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LSU hoops star Angel Reese isn't apologizing for taunting Caitlin Clark during the NCAA title game Sunday ... responding by ripping the hypocrites who called her out, but didn't do so for Clark.

The Tigers forward received a ton of backlash after throwing up John Cena's famous "You Can't See Me" hand gesture during LSU's blowout 102-85 win at the American Airlines Center.

FYI, it's the same gesture AP Player of the Year Clark used in the Elite Eight and Final Four.

The difference was the public's reaction ... Clark was praised, while Reese was mostly criticized for failing to show good sportsmanship. But, she's unbothered by the selective outrage.

"All year, I was critiqued about who I was," Reese said during her post-game interview.

"The narrative -- I don’t fit the narrative. I don't fit into the box that y’all want me to be in. 'I’m too hood. I’m too ghetto.' Y’all told me that all year. But, when other people do it, y’all don’t say nothing."

Reese -- who transferred from Maryland to LSU last May -- says this win is for "the girls that look like me," telling them to be "unapologetically you."

"And, that’s what I did it for tonight. It was bigger than me tonight. Twitter is gonna go on a rage every time. And, I’m happy. I feel like I've helped grow women's basketball this year."

Despite the hate Reese is getting, there are a ton of people who've had her back, including LeBron James, who retweeted Emmanuel Acho's comment ripping those who criticized Reese but not Clark.

The Lakers superstar also shared Ryan Clark's message on Twitter, saying, "If you praised Caitlin Clark as competitive, fiery, and passionate for doing the 'You can’t See me' celebration and are criticizing Angel Reese for the same we already know!!"

Shaquille O'Neal also came to the defense of Reese, going at Keith Olbermann, who called Reese a "f***ing idiot."

It was the first-ever NCAA title for the LSU women's hoops team and 4th title for coach Kim Mulkey ... who won three with Baylor before joining the Tigers in 2021.

Congratulations, ladies!!

We covered it all on a recent episode of The TMZ Podcast, available on all podcast platforms!

Pras Michel has his game face on as his federal conspiracy case kicks into high gear in Washington D.C., with some huge names -- including Leonardo DiCaprio -- set to take the stand.

We caught The Fugees rapper just as he arrived at the courthouse with his defense lawyer ... ahead of what could be a crucial day. Leo is a key witness, and he testified Monday morning after the court allowed him to use a side entrance to avoid the media.

TMZ Hip Hop broke the story back in October ... Leo is just one of the many high-profile witnesses who could take the stand before it's all said and done.

Former U.S. Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, and ex-U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions are all named on the defense's witness list in the saga.

Pras is facing 22 years for his alleged role in a money laundering scheme with Malaysian fugitive Jho Low ... where Low's accused of acting as an agent for the Chinese government.

Leo's not a defendant, but he's been subpoenaed because the feds claim he's one of several celebs who received gifts from Low.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene sat down with "60 Minutes" -- something that has drawn the ire of some Dems -- but like it or not she now has power, and Lesley Stahl seemed incredulous as Greene doubled down on her view that Democrats are a party of pedophiles.

Greene points the finger at President Biden, claiming he backs "children being sexualized" by supporting transgender surgeries. Lesley's SHOCKED, but goes on to ask if she'd be able to do away with the name-calling while fighting her fight -- the response is ironic.

Lesley also put the Georgia Rep. on the spot by bringing up a comment she once liked on Facebook -- referring to Nancy Pelosi getting a bullet to the head -- she quickly denies that interaction, claiming she's not involved with everything presented on her social channels.

And check out her response to past comments the Parkland school shooting was fake.

Kelsea Ballerini opened up the CMT Music Awards with a powerful speech ... a very personal tribute to the victims of the Nashville Covenant School shooting, and one that brought her to tears.

The country music star got emotional Sunday night as she opened the award show in Austin, Texas ... calling out the names of the 6 victims of Audrey Hale's rampage.

Kelsea started to break down when she added, "The community of sorrow over this and the 130 mass shootings in the U.S. this year alone stretches from coast to coast."

