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Sorry to kill all the fun, but Cleveland Browns player Martin Emerson, Jr. was NOT walking around with a bunch of weed during Saturday's preseason game ... as it turns out, it was a bag of sunflower seeds.

Shocker, right?!

Of course, some folks and/or trolls on Twitter tried to take a grainy picture of the Browns vs. Chicago Bears broadcast ... and play it off like Emerson was holding a bag of weed on the bench.

The pic quickly made rounds on social media ... with users cracking their "typical Browns" jokes for retweets and favorites, and playing it off like the players were getting ready to toke.

But, one intrepid account decided to find a much clearer image of the alleged weed ... and yeah, it's definitely a bag of seeds.

If you don't believe your eyes, our sources confirm it's not marijuana and there were several players clearly chewing in the same clip that made its rounds online.

FWIW, the NFL has softened its stance on weed recently ... but sunflower seeds, however, are not banned.

Johnny Depp's brief cameo at the VMAs was embraced by some, but it's stirring up outrage as well -- specifically from Amber Heard's sister -- who went in on MTV.

Whitney Henriquez posted a screenshot of MTV's award show logo, but she placed an ominous letter at the front ... a big capital D. So now, on Whitney's page, it reads DVMA -- which alludes to domestic violence.

She writes, "@MTV YOU'RE DISGUSTING AND CLEARLY DESPERATE! I REALLY HOPE THAT NONE OF THE PEOPLE THAT MADE THIS CALL HAVE DAUGHTERS... #DVMAS #ISTANDWITHAMBERHEARD."

There's also a photo of Amber superimposed on Whitney's mock-up -- so yeah, the Heard family is clearly not happy with the network's decision to feature JD right from the top.

As you'll recall ... Johnny's face was digitally shown inside the Moonman costume that was floating above the stage as soon as the broadcast began. He had a corny little monologue, referencing the fact that he's in need of work ... and available for just about any gig now.

Tekashi 6ix9ine's girlfriend was arrested this weekend after a dustup in Miami ... an altercation that's on video.

Rachel Wattley -- who goes by Jade -- was busted Sunday night on a battery charge related to domestic violence. She's been held on $1,500 bail at Miami-Dade County Jail ... where 69 tells us he's actually trying to bail her out.

Unclear what exactly precipitated this, but in footage obtained by TMZ -- you see Tekashi facing off with Jade and a group of women on the streets, this while they were all outside of a club. At one point, you see one of the ladies apparently try and swing on the rapper.

Eventually, Tekashi retreated to a luxury ride as people encircled him -- and it sounds like that's when cops finally showed up to break up the scene and find out what's what.

Per the police report, officers saw Tekashi and Jade being escorted outside and engaging in a verbal argument. Like our video shows, Tekashi left ... but when asked by a cop what had happened, he apparently told 'em Jade had hit him. They also say they saw marks on him.

The officers note they spoke to witnesses, who claimed Jade had struck 69 while inside and even grabbed at his chain. Although cops say they saw Tekashi with visible injuries on his face, they also say that in the end ... he didn't want to cooperate with them whatsoever.

Still, they had enough to cuff Jade and take her to the slammer. The cops say this whole thing was caught on tape from surveillance video inside ... plus all the other evidence.

6ix9ine himself tells us ... Jade, who's been his GF for 4 years, attacked him for some reason -- and he believes her friends were swaying her. He also says he thinks she was drunk. Tekashi adds, "I’m gonna get her out jail -- she attacked me in front of the police I told them, 'You have to evaluate her she’s obviously under the influence I don’t plan to press charges ... I’m the one trying to bail her out."

A "Big Brother" contestant is being accused of racism after some live feed footage was conveniently left out of the finished product.

The guy's name is Kyle Capener and he's one of the remaining house guests on the reality show's current season. There was uproar this week when the new episode aired on CBS, but some troubling comments he'd recently made during the 24/7 Internet feed were nowhere to be found.

Some fans think the network is covering his ass in an attempt to keep him around longer ... even though many feel he oughta be booted immediately.

As for what everyone's up in arms about -- there's one specific moment that's getting referenced a lot, a conversation Kyle had with another white contestant ... where he expressed concern about an alliance forming among the housemates of color.

He calls it a "cookout"-like collection of characters, and notes they've said they're in the house for ethnic representation on TV. With this in mind, he suggests to the other housemate they should form their own alliance ... what some have perceived as a "white" alliance.

