanting to give away who this might be -- so fans will have to come to their own conclusions for the time being.

Here's the most unlikely reaction to Russia's invasion of Ukraine -- a "rapper" spitting bars in a TX city council meeting about killing Putin and riding hard for Zelensky.

Alex Stein, best known as internet comedian Primetimestein, heated up Tuesday's meeting in Plano, Texas by dropping some seriously anti-Putin lyrics to the council members -- and you can tell from their faces ... this wasn't the meeting they expected.

Armed with a Bluetooth speaker, Alex rapped ... "Gas prices are way too high, Putin’s got to die, put a bullet in Putin’s head."

The council members weren't exactly feeling it -- not a single head was bobbing, but Alex persisted for more than 2 minutes.

Alex wrapped up by thanking the council, and shouting out Sen. Lindsey Graham for calling on the Russian people to assassinate Putin.

As Graham put it earlier this month, "The only way this ends is for somebody in Russia to take this guy out. You would be doing your country and the world a great service."

Congressman Mike Quigley is applauding President Volodymyr Zelensky for standing up to Vladimir Putin, and says the Russians -- and maybe the world -- seriously underestimated Ukraine's leader.

The U.S. Rep from Illinois joined us Wednesday on "TMZ Live" after he'd witnessed Zelensky state his case to Congress for more military assistance to defend his country from Putin's invasion ... and came away impressed.

Rep. Quigley says Zelensky's courage has managed to unite NATO in only a few weeks, despite the fact Ukraine is not even a member nation, and he's proving Putin made a huge miscalculation by taking him lightly.

As we reported ... Zelensky made an impassioned speech to Quigley and hundreds of his fellow colleagues in Congress, pleading for the U.S. and NATO to help to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine in hopes of stopping the Russians from bombing civilians.

Rep. Quigley's Chicago constituents include a neighborhood known as Ukrainian Village, and he's had conversations with Zelensky prior to today's speech.

D.L. Hughley just took the gloves off in his online battle with Kanye, and ... well, on a level it's hilarious.

For starters, D.L. mused, "Kanye do you know how horrible you gotta be to make a #Kardashian date a white man! #TeamDl."

D.L. wasn't done ... "Ye is at it again huh?? Welp at least I wasn’t crying on the phone about how big Pete’s Peter is! If you want her back instead acting up why don’t you try doing some d**k ups! #TeamDl"

D.L. was triggered by Kanye's comments Wednesday morning, when he posted a pic of D.L. in fatigues and said, "This grown ass man picked this outfit out himself Is he influential or under the influence???"

Now, here's where DL may have crossed the line a bit ... "Kanye how dare you talk about the way someone dresses, look at you!! All those people in your head and not one of em got a Macys card? #TeamDl"

As you know by now, Kanye has gone in hard on D.L., Trevor Noah and, of course, Kim and Pete. D.L. posted over the weekend, "You can tell when people surround themselves with real ones. REAL ONES in your corner would NEVER allow you to threaten a man or his family, especially in a public forum."

He went on ... "Kanye supposedly has all these goons who will kill for him, but not one of them will get his prescriptions filled?"

D.L.'s parting shots, "Kanye ain’t it funny how you can explain my jokes, but not your behavior? #TeamDl."

Jussie Smollett is taking Lent very seriously this year, choosing to give up food while behind bars ... and he's intending to stick to it for nearly 5 more weeks.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... Jussie's fasting for spiritual reasons and hasn't eaten anything since Lent started on March 3, a full week before he started serving his sentence in Cook County Jail -- and he's continued the fast behind bars.

We're told all he's ingested is water, and while his plan is to keep that up until Lent ends on April 17, Easter Sunday ... he's taking things "one day at a time."

Our sources say Jussie remains in good spirits, noting this is not a hunger strike or protest to his imprisonment. Remember, Jussie made a point to repeatedly say, during his sentencing, he is not suicidal.

He's nearly 2 weeks into the fast, and we're told he's still physically okay and in "good spirits." Cook Co. Sheriff's Office says it can't comment on religious or spiritual practices of individuals, but did say jail staff monitors all inmates to "ensure their health and wellness."

On Wednesday, his brother, Jocqui said Jussie had been moved out of the psych ward thanks to fan support, with #FreeJussie circulating online.

While he claimed his brother was kept in a restrained bed during his time in the ward, a rep for the sheriff's office says that wasn't the case and denied Jussie's bed had any restraints.

We're also told he was moved out of the ward because health services needed space for another detained person, and the decision to move him was made by medical professionals.

Britney Spears' family secrets and sexy photoshoots have come to a very abrupt halt ... as the singer's Instagram account mysteriously disappeared off the site.

On Wednesday, Brit's IG disappeared without a trace, meaning she's losing her ability to speak out -- and show off -- like she normally does ... as you're aware, Britney used her social media to talk about family drama, the conservatorship, and love for fiancé Sam Asghari.

Confusion is moving fast among fans, with no answer yet as to why she's dropped off. Sam also has yet to comment publicly on her disappearing act.

A few weeks ago, Britney posted about her big return to Las Vegas -- as a tourist instead of a performer -- saying she loved being "treated as an equal" for once ...none of her recent posts foreshadowed a deletion.

While she used her platform to talk about the high points in her life, she's been known to use it as a weapon against those that hurt her ... making a lengthy post separate from her Vegas story, Britney went off at the entire entertainment industry, saying she was on the clock 7 days a week with little privacy.

She said, "I gave my all when I worked only to be literally thrown away … I was nothing more than a puppet to my family yet to the public I just performed on stage and did what I was told to do."

We have reached out to Instagram for comment ... so far, no word back.

Norman Reedus won't be shooting down any zombies in the near future, 'cause the guy hit his head bad enough to put him out of commission for a bit ... TMZ has confirmed.

Reedus' rep tells us the actor suffered a concussion Friday on the set of "The Walking Dead" -- although it's unclear if it happened while filming or not. There's also no word, thus far, on what exactly happened and how severe it was.

It couldn't have been too bad, though ... we're told Norman's already been discharged from the hospital, and his rep says NR is "recovering well" and set to return to work soon.

Norman's in the middle of production for what is supposed to be the final season of the long-running series -- this before his own spinoff goes into production, which is expected to start sometime this year or perhaps next.

News about Norman having been injured first broke Tuesday via comic convention the Fandemic Tour, which noted he'd been hurt and had to cancel a scheduled appearance ... without elaborating on what exactly had gone down.

As you probably know ... Norman's been with 'TWD' since the very beginning, and with the offshoots in the works, ya gotta figure everyone's happy to hear he's okay.

Pete Davidson wants things to be permanent with Kim Kardashian -- no matter how things turn out in the end -- he's gotten her name BRANDED on his chest ... not just tattooed.

Kim is set to appear on Ellen Wednesday, and in a preview clip, she and the talk show host talked about Pete's ink. It was over the weekend when some eagle-eyed fans noticed what they thought was a "Kim" tattoo on Pete's chest.

Turns out, Pete went above and beyond ... actually getting Kim's name branded with a hot iron on his body. Kim says Pete chose to make it permanent "like a scar" so he couldn't ever have it removed like regular tattoos.

Not only that, Kim also revealed Pete's got two other tributes to her on his body ... including one tattoo that reads, "My girl is a lawyer."

The gesture may seem dramatic, but Pete's got a lot of tats, and uses them to express things happening throughout his life ... so tributes to Kim make sense.

Of course, things have really heated up between the couple since we first saw them together last year ... and just this weekend, Pete stood up to Kanye, calling Kim a great mom and asking Kanye to meet face-to-face and talk about settling their beef.