And, then she shared her own up close experience with gun violence in schools -- Kelsea recalled, "I wanted to personally stand up here and share this moment because on Aug. 21, 2008, I watched Ryan McDonald, my 15-year-old classmate at Central High School, lose his life to a gun in our cafeteria."

McDonald was fatally shot by a classmate at Kelsea's high school in Knoxville, TN -- it happened in a crowded cafeteria, in full view of several other students ... including Kelsea.

She hosted the CMTs with Kane Brown, and went on to dedicate the broadcast to the growing list of families, friends, survivors, witnesses and responders whose lives have been changed by such violence.

Malia Obama is hittin' the streets of NYC with close family friends -- people with whom she has a lot in common -- the next generation of Bidens.

The oldest daughter of the former prez was out and about Sunday in Manhattan with the current president's grandkids ... Maisy, Finnegan and little Beau Jr.

It looks like everyone was having a blast, strolling around the big city after grabbing lunch together at Charlie Bird. They all were snappin' pics of each other, too -- documenting fond memories, no doubt.

Malia, Maisy and Finnegan are all within a couple years of each other in age ... so, they grew up around each other when Barack Obama was prez and Biden was his veep.

One non-White House-connected member of the group was the guy next to Malia ... Tyler Patterson is a private equity associate at Boston real estate firm, Rockpoint. It's unclear if they're an item.

FYI -- she was reportedly linked to 33-year-old music producer Dawit Eklund last year, but dating rumors were never confirmed. We also saw her with a mystery man in L.A. back in August ... but, again, just unconfirmed dating rumors.

College basketball legend Bob Knight has been hospitalized in Indiana ... and officials at IU are now asking for prayers for their former head coach.

In an email that was sent to ex-Hoosier players over the weekend, IU said Knight was admitted to a hospital in Bloomington on Friday night.

They added that he was dealing with "an acute illness."

"Please join us in sending prayers to coach Knight and his family," the text read, according to WDRB's Rick Bozich. "The family's hope is to have him back home soon."

82-year-old Knight is considered one of the greatest basketball coaches ever -- winning three national championships at IU ... while piling up a career 902-371 win-loss record.

Knight has reportedly been battling health issues the past few years -- though he's nonetheless been a regular attendee at IU practices.

Get well soon, Bob.

Bam Margera had cops at his hotel room door ahead of his recent arrest ... and police say he was booted from the ritzy hotel just hours before getting handcuffed.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... LAPD was called to the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel just before noon Wednesday ... after someone said they heard yelling from his room. We're told the caller was concerned about possible domestic violence.

Cops say they spoke to Bam and a woman with whom he was in the room ...  Bam was on the phone with his ex and things got heated.

We're told there was no sign of injury and no one was looking to make a report ... although Bam and his female friend were asked to leave the hotel, which they did.

TMZ broke the story, Burbank PD got a call around 3:45 PM for a disturbance at a Thai restaurant -- video obtained by TMZ shows the former "Jackass" star screaming at his estranged wife, Nikki Margera. Remember, she's considering a TRO because of that.

Former President Donald Trump's indictment should go down in history -- literally, as a national holiday ... at least, according to "Veep" actor Reid Scott.

We got Reid at LAX Friday, and we chatted with the former (fake) Deputy Director of Communications about Trump's legal trouble ... and he says he's on cloud 9 about the news.

Reid is concerned, however, about all the good it could do for D.T., with some speculating the attention pointed back could actually help mobilize his supporters and grab him a ton of votes. Regardless, Reid explains why he thinks Trump is more than deserving of getting indicted.

As we reported, Trump didn't look too bothered -- albeit a little preoccupied -- as he strolled out of Mar-a-Lago after dinner on Thursday following news of the indictment ... but Reid seems to think he's got reason to worry, and he tells us exactly why.

ICYMI -- Trump's facing more than 30 counts of business-related fraud -- stemming from his former lawyer Michael Cohen allegedly paying porn star Stormy Daniels $130K to keep her quiet about a supposed affair.

