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5:44 PM PT -- A moment of silence was held in Butkus' honor prior to Thursday Night Football at FedEx Field ... where his former team is currently playing against the Washington Commanders.

4:14 PM PT -- NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell released a statement on Butkus' death.

"Dick Butkus was a fierce and passionate competitor who helped define the linebacker position as one of the NFL's all-time greats. Dick’s intuition, toughness and athleticism made him the model linebacker whose name will forever be linked to the position and the Chicago Bears.

"We also remember Dick as a long-time advocate for former players, and players at all levels of the game. The Dick Butkus Award and his foundation honored achievement on the field and service to the community among high school, college and NFL linebackers. Dick was a champion of clean sports as his “I Play Clean” campaign helped raise awareness about the dangers of steroid use among high school athletes.

"We send our deepest condolences to the Butkus family, the Bears organization and the many fans and people he impacted throughout his life."

3:46 PM PT -- The Butkus family just released a statement ... saying Dick died in his sleep overnight.

"The Butkus family is gathering with Dick's wife Helen. They appreciate your prayers and support."

The Bears added ... "Dick was the ultimate Bear, and one of the greatest players in NFL history. He was Chicago's son. He exuded what our great city is about and, not coincidently, what George Halas looked for in a player: toughness, smarts, instincts, passion and leadership."

The statement continued ... "He refused to accept anything less than the best from himself, or from his teammates.

"Dick had a gruff manner, and maybe that kept some people from approaching him, but he actually had a soft touch. His legacy of philanthropy included a mission of ridding performance enhancing drugs from sports and promoting heart health.

"His contributions to the game he loved will live forever and we are grateful he was able to be at our home opener this year to be celebrated one last time by his many fans."

NFL legend Dick Butkus -- one of the greatest linebackers of all time -- has died, TMZ Sports has learned. He was 80 years old.

We're told someone went to check on Butkus at his home on Thursday ... and he was found unresponsive.

Our sources tell us ... paramedics responded to a call for a patient in cardiac arrest at Butkus' residence in Malibu at 12:51 PM. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Butkus is among the most intimidating players to ever step onto a football field -- coming in at 6'3", 245 pounds, he was a defensive standout at the University of Illinois before joining his hometown Chicago Bears in 1965 ... going No. 3 overall in the NFL Draft.

He played his entire professional career with the Bears from 1965 to 1973 ... racking up every individual award imaginable -- six All-NFL selections, two Defensive Player of the Year honors and eight Pro Bowls.

Butkus earned many nicknames due to his style of play .. including The Maestro of Mayhem, The Enforcer, The Animal and The Robot of Destruction.

Butkus was named to the league's All-Decade teams in the '60s and '70s ... as well as the 75th and 100th Anniversary teams.

Butkus -- whose career was shortened due to injuries -- had 1,020 tackles, 22 interceptions and 27 fumble recoveries over the span of nine seasons. He was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1979, his first year of eligibility.

In 1985, the Butkus Award was established to honor the top linebackers at the high school, college and professional levels.

The Bears retired his No. 51 jersey in 1994.

Off the field, Butkus was known for starring in commercials for Miller Lite, Prestone, Schick and Visa ... as well as dozens of films and TV shows, including "Any Given Sunday," "Hang Time," and "The Last Boy Scout." He was also an analyst for CBS.

Butkus continued to follow the NFL in retirement -- in fact, he posted his weekly picks on his Instagram just hours ago.

Butkus is survived by his wife, Helen, and three children.

RIP

Caitlyn Jenner is regretting some family drama she caused over her recent comments about the current state of her relationship with Kris Jenner ... apologizing for upsetting the Kardashian and Jenner clans.

Here's the deal ... Caitlyn was doing a press tour in London for a new documentary on the Kardashians when she was asked about her relationship with Kris, revealing the two don't talk anymore and calling the whole thing "sad."

Sources close to Caitlyn tell TMZ the comment caused tension within the whole family, and everyone is siding with Kris over Caitlyn ... including Caitlyn's daughters Kendall and Kylie.

As a result, we're told Caitlyn is extremely remorseful and is willing to do whatever it takes to mend the family divide.

Our sources say Caitlyn was promoting her upcoming appearance in the "House of Kardashian" trailer, a gig she was paid for ... and the family was not on board with her participating in the project. Our sources say Caitlyn's intention was to go on camera to defend the fam and speak highly of them.

Caitlyn has been excluded from the Kardashians reality show on Hulu ... and feels like she should be free to make her own decisions about what she chooses to be a part of ... without a "gag order" against her.

Michael B. Jordan & Steve Harvey are showing signs all is well despite the actor's split with Steve's daughter, Lori Harvey.

