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Viola Davis' turn as Michelle Obama for a new show is getting some early looks, and in the same breath ... some early ridicule too over an apparent character choice she's made.

The Showtime series "The First Lady" debuts Sunday, and it would appear some folks on Twitter have already gotten some initial glimpses of Viola playing Michelle ... and some are questioning why the actress seems to constantly purse her lips on camera.

One scene in particular has drawn a lot of eyeballs, and people are having a field day with memes and jokes over Viola appearing to constantly put on an exaggerated duck face while she talks to TV Barack Obama.

There's another scene that's popped up, which shows Viola-as-Michelle posing for a photo shoot, and there too she seems to be rocking the kissy pose with dedication.

While it's unclear if Viola maintains this facial expression throughout the show -- to our knowledge, these are the only two scenes that are making the rounds right now -- it does appear she invokes the lip move later in the series as well ... evidenced in stills that Viola herself has posted on social media over the past few weeks.

Michelle does, indeed, purse her lips at times ... but it seems Viola may have thought that's central to her being, 'cause so far -- it sounds like she does it quite a bit for 'TFL.'

As for how the critics feel about it ... it's not good on that front either. "The First Lady" has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 40%, made up of 20 different pros who've weighed in thus far. These reviews aren't always reflective of the quality of any given movie or show, but it seems the industry isn't too thrilled with what they've done here to tell Michelle's story.

Like we said, the show began streaming today -- so feel free to peep it for yourself. There'll be 10 episodes of this performance, so maybe it gets ... better? Time will tell.

FWIW, Viola was taking this role seriously -- despite what people online might say/think now that it's out -- and she even said she was nervous and wanted to make MO look good.

Jack in the Box is getting ready for 4/20 with a little help from a strain of weed that Seth Rogen made famous -- but they don't seem to have run it by him ... 'cause he's pissed.

Seth fired away Sunday after JITB published an ad earlier in the week promoting a new milkshake they're rolling out ahead of Wednesday's herb-filled holiday ... in which they explicitly dub their beverage as Pineapple Express shakes.

The ad also touts their love of "trees" ... and their pricing's at $4.20. So yeah, they're all in on the toke joke -- something the fast food chain has leaned into hard in recent years.

Anyway, Seth responded to their digital commercial, writing ... "This has nothing to do with the movie Pineapple Express. We had nothing to do with this and weren’t asked if we wanted our film associated with this."

He adds, "And obviously if we did a tie in, it would have to be to promote those bizarre f***ing diarrhea inducing taco things they sell."

Of course, Seth is referring to his 2008 cult comedy classic of the same name -- which (fun fact) actually spurred the real-life weed strain ... at least according to Seth and co. Apparently, it didn't exist before they came along with their made-up bud ... so they do seem to have a claim to it, at least colloquially.

On the legal end, it's unclear if Seth has "Pineapple Express" trademarked or copyrighted. The fact he isn't demanding they yank the ad is kinda telling -- ya gotta figure if he really didn't want the name associated with Jack in the Box, he'd invoke different verbiage.

Isaiah Rashad broke his silence this weekend about a sex tape that appears to out him as LGBT friendly -- and he's taking all the love and support he's received in stride.

The TDE artist -- who's had a solid and loyal fanbase for years, dating back to the 2010s -- performed Saturday at Coachella ... the first time he's taken the stage publicly since a private tape of his leaked back in February, showing him engaged in a sex act with two men.

The clip went viral, conjuring lots of reaction from the hip-hop community, including shock. Fact is, Isaiah had only ever indicated he was into girls ... at least in his music, anyway.

While there were some who chimed in with homophobic jokes and insults, there were just as many who spoke up having Isaiah's back -- including some prominent figures in the industry, like The Game, who said people's private lives were no one else's business but their own.

Isaiah was clearly keeping tabs on all the chatter that surfaced, as he compiled a lot of it into an intro video that he played before coming out to rock his set.

IR performed with tons of energy and didn't explicitly say anything about the sex tape until later on when he was nearing the end ... giving thanks to his fans for the solidarity, even indicating they may have saved his life with their messages of positivity and embrace.