Apparently, there are other comments he's made that some are calling "microaggressions" ... and they feel like the dude is straight-up racist, warranting producers axing him from the show entirely.

CBS hasn't commented on this controversy, but there's a disclaimer at the start of each episode that emphasizes the contestants are being filmed constantly ... and that they may say things that don't necessarily align with the company's values.

LeBron James and his wife, Savannah, kept the birthday vibes going at the Kendrick Lamar concert on Sunday ... 'cause they were straight-up grooving to the rap superstar's music!!

The King and his Queen hit up the Rogers Arena in Vancouver one day after her special day ... and by the looks of it, they were having the time of their lives.

In the clip, you see James and Savannah posted up in what appears to be a private seating area ... but they weren't just standing around -- they were definitely feeling themselves.

Naturally, once fans noticed the 4-time champ in the building, many swarmed to the James Gang's spot ... taking pics and videos of LBJ.

Of course, Kendrick is on tour for his latest studio album, "Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers," but rather than wait for K. Dot to perform in L.A., LBJ decided to check it out while up North.

You can tell LeBron was feeling the song selection ... and when the California MC started performing his hit song "Humble," James went crazy and even engaged with the crowd.

Bron has regularly shown love to Kendrick, especially when he releases new music ... posting videos of him jamming to K. Dot's bars and giving the rapper his flowers.

"The Sopranos" actor and broadway legend Robert "Bob" LuPone has died.

The Tony-nominated actor passed following a 3-year battle with pancreatic cancer, according to his rep.

The MCC Theater, an off-broadway space Bob founded, released a statement, saying he "lived fearlessly and with great curiosity, good humor, a boundless passion for connection, and a whole lot of heart. We will miss him deeply and always."

Fans of "The Sopranos" will remember his work as Dr. Bruce Cusamano -- the family physician and next-door neighbor to Tony. He also starred in "Sex and the City," "Guiding Light," and "All My Children," for which he got a Daytime Emmy nom.

Bob, the brother of Patti LuPone, was born in 1946 in Brooklyn -- he graduated from Juilliard School in '68 with a degree in dance. His Broadway debut was the same year, in a production of Noel Coward’s "Sweet Potato."

He later was nominated for a Tony award for his work in the original run of "A Chorus Line" ... even convincing the director to play the role of Zach after the original cast member left the show. He received a best-featured actor Tony nomination for the role.

Bob is survived by his wife Virginia, his son Orlando, his sister Patti, and his brother, William.

He was 76.

NASA's groundbreaking rocket launch was scrubbed Monday after a slew of mechanical and weather-related issues.

So much is riding on the massive Artemis 1 mission ... it's the first launch of the massive, most powerful rocket ever ... it's an unmanned flight that will circle the moon and forge a path for astronauts to revisit the astronomical body in 2024 or 2025.

The flight was postponed due to an offshore thunderstorm, but then a fuel leak and other problems dogged mission control at the Kennedy Space Center.

There have been problems with the rollup to the launch all weekend ... 5 lightning bolts struck towers near the rocket, although the rocket was never hit or affected.

The endgame is to build and send up a space station near the moon, where astronauts can live and regularly visit the satellite planet. Eventually, the space station will be a stopping off point for missions to Mars.

The first set of astronauts to visit space will include the first woman ever to step foot on the moon.

Monday's mission had 2 mannequins in the Orion capsule -- Helga and Zohar -- which contained fake female organs ... designed to test the effects of space radiation on women.

Johnny Depp just made one small step in his Hollywood resurgence ... because he's returned to TV sets, appearing on MTV at the Video Music Awards in an astronaut suit.

The movie star just made his debut as the network's famous Moonman -- recently dubbed the Moonperson -- dressing up and showing his face Sunday to kick off the award show broadcast. But that's all that was shown ... literally just a video of his mug in the suit, which appears to have been pre-recorded. He said he "needed the work," and that was that.

The real McCoy wasn't actually there for the show, it seems. Still, pretty cool!

As we first told you... Johnny was tabbed for a surprise appearance at the VMAs, and it come on the heels of both the recent announcement of his return to film plus his new deal with Dior to continue being the face of the Sauvage fragrance line.

Johnny's won 5 MTV Movie Awards in his career, including Best Villain, Global Superstar, Best Male Performance and 2012's Generation Award.

Air Canada is the worst airline in North America ... according to 'Harry Potter' star Matthew Lewis, who says the airline ripped up his first class ticket in his face.

