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Travis Kelce has been a fan of Taylor Swift for a while now ... dancing to her hits, making friendship bracelets and talking about wanting to kiss her over the years.

One of the first times Travis publicly talked about Tay Tay was back in 2016 ... when he played "Kiss, Marry, Kill" during an interview -- ya see where this is going.

The Kansas City Chiefs tight end was given the choice between Taylor, Ariana Grande, and Katy Perry. Taylor didn't get the axe -- RIP Ari -- but instead was chosen for a smooch ... while KP was granted the long-term option.

Travis was also seen groovin' along to a remix of her 2008 track, "Love Story," this past February. He even traded his black shades for a fan's pink ones while he kept the dancing going.

He took a page out of Taylor's book in July, making friendship bracelets for the guys at this year's Tight End University, which he founded in 2021 with his fellow NFL stars George Kittle and Greg Olsen.

Travis went to her "Eras" tour concert at Arrowhead Stadium -- his home turf -- that same month ... and said he was "butt hurt" that he wasn't able to give a bracelet to her while she was in the building.

He also talked about her last month, which might be the most revealing sign yet -- the Chiefs were all talking about who their celebrity crush was growing up ... and as Travis was thinking, his teammate, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, answered for him.

The long-running writers' strike is officially coming to an end, as the union's leaders sign off on the tentative deal struck Sunday with Hollywood studios ... almost 5 months after the stalemate began.

WGA leadership voted Tuesday to end the strike, approving the new 3-year deal with the AMPTP ... and it will be effective just after midnight.

The breakthrough means striking writers can start working on Hollywood productions as early as Wednesday ... even though the ratification vote is not until next week when it's expected to pass.

Bill Maher, who was going to bring his talk show back without writers before reversing course after the tentative deal, says his writers are coming back ASAP and he will have a new episode of his HBO show Friday.

As we reported, the strike began back on May 2 ... stretching all summer long with writers on the West and East Coasts fighting for fair wages and residuals, a crackdown on use of AI by the studios, transparency from streaming companies and other important issues.

The WGA and AMPTP went back to the table recently for a number of days until a tentative deal was struck over the weekend -- with producers finally meeting writers on most of the guild's demands.

As for the new contract ... a lot of the nitty gritty comes down to pay increases, limits on AI and more guaranteed jobs in writer rooms, just to name a few.

Just because writers can pick up their pencils again, doesn't mean Hollywood productions are back up and running like normal ... the actors in SAG-AFTRA are still striking for a fair deal of their own.

The roughly 65,000 actors joined the writers in July, fighting for many of the same issues the writers were facing. We've seen loads of celebs on the picket lines since pushing pause on some of your favorite shows and movies.

Colin Kaepernick wrote a letter to the general manager of the NY Jets days after Aaron Rodgers went down with a serious injury during MNF ... asking the organization to consider signing him to their practice squad.

News of the correspondence was actually broken by J. Cole ... who posted the typed note, sent to Joe Douglas, to his X account on Tuesday.

Previously, there were reports that Kap expressed interest in joining the squad ... but now we're looking at the entire letter.

"I'm writing, of course, in response to the unfortunate loss of Aaron Rodgers. I know the aspirations this season were, and still are, to win a championship, and so that Hall of Fame sized hole will need to be filled as best as possible to keep the team on a Super Bowl track," 35-year-old Kaepernick opened the letter.

But, if you thought he was seeking the starting gig from the jump, as barren as the Jets QB room currently is, you're mistaken.

Colin explained ... "As much as I would love the opportunity to fill that [starting] spot, I'm writing you in hopes that you can imagine a much different approach involving me; I would be honored and extremely grateful for the opportunity to come in and lead the practice squad."

"I would do this with the sole mission of getting your defense ready each week."

FYI, NFL teams all have "practice squads" ... consisting of 16 players who, you guessed it, practice with the team during the week, but do not dress for games.

It's a lot of sacrifice for little money or glory ... especially for a guy who was a star and even started a Super Bowl -- like Kap.

Kaepernick went on to say, if things didn't work with Zach Wilson (and let's be honest, it ain't working), he could be a backup plan (no pun intended) for the team.

"I believe a confident Zach Wilson has the tools to do this. However, in the event that this is not the case, I would love to offer you a risk-free contingency plan."

Despite not playing in the NFL since 2016 for the San Francisco 49ers, Colin believes he's still a top-tier signal caller.

"I am sure of my ability to provide you with an elite QB option if, God forbid, QB1 goes down."

Despite the long layoff, CK's adamant he's never stopped training, and is raring and ready to go.

"Unlike many of the veteran QB's that have been named in the media, I've never retired or stopped training."

Despite the letter, the Jets have obviously not signed Kap up to this point.

