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Hurricane Idalia has hit Florida in a big way ... and it's bringing the Sunshine State flooding, roaring winds, and certain devastation.

The Category 3 storm made landfall Wednesday morning in the state's Big Bend region -- Meteorologist Jim Cantore shared some shocking sights from Cedar Key -- as gusting winds rip through the city and come straight for nearby houses.

BTW, he gave his followers an update less than an hour later ... and the winds and water levels got worse in no time at all.

Damage from the storm is expected to cover 200 miles, with up to 16-foot surges ... residents would have to get up to the 3rd floor of buildings to stay dry. Wind gusts approached 125 mph.

The Tallahassee area is also predicted to be uninhabitable for several weeks or even months, according to the National Weather Service office.

Officials have said Idalia shows great potential for death and catastrophic devastation, and locals have been told to hightail it out of the area. As of Wednesday, over 240k residents are already without power.

This is the 3rd hurricane to make landfall in FL in the past year, after Ian last September and Nicole a month later. Both storms brought devastation and this one's shaping up to be no different.

A group of Mississippi men got into a vicious battle with a shovel and wooden plank ... leaving one of the dudes drenched in blood.

The nearly 2-minute fight was caught on video and posted to Facebook ... featuring three men squaring off outside a ramshackle home in the area near Jackson.

One guy screams at the other two ... "It's mine motherf***er" -- although it's not clear what he's referring to.

Suddenly, one of the other men whacks the guy in the head with the plank, causing him to fall to the ground, blood flowing down the front of his shirt from an open wound.

The victim gets to his feet and continues to argue with his attacker, promising a stint in prison for the old man, whose younger cohort retrieves the shovel.

As the exchange becomes more heated, the injured man grabs his crotch and makes a lewd remark ... prompting the cohort to bash him in the head with the shovel.

The man stumbles backward into his truck, climbs behind the wheel and drives off.

The famous TikTok lady you see acting like computer game characters on "LIVE" says she isn't trying to trick anyone into thinking she isn't Black ... despite claims of critics and some visual evidence.

We got internet sensation Pinkydoll at LAX Tuesday, where we asked what she made of people being demonstrably shocked over her recent appearance onstage at the 2023 Streamy Awards ... where she did her whole "NPC" shtick while presenting an award.

If you're unfamiliar ... it's a big fad on TikTok, and other live-streaming apps, where hosts repeat silly catchphrases and mimic a non-player character from video games -- something gamers apparently LOVE watching, so much so, they send her digital gifts and money!

Pinkydoll is easily the most recognizable face in that world lately ... but, as you can see here on camera, she's a dark-skinned African-American woman -- and looks quite different from how she usually does on her NPC livestreams, where her skin's much lighter.

Twitter was perplexed to see Pinkydoll is actually darker in the flesh ... and some accused her of trying to purposely bait people into thinking she's some race other than Black.

She's strongly denying that, though, telling our camera guy she's proud of her melanin -- and she offers an explanation for the obvious skin tone difference. Now, whether you buy it ... that's up to you.

One thing that isn't debatable is Pinkydoll's NPC personality is bleeding over into real life ... watch the video, 'cause it feels like we were talking to a bit of a robot in person.

With that said, she makes clear this profession is paying the bills and then some -- and she's gonna keep doing her thing, even though a ton of wannabes are hopping on her bandwagon.

Mmmm, ice cream ... thanks for the roses! 😋

For more influencer news, tune in to the TMZ Verified podcast. Dropping every Thursday on all podcast platforms.

An important piece of American history is hitting the auction block ... George Washington's letter setting the stage for future presidents and the country, and it's expected to fetch 7 figures!!!

Washington wrote and signed the letter in March 1789 at his Mount Vernon estate, just a few weeks before he took the oath of office to become America's first President. In the correspondence with a Naval officer in Philadelphia, GW vows to "make justice and public good my sole objects" during his presidency.

This literal national treasure is going up for sale through the good folks over at Gotta Have Rock and Roll ... and the auction house tells us it's expecting the winning bid to be at least $1 million.

The auction goes live today and ends September 22 ... and someone's gonna drop a lot of dead presidents on this artifact.

If Tom Brady ever wants to add another ring to his collection, he's a perfect candidate for "The Bachelor" ... so says the dating show's host, Jesse Palmer, who tells TMZ Sports the G.O.A.T. would be a "legendary" lead.

The former NFL quarterback and Season 5 star of the ABC series believes there are actually a couple signal-callers who could go from throwing the pigskin to handing out roses -- Brady, Justin Herbert and C.J. Stroud.