Matthew, best known as Neville Longbottom in the 'Potter' films, vented on Twitter, accusing the airline of putting him through the wringer -- forcing him to fly economy from Orlando to Toronto.

The actor says he was booted from his initial flight -- in first class -- because it was full, and when he was rebooked the airline sent him back to coach. The switch set Matthew off, and he ranted, "Confirmed. @AirCanada is the worst airline in North America. And that's saying something."

He continued, "I've been bumped before. I think it's a ludicrous policy that we've inexplicably normalised but it is what it is. That said, that's not my issue. I wasn't told til boarding, no apology, no ask if like to rebook, and if want a refund I have to call them."

Despite his frustrations he did stop to acknowledge how big the problem was in the grand scheme of things ... he tweeted, "Lol. Privileged problems, sure. But still wild."

Britney Spears' story is worth a lot of dough -- but she's forgoing a payday to sit down and speak her truth ... and instead, doing an impromptu YouTube dump that's 20 minutes long.

The singer posted a 22-minute clip on the video platform Sunday out of nowhere, and if you watch it -- you'll see she's spilling her guts about everything ... with specific focus on how exactly the conservatorship started and what she remembers during those many years.

BS starts out by saying that she's got a lot on her mind, and noting that while she's been offered lucrative deals for exclusive interviews -- like with Oprah, for example -- she says she finds that notion "irrelevant' and apparently thinks selling your story like that is tacky.

Instead, she's giving it straight to the people ... diving into how things started when she was spiraling in the mid-2000s. She says when the conservatorship began, she didn't understand why ... but all of a sudden, her dad was running the show and was very controlling. Britney claims he told her, "I'm Britney Spears and I'm calling the shots."

She also says a woman introduced the idea to Jamie, and that her mom helped him follow through. Britney calls it "pure abuse" and recounts being held down on a gurney as paparazzi and helicopters swarmed her pad the day she was put in a psychiatric hold.

Speaking of paps, Britney says this of her infamous episode ... "The extent of my madness was playing chase with paparazzi, which is still to this day one of the most fun things I ever did about being famous." She says she doesn't know what was so harmful about that.

She goes on to describe what it was like working under the conservatorship, and it sounds miserable. Britney says she felt like a robot who was under the direct control of her father.

Britney says that after her Vegas residency ended in 2017, a new show was in the works ... and she says that when she was rehearsing for it, she stood up for herself about a certain dance move -- saying she simply voiced her preference. After that, she says she was shipped away to a facility, under the guise of seeking treatment and worrying for her dad's health.

While there, Britney says she was heavily medicated ... this after she claims her father threatened her with a major legal battle that he thought she's apparently lose.

This was a particularly dark chapter for her, Britney says, and it's clear Britney resents her family for putting her through that -- especially her mom, whom she says turned a blind eye. Remember, photos from that specific period showed Britney appearing very out of sorts, when her then-boyfriend Sam Asghari took her out for a bit around Easter time.

Britney describes more conditions placed on her during the conservatorship ... including absolute control of what she ate, where she could be, her schedule, her company, everything.

It was around this time -- 2019/2020, when the #FreeBritney movement was in full swing -- that Britney says she finally felt confident enough to take control of her life and attempt to get out of the conservatorship. She even shouts out #FreeBritny protesters who backed her.

Britney says she believes Jamie and co. thought she'd come crawling back and get into the cycle she'd been in for years, but instead ... BS says she got a lawyer and held her ground, refusing to fall back into their clutches and actually try to retake the reins of her life.

It's a lengthy confessional, but Britney's getting into all of it here ... more than we can write to in this post. As we all know, Britney did break free from the conservatorship in the end -- and now, she's telling her story on her own terms. And we're sure it's far from over too.

Another fight on a plane, but there's a twist on an Air France flight ... the brawl was between the 2 pilots.

The captain and co-pilot of an A320 which took off from Geneva for Paris exchanged blows in the cockpit while the plane was in the air!

The melee went down shortly after takeoff ... the flight attendants apparently heard the commotion and somehow entered the cockpit to break up the fight.

It appears a crew member sat in the cockpit with the 2 pilots for the remainder of the flight to make sure they didn't go another round.

It's unclear what triggered the fight, but an Air France spokesperson called it "totally inappropriate behavior" -- a spectacular understatement, right?

The 2 pilots were suspended.

Antoine Dodson, who went viral in 2010 for his "hide yo kids, hide yo wife" interview, is getting into the adult beverage business ... crafting a beer based on his famous sign-off.