Travis Scott has cleared one major hurdle in the nightclub dispute where he allegedly damaged equipment and assaulted a sound engineer ... and while the criminal investigation remains open, we're told charges are unlikely.

Sources with direct knowledge tell us Travis settled with honchos at Nebula in NYC as well as the sound engineer he allegedly attacked. It's unclear how much Scott had to pony up, but the equipment he damaged was worth at least $12k.

While the settlement marks at least one victory for Travis, a spokesperson for the NYPD tells us, "This remains an active investigation." However, another law enforcement source says the alleged victim has stopped cooperating, which poses potential issues for the case going forward.

Of course, there's always a chance cops could use video of the alleged incident to go after Travis, though that's unlikely given the lack of cooperation from a victim.

It was last month when Travis lost his cool at Nebula, allegedly getting pissed at the sound engineer for turning down the volume during his DJ set. The sound engineer claims Travis punched him in the face and destroyed a video board during the performance.

As for the sound engineer, he did an interview from the hospital shortly after the incident, saying, "My neck is f**ked up. My arm is tingling. I have pins and needles going down it."

Lamar Odom has just invested in three drug treatment centers in California ... with the hopes of helping people turn around their lives -- just as he did with his own several years ago.

TMZ Sports has learned ... the former L.A. Lakers star teamed up with Christian hip-hop artist Dontae Ralston and former Hall of Fame skateboarder Dennis Martinez to acquire the facilities in San Diego, El Cajon and Lemon Grove.

A rep for Odom tells us the venues consist of a women's residential treatment home and two men's detox and residential treatment homes.

The buildings will be, fittingly, called "Odom Wellness Treatment Centers" -- and Lamar is vowing to be "highly involved" with the patients at the facilities. In fact, we're told Lamar is "ready to start saving lives" ASAP.

"He wants to help everyone he can," Odom's rep says. "He is thankful that he was given a second chance at his life and feels his destiny is to help others."

You'll recall, the 2-time NBA champ overdosed at Dennis Hof's Love Ranch brothel in Nevada in 2015 and suffered kidney failure, heart attacks, and several strokes.

Odom insisted to TMZ in the special "Lamar Odom: Sex, Drugs and Kardashians" that the brothel owner tried to kill him and drugged him.

Odom, fortunately, recovered from it all ... went to rehab, and eventually got his life back together -- and now, he's getting serious about helping others follow in his same path. We're told he brokered the deal with his management K&R and Gitoni.

Lady Gaga is busting out her pipes for her role as Harley Quinn in the new 'Joker' sequel -- and since they're shooting out in the open ... the whole world's getting a sneak peak.

The singer was on location in NYC this weekend shooting 'Joker 2,' and yes ... she and the team revisited the famous outdoor Bronx staircase that Joaquin Phoenix danced upon in the first flick. Based on these photos and videos -- it would appears Gaga does the same.

She and director Todd Phillips were seen one day going through the scene, and eventually the cameras were rolling ... with LG in full costume and makeup, and showtunes to boot.

You can hear Gaga singing her heart out as bystanders recorded nearby. The film crew tried their best to cover her up and block folks out, but the cat was way out of the bag on this one ... you could probably hear her from a mile away based on how loud she was crooning.

Seems like the whole musical element for 'Joker 2' is in full swing ... and Gaga is bringing it with her natural talent. As for her costar, he made it on set eventually -- and they were shot together in their comic book signature clown gear. Pretty cool to see 'em fully realized.

Based on Gaga's shorter hair ... it would appear her character goes through quite the transformation. Remember, we saw her with a slightly different look a couple weeks ago.

And, of course, based on all the set photos and clips that have leaked so far (a lot) -- we kinda get the plot too at this point ... Joker escapes from Arkham Asylum, and Gaga's Harley falls in love with the dude ... presumably joining him in his criminal mischief once out.

It's a bummer that everything's getting spoiled well before the film will come out, which won't be for at least another year and change. But it's pretty fun to see it all in action.

Snoop Dogg just made matters worse for The Miz during WrestleMania 39 on Sunday ... doubling up on the Superstar's beatdown from the night before by wrecking him again!!