It also appears the guy was getting emotional during one of his songs -- eagle-eyed viewers watching the live stream from home spotted what look to be tears coming down his face.

Tons of people are giving Isaiah props for tackling this issue head on at Coachella, the most public of spaces. Also ... him getting embraced like this is indicative of where we are as a culture ... namely, it ain't that big a deal if a rapper is anything but straight these days.

Megan Thee Stallion might be taking a page out of Tory Lanez's book -- she seems to have addressed their legal battle/past relationship in song ... and she did it at Coachella.

The MC performed Saturday in Indio, and at one point during her set ... she took to a moment to debut a new track, while also touching on its significance to her as talked to the crowd. And she did it in not-so-subtle terms either, although refrained from naming names.

Meg says, "This song is very mf'ing personal to me, and it's to whom the f*** it may concern -- and I really feel like my ladies with f*** with me on this one," telling the DJ to drop it.

Listen to it for yourself ... it's all about Meg dissing dudes she used to mess with, and promoting the idea she's independent, etc. Empowering stuff, no doubt, and while it could be directed at anyone ... it's hard to shake the feeling this might be aimed at Tory too.

The reason we say that ... there's a telling lyric in there about how "d*** don't run me," and of course -- Tory himself used that very same term not too long ago on Twitter, which landed him in trouble with a judge, albeit temporarily.

You'll recall, TL suggested he was sleeping with both Megan and her friend (the other woman in the car) and that's what he apologized for ... not for shooting her in the feet.

Earlier this month, Tory was briefly remanded into custody for this tweet ... a judge found he was indirectly speaking to Megan, which violates her protective order against him as their case plays out. Tory was sprung the same day, however, and went on to drop a new song/music video within 72 hours of bailing out -- again, seemingly addressing the sitch.

Billie Eilish did not disappoint on Day 2 of Coachella ... certainly judging by the crowd that came to watch her headline the night.

Billie can add another title to her achievements ... at 20 she's the youngest musician ever to headline the festival.

She sang a bunch of hits from her first 2 albums, but before doing so she eyeballed the crowd to make sure there were no bad seats. BTW ... she and Finneas didn't perform "No Time To Die," a song for which they just won an Oscar.  Also missing from the set ... "Nobody Like You."

Khalid jumped on stage to perform "Lovely" with B.E., and the crowd ate it up.

Near the end of the set, she also brought out Blur, Gorillaz and The Good, the Bad and the Queen frontman Damon Albarn.

Travis Scott didn't get to perform on any official Coachella lineup this year -- following the Astroworld tragedy -- but he settled for the next best thing ... an after-party.

The rapper got on the mic early Sunday morning during the Bootsy Bellows get-together in nearby La Quinta, where we're told he got onstage around 3 AM (about an hour before things were set to start shutting down) and cranked out 5 of his songs from the DJ booth.

As you can see ... it was a very stripped-down and limited show, similar to what he did at a pre-Oscars party last month. Travis was keeping it relatively chill as far as energy ... nothing compared to what he might normally do at a regular concert.

At one point, Trav even played DJ ... pulling double duty, and the remaining crowd that was there seemed to dig it. It's safe to say, the guy's testing the waters slowly but surely ... and it would appear he's still very much got an audience that's down to see him.

Of course, Travis making an appearance in the vicinity of Coachella is interesting in and of itself -- as you know, he was slated to headline until he got bumped over Astroworld -- but there was still some hope he could cameo seeing how Kanye West was hired ... and there were rumblings he might bring Travis out during his set.

That fell through, so it was all but certain TS wouldn't pop up on stage there in Indio.

Plus, there seemed to be bad blood between him and Billie Eilish -- at least from the outside looking in -- who sorta took shots at him during a concert of hers a few months back -- even though she downplayed any animosity toward him specifically when confronted by Ye.

The Indio Desert is in full swing as the second day of the Coachella Music Festival heated up the festival goers and tons of Hollywood celebs in the process.