In fact, Palmer says the handsome Chargers standout would be a "producer's dream" ... 'cause they could pay for all the dates and trips throughout the season with help of his $262 million contract!!

"You actually could not script a better setup," Palmer says. "That would be incredible for ratings, and also amazing for our budget."

Herbert has kept his dating life pretty private ... and despite a few rumors, he hasn't gone public with anyone during his NFL career.

Same goes for Stroud ... so Palmer thinks the No. 2 overall pick to the Houston Texans could also thrive in finding love as he kicks off his NFL career.

Brady has gotten back in the dating game after his divorce from Gisele Bündchen was finalized last October ... and was recently spotted enjoying his time with model Irina Shayk.

But Palmer says the 7-time Super Bowl champion gets his stamp of approval to be on the show ... as long as Irina gives the go-ahead as well.

"There is the Irina Shayk issue," Palmer adds. "But if she's willing to kind of just chill out for a couple months of filming, I think we're solid."

Palmer says the show could film at any of Brady's houses ... which would also be a huge positive.

"Again, very budget-friendly. Tom Brady would be good."

We also talked to Jesse about College Colors Day coming up on Friday ... and he breaks down how fans and alums can show school pride ahead of the new season, and score a chance to win tickets to the national championship game in the process.

American actor, singer, and dancer Sean Palmer was 29 years old when he first started playing the role of Marcus -- the Broadway hopeful and Stanford Blatch's boyfriend -- in HBO's hit show "Sex And The City" back in 2002.

During his 2 year run on 'SATC,' Palmer was part of an iconic cast including Sarah Jessica Parker as the sex newspaper columnist, Carrie, Cynthia Nixon as the rigid and funny attorney, Miranda, Kim Cattrall as the sex-positive public relations specialist, Samantha, Kristin Davis as the conservative art gallerist and the late Willie Garson as Carrie's bestie and Marcus' love interest.

Nick Carter is pushing back against a woman who claims he sexually assaulted her on his yacht when she was 15 years old ... he says her lawsuit is full of false allegations.

The Backstreet Boys singer is being sued by a woman who says Nick sexually assaulted her multiple times back in 2003, when she was 15 and he was 23 -- she claims Nick forced himself on her aboard a yacht, and on a bus after plying her with alcohol.

But Nick is vehemently denying it happened, claiming the lawsuit is full of BS.

This accuser has filed her lawsuit anonymously, and she's now the third woman suing Carter for sexual assault.

Carter's lawyer, Dale Hayes Jr., tells TMZ ... when the woman made her allegations against Nick 2 decades ago, authorities investigated her claims and found no merit to move forward with charges.

Nick's lawyer says the accuser is simply "repeating the same false allegations in a new legal complaint" but he says that "doesn’t make them any more true."

As we first reported, Nick is also being sued by a woman named Shannon Ruth, who filed a lawsuit in December claiming he sexually assaulted her after a concert in 2001, when she was underage ... but he says he has witnesses who will testify Ruth is lying.

Singer Melissa Schuman is also suing Nick over an alleged 2002 sexual assault. He denies her allegations, as well.

Travis Scott is ready for a nationwide tour performing his new album ... and he's making a couple tour stops in Texas, with one notable exception ... Houston.

The rapper just announced dates and cities for his upcoming "Utopia" tour, and he's got shows in almost every major American market, except for the place where his infamous Astroworld concert left 10 dead and dozens injured.

Travis going with a full tour -- 26 stops in the U.S. plus two in Canada -- makes it seem like he's not sweating Astroworld all that much ... but it's interesting he's skipping Houston in favor of two other shows in Texas, performing in Austin and Dallas instead.

Of course, a grand jury in Houston recently decided against indicting Travis on criminal charges for the deadly November 2021 concert in H-Town.

Travis is still facing some civil lawsuits in Houston over Astroworld, and with that in mind it seems his hometown is not safe territory ... at least for this tour.

Nebraska football player Arik Gilbert was arrested early Tuesday morning after cops say he forced his way into a liquor store and burglarized the place for over $1,600 worth of merchandise, before being caught red-handed ... and the entire crime appears to have been captured on video.

21-year-old Gilbert, a former 5-star recruit who previously played for LSU and Georgia, was arrested outside SJ’s Liquor & Vape in Lincoln, NE around 2 AM this morning ... before being booked into the county jail on a burglary charge.

Gilbert was allegedly carrying various vape materials, lighters, and other stolen merch totaling $1,672, according to law enforcement.