It all went down at SoFi Stadium ... when the rap legend brought out Shane McMahon for a surprise appearance.

Shane and Miz went at it for a bit ... but Snoop intervened and set his sights on the WWE Superstar himself!!

Snoop stood over Miz, showboating for a bit before dropping him with a vicious People's Elbow and ending him with a three count.

"This is humiliating!!!" the announcers said as Snoop finished Miz.

The whole interaction came as a surprise ... as Miz was fully expecting a casual interaction with the California icon.

Naturally, the hometown guy had the sold-out crowd losing their minds ... but Snoop played it cool as if he had been in the ring plenty of times before.

Of course, Miz took a beating just hours prior -- when George Kittle and Pat McAfee threw him for a loop to end night one of the annual festivities.

Night 2 of WM39 has been filled with a ton of amazing moments ... and we're only halfway through the show -- so stay tuned for even more highlights.

Reggie Bush is such a huge fan of USC quarterback Caleb Williams ... he tells TMZ Sports he thinks there's absolutely no ceiling on what the signal-caller can do with a football in his hands.

"He's a great young kid," Bush told us out at Dash Radio in Los Angeles this week. "The sky is the limit for him."

Of course, Bush would know a thing or two about the topic ... he balled out at SC from 2003 to 2005 -- and then went on to have a solid 11-year NFL career.

Clearly, he believes Williams can do the same -- and even more -- telling us he's stoked to see what the 21-year-old can do following his Heisman Trophy campaign last season.

Bush says he's actually spoken to Williams in person before ... and called their meet-ups "amazing."

As for when Williams -- who transferred from Oklahoma to USC prior to last season -- eventually gets to the pros ... Bush said there isn't one team in the league that should pass on him in the 2024 NFL Draft.

"Anybody can use him!"

Rep. Don Beyer says AI technology has the potential to help save the human race ... and he thinks Elon Musk and others who say it's a threat are just trying to protect their assets.

We got the Congressman from Virginia on Capitol Hill and asked him about the Tesla honcho, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and 1,100 others sounding the alarm in an open letter about AI.

The way Don sees it ... Elon and co. are mostly just concerned with pumping the brakes on developing large-scale language models like ChatGPT ... and he thinks the tech giants are really just trying to stifle development from competitors now that they've created their own algorithms.

Don is taking graduate-level courses on AI for a machine learning master's degree from George Mason University ... and he says he sees potential for AI to solve huge problems in medicine, biology and engineering ... and he thinks the chatter about robots writing papers for folks is just distracting from AI's real possibilities.

Another reason the open letter -- which says AI has morphed into a "dangerous race that could imperil our very existence and thus merits a 6-month moratorium on AI development to assess the risks -- didn't sway Don ... he says opponents aren't explaining any specific risks or downside to A

Before this cute kid was a reality television maven and a business emperess, she was just blockin' out the haters with her sunnies, chillin' on the beach and driving her Izuzu Trooper around sunny Southern, California.

There's nothing common about this cool chick! She first popped up on the scene when her and her high school pals were catching rays on the beach and making bonfires. As of recently, her and her high school boyfriend have been heading "Back To The Beach", spillin' all of the reali-tea!

Need one more clue? "My car is dunzo!"

And STILL -- Roman Reigns just defeated Cody Rhodes to retain the WWE Universal Championship on Sunday ... in a match that was nothing short of an instant classic.

The two started the fight with an intense stare-down before going at it ... and Cody took the quick advantage, forcing Roman to take a breather outside the ring.

After a pep talk from his manager, Paul Heyman, RR got back in the ring and into the action ... moving Cody around at his will.

The match was as back and forth as it gets from there ... and the Bloodline, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn even made an appearance.

Of course, Roman was the Universal Champion for over 900 days ... but the match meant even more to Cody, who previously told TMZ Sports he was hoping to do something his legendary family hadn't done and win the main event at WM.

Cody was clearly emotional after the loss ... and many felt he did more than enough to win.