Olivia Culpo, Hailey Bieber, Kendall Jenner, Justine Skye, David Dobrik were just a few of the famous faces that could be spotted roaming the desert for while acts like Megan Thee Stallion, 21 Savage, Billie Eilish ... and even music composer Danny Elfman performed to the excited throngs of fans.

The day was not only filled with music and art ... there was a ton of VIP parties going down in the surrounding area. Anastasia Karanikolaou and Lena Waithe partied at the Spotify Party while Revolve continued their model day parties.

This year's fest has been getting referred to as the "Influencer Olympics" and you can see why ... people like YouTuber James Charles and Lele Pons have been making most of the photo ops around the grounds.

Mark Hoppus from Blink-182 has great cause to celebrate, because he's cancer free!!!

We got Mark Saturday night leaving Craig's in WeHo, and he and his wife, Skye, seemed like a heavy weight was just lifted from them ... this, after Mark's oncologist gave him the news, which he says is a great blessing.

Mark handled his cancer battle privately ... he revealed he was dealing with it back in June and was always hopeful, and his optimism paid off. Not to say he didn't struggle ... Mark went through a round of chemo for lymphoma.

Well, now things are good, and he's looking forward to getting back in the studio with Travis Barker and co.

Speaking of Travis, you gotta hear Mark's wife when our photog asks about Travis and Kourtney tying the knot.

Post Malone spreads the love -- and the message of love -- at a wild party during Day 2 of Coachella.

Post performed Saturday night at Coachella Revolve Party at the Merv Griffin Estate in the Palm Springs area, and he had words for the crowd.

Post was emotional, talking about the need to spread love to family, friends and strangers. He talked about struggles -- in Ukraine, the COVID pandemic, and just dealing with life. He tried to inspire the crowd, saying it takes a second to help course-correct someone who is struggling.

Then he gave the crowd what they came to see ... an awesome performance of "Congratulations," and for good measure, he brought out Quavo.

Then, as the show was about to end, P.M. jumped into the crowd, lost his shirt and everyone went wild.

Cardi B and Offset's baby boy Wave Set Cephus can thank his rapper father for his super cool first name.

Sources connected tell TMZ ... the Migos rapper was the one who came up with the name Wave.

Once Cardi and Offset knew they were having a boy, we're told they started throwing around words and names for their first son ... and when Offset suggested Wave, both parents loved it.

The middle name is a much different story.

Our sources say Cardi and Offset spent much longer figuring that out ... originally toying with Marley ... a play on Cardi's middle name, Marlenis.

We're told Cardi didn't like Wave Marley Cephus -- it just didn't have the right ring -- and when the kid was born Sept. 4 and his parents saw him for the first time, Cardi and Offset decided to go with Set.

So, both names are courtesy of Offset. Most of Offset's friends call him Set.

As we reported ... Cardi B and Offset waited nearly 8 months to reveal the boy's name and post the first pic.

We're told Cardi and Offset took their time because they get a ton of negativity on social media, especially toward their kids. They waited for the perfect occasion -- their Essence cover shoot.

Harry and Meghan were all about the Invictus Games Saturday ... this after 2 years of delays.

The Prince and Dutchess were front and center at The Hague, Netherlands ... they were scheduled for 2020, but the pandemic put a stop to that. The thought was 2021 would work, but again, the COVID sidelined the plans.

They attended a soiree for the athletes Friday night, and then on Saturday enjoyed the Jaguar Land Rover Driving Challenge which was the roll-up to the opening ceremony.

You may recall ... H&M went official at the Invictus Games in Toronto back in 2017. Although she's a U.S. citizen, she was living in Toronto where she filmed "Suits."

'SNL' had an Easter message Saturday night ... and it was hilarious.

The show opened with the Easter Bunny, who towed along a gaggle of celebs to wish everyone a happy holy day.

Mr. Bunny began by cautioning people not to freak out ... "It's really me, the Easter Bunny. Either that, or you're at Coachella and the shrooms are kicking in."

E.B. was followed by Dr. Fauci -- btw, Kate McKinnon just nails it with real talk about COVID.