TMZ Sports has obtained a photo of the alleged stolen items … showing an array of vapes and other materials.

Surveillance video captured the crime ... and a man said to be the 6'5", 275 lb. football star was seen throwing a chunk of cement through a door to gain access to the building. Once inside, he kicked a second door down, gaining access to SJ's shop.

The shirtless man, who covered his face, was then seen rummaging through the shop for several minutes.

While inside, police received a call for a possible break-in, and they rushed to the scene.

To his surprise, at least 8 police officers were waiting outside when he began exiting the shop. Gilbert threw down his bags, and jumped back with his hands up, startled, before being arrested without incident.

We spoke to the people at SJ's who tell us they've reopened the shop and are operating business as usual.

Jenelle Evans is dealing with every parent's nightmare -- her son Jace has gone missing twice in the last two weeks -- getting cops involved to help track him down.

Jenelle's manager, August Keen, tells us 14-year-old Jace left Jenelle's North Carolina home Monday to roam around their extensive property. After several hours without contact, Jenelle became worried and couldn't find her son ... forcing her to get the police involved.

Fortunately, we're told, Jace was located at a gas station about 10 minutes from Jenelle's home. However, we're told it's unclear if Jace was with friends or just wandered solo.

TMZ broke the story, cops were on the hunt for Jace earlier this month after he left school and couldn't be found. He was later located safely ... and Jenelle said the whole thing happened because she took Jace's phone away after he acted up in school.

Erika Jayne used Secret Service agents and American Express to extort money from a Hollywood designer, ruining his life and career in the process ... so says a new lawsuit.

The 'Real Housewives of Beverly Hills' star and two Secret Service agents are among those being sued by Chris Psaila, who claims Erika corrupted the agents and had them prosecute him over her claims that his costume company fraudulently charged her over $800,000.

According to the lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, Psaila claims Erika gave him and his store, Marco Marco, permission to charge her card for costumes and services he designed, created and provided for her performances ... and he says Erika's estranged husband, Tom Girardi, was the account holder and she was an authorized user.

Psaila claims he started working with Erika in 2014 and everything was kosher until she falsely claimed Psaila had racked up $800k to $900k in fraudulent charges on her credit card from 2015 to 2016.

Psaila insists Erika got every piece of clothing and services from these charges.

In the docs, he claims Erika and Tom weaponized the Secret Service to maliciously prosecute him ... believing the former couple bribed agent Robert Savage, then the head of Secret Service's Los Angeles office, to criminally investigate Psaila and ultimately charge him with crimes.

Psaila also claims AMEX accepted Erika's false statements of unauthorized charges and refunded Erika and Tom over $787k without giving the designer an opportunity to dispute her claims ... and he says AMEX told the Secret Service Erika was a victim of his fraud.

In his suit, Psaila claims Tom and Savage had a cushy relationship ... and he says Savage had his own "history of falsely billing for advance Presidential location scouting trips" that eventually forced him out of the Secret Service.

Psaila claims Tom bribed Savage to investigate him by agreeing to represent Savage in a lawsuit against Volkswagen, while also promising to pay Savage $100k when the investigation in Psaila started.

The designer says Tom and Savage's relationship was not disclosed when he was facing prosecution and says the criminal case against him was ultimately dismissed nearly 5 years after it started ... but he says he suffered extreme emotional distress, financial harm to his business, plus extreme emotional, psychological, and physical injuries as a result of the ordeal.

Psaila is going after Erika, AMEX, Savage and others for at least $18.2 million.

A rep for AMEX tells TMZ ... "In late 2016, federal law enforcement contacted American Express regarding its investigation into fraud by Mr. Psaila. While it is our policy to not comment on the specific activity on an individual Card Member’s accounts, we followed our regular processes and procedures throughout this investigation as we dealt with law enforcement. We did not initiate the investigation, nor did we proactively contact law enforcement, and the information law enforcement requested from us was typical in fraud investigations. We did not play any role in the criminal investigation of Mr. Psaila or his business other than responding to inquiries from law enforcement."

We reached out to Erika ... so far no word back.

Blueface is about to see a whole lot more blue, as he and his ex-girlfriend Chrisean Rock are going to be having a baby boy.

The animated reality star made the official reveal Tuesday ... tearfully thanking her friends during a baby shower and photo shoot.

Chrisean's currently in her third trimester, so delivery time is fast approaching... and apparently will fall into a co-parenting situation with Blueface as they're not currently together.