Britney Spears may have cut herself when playing with knives ... now sporting a bandage and what appears to be a gash on her thigh and lower back.

Britney just posted the video, wearing the same outfit she was in when she spun around, jabbed and clanged together two butcher knives ... only this time she's got the new apparent injuries.

Britney doesn't explain why she's got the white bandage or what caused the cut on her upper thigh or lower back, but they're all new injuries since her first knife video Monday night.

As we told you ... Britney's got a fascination with knives. In fact, when she was taken off her conservatorship there were recommendations given in order to make sure she was safe. One of the most important recommendations was to keep knives away from Britney.

Our sources say she keeps the sharp tools throughout her house -- including inside her bedroom -- as a form of protection out of fear she'll be re-institutionalized.

Of course, Britney claimed the knives in Monday's video were fake, but only after she got a ton of heat for posting the video online. They also sounded VERY real when she clanged them together.

President Biden has a biter on his hands ... his dog, Commander, has struck yet again ... possibly the 11th victim.

Commander is reported to have chomped down on another Secret Service agent Monday ... this according to a spokesperson for the agency. They confirmed that one of their guys had been bitten around 8 PM and that he was treated by medical personnel.

The exact circumstances of what led up to the biting and the extent of the SS agent's injuries haven't been disclosed -- but regardless ... it's proven to be a troubling trend this year.

Remember, it was revealed in July that Commander apparently went on a 4-month biting spree ... attacking several different Secret Service agents with varying degrees of wounds. The number we'd heard at the time was 7 ... but some reports had it as high as 10.

The White House Press Secretary said the dog was stressed out by all the commotion and people darting back and forth in the residence area of The White House and other areas as well.

When this came to light in the summer, the White House said they were going to have Commander undergo more training/leashing ... and that they'd also carve out designated areas and times on the grounds for Commander to roam and stretch his legs.

There was no indication that Commander would get the boot like his older brother, Major ... another German Shepherd of Biden's that had also run into biting trouble.

Taylor Swift fans are giving Travis Kelce a serious stamp of approval ... in the form of new merch, and it seems Swifties think this relationship might have some longevity -- enough to start printing his name, anyway.

The singer and the NFL stud are now getting paired on tons of merchandise cropping up this week on Etsy ... mostly in the form of different shirts going for between $10 to $38, plus some luggage with a $206 price tag.

Swifties seem to think Taylor and Travis have some staying power ... there's even a campaign-themed "Swift 2024 Kelce" top for sale.

Other items include a Kelce version of Taylor's "Eras" tour logo, and a graphic tee with the now infamous image of them driving off in a convertible after she watched him play football.

The Taylor and Travis merch is another sign of just how well Kelce is scoring with her fans. As we first reported, the jacket the KC Chiefs tight end wore with Tay Tay after the game quickly sold out.

Travis Kelce is being painted as a cheater by one of his ex-flings ... but sources close to the NFL superstar say she's full of it, and only trying to grab her 15 minutes of fame.

If you missed it, Maya Benberry, who won Travis' E! dating show "Catching Kelce" back in 2016 just did an interview where she called Kelce a cheater, warning Taylor Swift, "Taylor seems like such a fun girl with a beautiful spirit so I wish her the best of luck but I wouldn’t be a girls' girl if I didn’t advise her to be smart!"

Maya told Daily Mail, "Once a cheater always a cheater."

Sources close to Kelce tell us the two only dated for a month after the show, and couldn't publicly announce their actual split because of a contract they had in place with the network.

The source tells us Travis never cheated on Maya.

Our source adds Kelce and Maya haven't spoken in about 5 years ... and her interview is, "A poor excuse of someone trying to get her 15 min of fame."

Baseball Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson -- one of the greatest third basemen in MLB history -- has passed away, the Baltimore Orioles announced Tuesday.

He was 86 years old.

The O's released a statement on the tragic news ... saying, "We are deeply saddened to share the news of the passing of Brooks Robinson. An integral part of our Orioles Family since 1955, he will continue to leave a lasting impact on our club, our community, and the sport of baseball."

Robinson -- who earned the nicknames "Mr. Hoover" and "The Human Vacuum Cleaner" as a result of his defensive playmaking abilities -- spent his entire career in Baltimore from 1955-1977 ... winning the World Series in 1966 and 1970, and being named the Most Valuable Player during his second championship.

Robinson had stellar longevity -- he was an 18-time All-Star and 16-time Gold Glove winner and won the 1964 MVP.

While he turned heads on the field, he was also a force in the batter's box -- recording 2,848 hits, 268 homers and 1,357 RBI.

Robinson was a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame -- he was inducted in his first year of eligibility in 1983, which had never happened before for a third baseman.