Antoine partnered with his local craft brewer, Straight to Ale Brewery, to come up with an American Lager called "Run N Tell That" ... it's being released Sept. 24 at a huge party, and we're told AD will be filming a commercial.

The craft brewery is in Antoine's hometown of Huntsville, AL and we're told one of Antoine's friends set up the partnership.

Remember ... Antoine closed out his hilarious "hide yo kids, hide yo wife" interview by issuing this warning to an alleged rapist, "run and tell that" ... and now the phrase is on the beer can artwork, along with a drawing of Antoine in the same outfit from his TV spot.

Straight to Ale is really going all in on beers commemorating local viral videos ... the brewery is also releasing an American Pale Ale called "Struttin That Ale" based on another viral moment from Huntsville.

Pete Buttigieg feels people's pain when their flights get canceled last-minute ... and his team at the Department of Transportation wants people to know they're entitled to some serious green during those annoying situations.

The Transportation Secretary joined us on "TMZ Live" to chat about the DOT's new system, which is aimed at picking up the pieces for travelers when the airlines keep the deets vague regarding cancelations.

The soon-to-come dashboard will help customers determine if they're owed cash when their flight gets delayed or canceled -- something he claims airlines have failed to make obvious.

Kamaru Usman dominated Leon Edwards for the better part of 21 minutes, so why didn't the former welterweight champ just chill -- grab, wrestle, stay away -- in the 5th round of their UFC title fight? 'Cause that just ain't the Nigerian Nightmare's personality.

TMZ Sports talked to 35-year-old Usman -- one of the greatest mixed martial artists to ever step foot in a cage -- just two days after his UFC 278 loss ... and we asked if he considered running out the clock over the fight's final 4 minutes.

"No, that's not who I am. When I fight, there's a reason I'm pedal to the medal and I don't look at the clock," Usman flatly told us.

Kamaru then continued ... "That's the way that I fight. I wanted to finish. It was just a beautiful technique. I could've taken him down, but I really wanted to finish and when I was setting up, you know only God knows what I was setting up, I didn't land it."

Despite the loss, Usman, who hadn't taken an L since May 2013, isn't bitter ... in fact, he's very impressed with the head kick with which 31-year-old Edwards ended the fight.

"It was just a beautiful technique. Beautifully timed, and he threw head kicks throughout the fight, but I blocked them all. That one was just money. I'm almost in awe on how good it was but it happens. Champions fall and then they get back and show you why they're champions."

As for all the memes, the people talking crap online, the other fights like Jake Paul and Canelo Alvarez, Kamaru's paying all that no mind at all.

"I am mixed martial artist and I am the best mixed martial artist in the world. So, that's what I need to do. I need to prove that. I think of nothing else right now except that."

"When you sit on top of that thrown, then you can branch out and do other things. Right now, I don't sit on top of that throne right now. I'm not paying attention to all this side noise and side talk or anything like that. Let's focus on what we need to focus on first which is getting that back and then we'll decide."

Diddy's view that classic R&B music is a thing of the past upset a lot of artists, but don't include Brian Mcknight in that group -- he's confident it'll live on ... just by a different name, possibly.

The R&B vet got candid when we saw him at LAX this week ... dismissing Diddy's comments while offering some big-picture insight on music's ever-changing landscape.

Brian actually makes several interesting points regarding music's transformation. For starters, the "Back At One" singer says it’s silly to compound generations of musicians together and compare any of them.

In fact, Brian thinks music should go genre-less as a whole and doesn't even consider his own music to be R&B ... a pretty shocking admission in itself! He compared himself to singers like Marvin Gaye and The Four Tops and how their "R&B sound" differed from his.

One more really interesting take -- Brian says today's music's different because today's artists probably don't have sex the same way as he or Motown greats did, so their music reflects that!!!

He even likened the analogy to sports ... pointing out how hard it is to compare stats from different eras.

Ironically, Brian released what he calls his "final" album back in 2020, so technically this is a retiree's perspective.

London natives and cousins, Rosie McClelland and Sophia Grace Brownlee were just five and eight years old when their rendition of Nicki Minaj's hit song 'Super Bass' went viral back in 2011.

The singing-duo were discovered by the world and shortly after their rise to fame even hit the stage with the super queen herself ... Nicki Minaj.

Their global recognition led them to meet A-listers Justin Bieber, Rihanna, Selena Gomez and Taylor Swift ... and their young, star-quality stage presence secured them interviewing at big awards shows in 2012 and 2013!