The two have exchanged back-and-forth spats all year ... intermingled with frequent reconciliations, and fans have been clueless as to what to anticipate next.

UFC fighter Natan Levy is hoping bullies everywhere take serious note of his recent beatdown of an internet troll ... saying on Tuesday he wants anyone who's even thinking of spewing hate speech going forward to know "words have consequences."

Levy absolutely mauled a smack-talking social media user named Ben recently ... after the guy had defended noted antisemite Nick Fuentes in an exchange on X.

Levy, who's Jewish, met the dude at his gym and pounded on him for several minutes -- forcing the guy to tap out.

Eventually, he got Ben to say on camera following the sparring sesh that six million people were murdered in the Holocaust -- an atrocity Ben didn't previously acknowledge.

When Levy joined Harvey and Charles on Tuesday's "TMZ Live" to talk about it all ... he said he was pleased with how it turned out with Ben -- and now, he wants others to keep the incident in mind before they hit their keyboards with similar nonsense.

"The big lesson I wanted to teach this guy -- and hopefully everybody who is watching -- is words have consequences," he said. "Actions have consequences."

"If you say something, you better stand behind it," he added, "'cause this hate turns into hate in the real world. So we need to cut it off."

A truly bizarre series of events surrounding "Bachelorette" contestant Josh Seiter, as the former reality star is actually alive, claiming his Instagram account was hacked ... after a full statement was posted announcing his death.

Seiter just posted a video, proving he's alive and well ... telling his followers he'd lost access to his Instagram account for 24 hours.

It was Monday afternoon when a lengthy statement was posted to Josh's Instagram saying, in part, "It is with an extremely heavy heart that we share the tragic news of Joshua's unexpected passing. As all who knew him can attest, Joshua was an incredibly bright light in an increasingly dim world." That post has now been deleted.

Josh says whoever hacked his account was playing a "cruel joke" and mocking his previous struggles with mental illness. He apologizes for the pain the alleged hacker caused ... and says he and his team are working to determine who posted the message.

What Josh doesn't make clear is why it took him 20 hours to address the hack, as multiple outlets across the globe published the story based on the statement.

Seiter -- who was eliminated on the first week of Kaitlyn Bristowe's season of "The Bachelorette" in 2015 -- has been open and honest about his struggles with his mental health over the years -- including bouts of depression and anxiety.

Atlanta Braves outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. was accosted out of nowhere by a couple of fans ... getting knocked to the ground during his team's Monday night game against the Colorado Rockies.

The bizarre incident went down in the 7th inning at Denver's Coors Field when one fan dashed into the outfield and gave Acuña a huge hug.

Check out the video ... the hugger won't let go of Acuña as security guards run up to them and try to break it up.

Eventually, the guards pull the dude off Acuña ... but Acuña isn't out of the woods just yet.

Another fan sprints up to Acuña and bumps into him, causing him to fall on his butt. More guards respond and haul away the two rowdy men.

As for Acuña ... he told reporters after the game he was okay, but felt a bit scared by the fans, who wanted to take photos with him.

We've reached out to Denver PD to see if they got involved ... so far no word back.

By the way, the Braves trounced the Rockies 14-4 ... and Acuña had one of his biggest games of the year despite the incident, logging 5 RBIs.

Kim Zolciak and Kroy Biermann might be in the middle of yet ANOTHER divorce, but you wouldn't know it by looking at her hand and listening to what she's got to say.

The ex-'RHOA' star and her daughter, Brielle Biermann landed at LAX Monday and were asked all about Kim's pending case -- after Kroy recently re-filed divorce docs.

Check this out, 'cause it's interesting -- when KZ is asked if she and Kroy are truly dunzo -- she makes sure to flash her wedding band, which Brielle explicitly points out as still "on."

Kim says she already knew Kroy was going to file again, but indicates she's not really worried about it ... and that, perhaps, he'll pull the docs.

The photog presses Kim on some underlying issues that seem to be affecting her marriage -- like finances, for instance -- and the matriarch says those sorts of weigh on all matrimonies.

Brielle's also got some financial issues of her own -- TMZ was first to report she's on the wrong end of a lawsuit from a credit card company -- but she says that's been handled.

One last thing that stands out in the chat ... Brielle pitches a potential new Bravo show that she thinks could benefit all the 'Real Housewives' kids -- and if Andy Cohen was receptive to it in a recent meeting Kim says they had ... she could be back on reality TV one day.

Lots to digest with this one -- we'll see how it all shakes out, but Kim sounds optimistic.