Not to be left out ... Marjorie Taylor Greene then appears clutching an AR-15, and she takes a shot at Jews, the LGBTQ community -- nothing surprising.

Maybe the funniest ... Jared Leto, who looks similar to another famous, historical figure. And the caution he gives to movie reviewers is hilarious.

There were also really funny bits with Britney and NYC Mayor Eric Adams.

And lastly ... Donald Trump makes an appearance ... the best line -- remember when Trump said COVID will be over by Easter. Well, he didn't say which Easter, right?

Rihanna and A$AP Rocky are tied at the hip despite breakup rumors … literally, take a look for yourself.

Here’s video, obtained by TMZ, of the couple  at an airport terminal in Barbados Friday -- where they’re shoulder-to-shoulder, and eventually … waist to waist, thanks to Rocky’s wrap-around with his arm.

He brings in her close as they exit … the first glimpse of clear PDA we’ve seen between them since all this nasty gossip surfaced this past week.

Photos of this outing popped up over the weekend, but paps weren’t able to capture A/R embracing like this. It certainly seems to put all this nonsense to bed -- namely, they’re clearly together, and not split up as the internet would have you believe.

We’d already been told by our sources that the whole thing was BS, but now ... here’s visual evidence to prove it even further for those who might still have their (unfounded) doubts.

And in case that wasn’t enough, the woman A$AP is alleged to have cheated on Rihanna with -- Amina Muaddi -- shut it down herself, calling all the speculation an “unfounded lie.”

As you know, RiRi is carrying Rocky’s baby -- and looks like she’s ready to pop any day now. Rihanna announced her pregnancy back in January ... she and Rocky have been dating since 2020, this after knowing each other for years.

Chris Brown has got more woman troubles ... but TMZ has learned, this time it's not of his doing.

LAPD sources tell us ... Chris is having an issue with a woman who keeps showing up at his San Fernando Valley home. Two weeks ago police were called because she would not leave. By the time cops arrived, she had skedaddled.

We're told, the next two days someone called the cops saying Chris needed a welfare check  ... but police knew it was BS.

The drama didn't stop there ... our sources say, CB's security called the police again last week because the same woman returned to Chris' home and got into a screaming match with his security.

We've learned, police ended up taking an incident report because there was no crime ... but they wanted to document what went down. They were told the woman in question had been seen on the street by the singer's gate around 10 times.

Oddly enough, this isn't the first time Chris has had unwanted visitors at his home.

Remember ... Chris had a yard sale at his home a few years back ... wonder if anyone got any crazy ideas when he made his address public.

Dana White says he's hoping to get Jon Jones back in the Octagon this summer ... telling TMZ Sports a fight against former heavyweight champ Stipe Miocic is an obvious move.

Bones hasn't fought since February 2020, when he beat Dominick Reyes via unanimous decision at UFC 247.

We talked to the UFC boss about the superstar's future recently ... and it sounds like this year's International Fight Week is going to be an absolute banger.

"Listen, people have been talking about how awesome this card is, and I was just telling somebody the other day our lineup for this summer is incredible," White said.

"I'm hoping that Jon Jones is gonna be a part of that lineup this summer."

We followed up and asked if this meant we could see Jon take on Francis Ngannou or Stipe Miocic ... and fans of the former champ out of Ohio are gonna be excited.

"Yeah, Stipe makes sense."

As for another UFC legend -- Conor McGregor -- Dana says he's not going to consider giving him a fight until he's 100% and cleared ... and that hasn't happened yet.

Harry Styles' enchanting looks over the years are simply magical!

Here is 17-year-old boy-bander Harry at a "One Direction: Forever Young: Our Official X-Factor Story" book singing back in 2011 (left). This was just the start for the youngster who was joined alongside his fellow '1D' members Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson.

And, 11 years later ... the now bonafide 28-year-old rockstar just took the stage and shut it down as Coachella's Friday night headliner looking perfect as ever (right).

Preceded with strong acts from Lil Baby, Big Sean and Phoebe Bridgers, the night went out with a bang from the rock-n-roller himself, Mr. Styles.

Oh Harry, you're so GOLDEN!

The question is ...