His No. 5 jersey was retired by the organization.

The legend remained close to the franchise over the years -- the O's honored him on the 45th anniversary of his retirement in 2022 ... where he rode on the field and greeted fans before a game.

One Jack-in-the-Box employee got wound up a little too tight when dealing with an angry drive-thru customer -- whipping out her gun ... and firing as the customer fled.

This INSANE footage just surfaced as part of an ongoing lawsuit that a man named Anthony Ramos filed against the fast food chain -- all over a 2021 incident that Ramos says was caught on video showing a JITB worker firing bullets after she and Ramos got into it over curly fries.

Essentially ... Ramos says he and his family -- including his pregnant wife and young daughter -- swung by a Houston-area Jack-in-the-Box in March '21 and ordered a combo meal to go, but when he told the employees he was missing items, things escalated.

The back-and-forth arguing got so intense that Ramos apparently started to chuck some of the food back at the JITB drive-thru crew -- which spurred employee Alonniea Fantasia Ford to head back into the recesses of the restaurant ... only to return with a pistol in hand.

The surveillance footage Ramos and his legal team obtained in discovery seems to show Ford shooting at least a couple times at Ramos/his car -- which speeds away.

Luckily, it doesn't sound like anyone was hurt -- but Ramos and co. are now going after the Jack-in-the-Box ... alleging they were negligent in hiring Ford.

Kroy Biermann says he has no desire to call off his divorce from Kim Zolciak despite having sex a couple weeks ago ... claiming banging her doesn't mean he's changed his mind.

The retired NFL player just fired back at his estranged wife ... making it clear he is still gung-ho about divorcing her, selling their Georgia mansion and moving somewhere else with their kids.

In new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Kroy says the fact he had sex with Kim "does not indicate a desire to reconcile" and he "remains steadfast in his desire to divorce" her.

TMZ broke the story ... Kim claims Kroy's latest divorce petition is all a sham because they're living together and having a ton of sex, and she's trying to get a judge to toss the whole thing.

But Kroy says folks shouldn't put a whole lot of stock into the fact they had sex earlier this month ... he says it doesn't change his position.

In the docs, Kroy says their home is set to be foreclosed on in November and he accuses Kim of trying to drag things out to stop him from selling their place to pay off their mountain of debt.

Kroy sounds like he has some post-nut clarity ... he claims their current situation is toxic for their kids and he wants to push forward with the divorce, claiming Kim's called the cops to the home 4 times in 4 months, with the latest incident being witnessed by their youngest daughter.

Ja Morant's been laying low, but the Grizzlies superstar just made a rare appearance, surprising a bunch of kids at a Memphis basketball court ... hooking everyone up with his signature Nike kicks during hoop sesh!

24-year-old Morant, who will serve a 25-game suspension to start the season, along with Nike held the "Only Basketball" event this week ... and as you'd expect, the kids were super hyped when the 2x All-Star pulled up to the gym.

And, not only did Morant ball out with the youngsters (including throwing down a massive dunk) ... he also gifted the young athletes his Ja 1s, along with other athletic gear.

Morant even offered some advice to the kids, encouraging them to stay focused on the game and stay away from the outside noise.

"Believe in yourself," Morant said. "You know have confidence in yourself."

"There's going to be a lot of outside stuff that can distract you from your ultimate goal. Just stay locked in, tune it out, and stay true to yourself."

BTW, the new "Chimney" colorway for the Ja 1 Nike's were revealed this week ... and they feature his iconic phrase, "We ain't ducking no smoke" on the side. They'll drop later this year.

Morant has been virtually nonexistent this off-season ... laying low after the controversy from his second gun video rocked the NBA.

Of course, Ja flashed a gun on his friend's Instagram Live (just two months after the first incident with a handgun in a Denver-area strip club in March) ... resulting in the 25-game ban.

Erica Mena's ousting from "Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta" is giving the cast plenty of content for an upcoming special ... which Erica says is pretty hypocritical, considering everything was all good until her controversial episode aired.

VH1's airing a special roundtable discussion Tuesday, hosted by "colorism expert" Dr. Sarah L. Webb and featuring cast members such as Lil Scrappy, Yung Joc and Spice, ... who was the target of EM's "monkey" comment, which led to Erica's firing.

After tonight's episode was announced, Erica posted a video claiming she'd been on the set several days after her explosive argument with Spice aired and says the network "proudly" put it out for the world to see.

Her point is "L&HH" producers were fine with her, and only fired her in response to the public backlash that came once the episode aired.

A source close to Erica tells TMZ Hip Hop ... she feels the network is trying to silence her, after the fact, by not letting her participate in the roundtable.

We're also told Erica continued working on the show for 7 months after the "monkey" argument -- another reason she feels producers are only shutting her out to avoid public backlash.

Lil Tay's father has been accused of being the mastermind behind her death hoax on social media, but the guy's calling BS ... and pointing fingers at who may be to blame.

Christopher Hope tells TMZ an IG Story posted to Lil Tay's official account Tuesday -- which labels him as the perpetrator of the death hoax -- is not only false ... but defamatory, and he warns that this could land in civil court.

He says, "The person who is responsible for that Instagram post, as well as anyone repeating the completely false and libelous accusation within it, are virtually certain to become defendants in a defamation lawsuit."

Hope adds, "Everything stated is 100% false, and I trust that this should be obvious to anyone who knows me or the long history of absurd and untrue statements made by the various people who have controlled the Instagram account."

As far as what exactly the IG post said ... well, you can read it for yourself. It accuses Hope of being racist and abusive toward women -- in addition to being the one who pre-emptively announced her death ... which turned out not to be true.

Frankly, it's hard to decipher what the truth is in this whole Lil Tay saga ... because all of it is so freaking weird. What we know for certain is that Lil Tay's parents have been embroiled in a nasty custody battle for years now -- which her mom recently told us went in her favor.

Attorneys for Tay's mother, Angela Tian, told us their client was happy to regain a lot of control over how to raise their kid ... and all but guaranteed a comeback to showbiz.

The one person we haven't seen or heard from directly in all this ... Lil Tay.

A woman in Georgia is being labeled a serious party pooper after aggressively slamming her hands on a street performer's piano ... knocking the instrument to the ground.

Here's the deal ... a video going viral on social media shows the young woman approach the performer, named Andrew, twice as he plays and sings Billy Joel's "Piano Man" on the sidewalk in Athens, GA.

On the first go-round, she slams the keys in the middle of his song ... but then returns later in the evening to pull the same stunt, causing the piano to fall to the ground. She then appears to reach into his tip jar, Andrew says she took money, but that's unclear.

Internet sleuths outed the woman from the video as Shauntae Heard, and now she's apologizing for her actions.

Shauntae says ... "I'm sorry for everyone that has seen the viral video. I have took accountability for my actions. I know it was wrong and ignorant of me but please keep my family out of it. Y'all problem is with me not my family you don't get anything out of texting them or me and I have already apologize to the person we have talk."

She adds ... "Everything is good no I didn't steal any money, and I didn't break the piano I'm a human just like you all. Everyone has made mistakes nobody isn't perfect again I'm sorry, For my actions I've seen worse downtown this is nothing compared to what I did and I know it's not right."

Shauntae says she later spoke with the street performer on the phone and he accepted her apology.

Nashawn Breedlove, famous for battle-rapping Eminem in the movie "8 Mile," is dead.

A family member tells TMZ ... Nashawn died in his sleep Sunday at his home in New Jersey. We're told his loved ones do not yet know the cause of death.

Nashawn played Lotto in the 2002 movie, which is loosely based on Eminem's life ... and he's known for a scene where his character takes on Em's B-Rabbit in a rap battle.

In his movie rap, Nashawn sings ... "I feel bad I gotta murder that dude from 'Leave it to Beaver'" ... and the crowd goes nuts, though he eventually loses the showdown.

Before his big break on '8 Mile' Nashawn was rapping under his stage name OX ... with a feature on the soundtrack for the 2001 movie "The Wash" with Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg.

Rapper Mickey Factz was first to report Nashawn's death, remembering him for his "tenacity and aggressiveness" as a battle rapper.

Nashawn was 46.

New Mexico State didn't only beat rival University of New Mexico earlier this month ... quarterback Diego Pavia also allegedly peed on UNM's logo -- an act that was seemingly captured on video!

New Mexico St. and UNM, in-state rivals, squared off on September 16 ... a game NMSU won 27-17. Pavia, their junior signal caller, went 9/14 for 203 passing yards and 2 touchdowns.

Nice game.

But, perhaps feeling he hadn't done enough, Pavia seems to have offered the grounds crew an assist by (allegedly) watering the indoor ... turf?

Per leaked video, a person wearing sweats (no uniform), appearing to be the quarterback, was seen urinating on the Lobo logo. It's unclear if this was before or after the game.

A spokesperson for UNM told the Albuquerque Journal they became aware of the video several days after the game, and notified NMSU of the situation.

If Pavia's in trouble -- and let's be honest, he likely is -- New Mexico State says they will not reveal any disciplinary information, citing "federal privacy laws."

Pavia, who became the full-time starter last season after sharing time as a freshman, has started all five of NMSU's games (they're 2-3), including the team's 20-17 loss to Hawaii on Saturday.