MBJ and SH were all smiles at the NBA Abu Dhabi Games Thursday ... dappin' each other up courtside. Michael had a huge grin on his face, going in for the tight squeeze -- as a group of pals couldn't help but smile around them, too.

Seems like there are no hard feelings between them ... as we reported, Michael and Lori, called it quits last June -- about a year after they started seeing each other. She also scrubbed her socials from any mention of him.

There was never an official word about what led to the split ... but Lori talked about red flags in relationships a couple of months after the plug was pulled -- saying being too close with an ex was a major one.

There was also talk that 35-year-old Michael was ready to settle down and get married, but 26-year-old Lori wasn't.

A fan at Wednesday's Phillies playoff game was feelin' VERY generous ... 'cause the stranger hooked up an entire section with $4,500 worth of beer -- and they were lit!!!!

The booze gift givin' went down during the Marlins-Phillies NL Wild Card series game at Citizens Bank Park ... when a beer vendor made just about the sweetest announcement a crowd could ever hear -- someone purchased a bunch of Miller Lite for the section!

"Have your IDs out," the vendor yelled ... "Here you go!"

"Free beer! Courtesy of a gentleman that doesn't wanna be named."

As you can imagine, the fans were very appreciative of the gesture ... and even started cheering, hoping the secret beer buyer would hear.

"Thank you for the free beer! Wooooo!" one fan yelled ... while another one joked, "Bad day to be a Miller Light can!"

It's not even the first time this week that Phillies fans have been on the receiving end of some free suds. 26 bars across Philly handed out free Miller Lite during Game 1 of the WC Series on Tuesday.

To add icing on the cake, the Phillies blew out the Marlins ... and will now advance to face the Atlanta Braves in an NLDS rematch starting on Saturday.

Tristan Thompson may be getting praise from the Kardashian family for being a good dad, but it's certainly not that way across the board ... as he's now getting slammed by the aunt of his first son.

Tristan has a 6-year-old son named Prince with Jordan Craig ... and Jordan's sister, Kai, just unleashed on the former NBA star. Kai says it's disgusting Tristan can't show up and be a "real parent" for Prince yet he can do a bunch of nice things for the two kids he has with Khloe Kardashian.

Kai continues, "The fact that he can take other children to school and activities in the same city, yet never sees or speaks to his own son, unless it's for a party or planned photo opportunity, is appalling and inexcusable."

She then turns her focus to Kim, who on a recent episode of "The Kardashians" said Tristan was, "such a good friend and such a good dad."

Kai says to Kim, "I don't want to believe that you are this insensitive to the fact that he literally ignores his children. That's nice if he's been a good friend to you, but let's consider our sisters before taking to global platforms to defend this man's character."

Kai also claims Tristan has not paid for Prince's tuition or child support in a "very long time."

Kanye West didn't wanna tough it through a painful pedicure, cutting the technician off before the whole thing wrapped, and then getting back to his business.

Kanye's pal, and music partner Ty Dolla $ign uploaded the funny footage Thursday showing  Kanye's interaction with the puzzled pedicurist. You see Kanye react with a quick jolt of pain before deciding the whole treatment was over ... standing up and saying he wanted to stop.

The woman performing the pedicure tries to convince Kanye to let her finish, but he ain't budging, saying "It's my toes." Check out the look on Ty's face, he's stunned by the whole interaction.

Kanye's essentially been trekking barefoot in Europe throughout the summer -- so you gotta imagine the nail tech had her work cut out for her -- but Ye didn't wanna take a chance.

Funny enough, after he told her the whole thing was over, Kanye didn't miss a beat ... getting back to business.

If President Biden's dog Commander, AKA the White House biter, really is getting training -- as the administration's claimed -- he's been getting the wrong kind ... that's according to a former Secret Service officer who's dealt with other First pooches.

Marshall Mirarchi worked in the Secret Service's K-9 division for a decade -- including when Biden was VP in the Obama administration -- and he joined us on "TMZ Live" Thursday to explain why he's not so sure Commander's legitimately graduated obedience school.

According to Marshall, dogs NEVER get past a point of no return -- even a recidivist like Commander -- when it comes to training. He says they can always be re-trained, although the amount of time it takes a dog to fall in line is a different story.

Regardless, Marshall thinks all signs point to Commander not getting the proper direction, and he tells us what can, and should, be done to get him White House-ready again.

He also addressed how difficult it is for WH staffers living and working with a dog that's, up to this point, very unpredictable.

As we reported, Commander was booted from the White House this week after reportedly biting a minimum of 11 people -- with at least 1 recent victim being sent to the hospital.

Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Italy, the host of last week's prestigious Ryder Cup golf tourney, erupted in flames on Thursday as a structure on the course caught fire!

The fire, which started in a three-story hospitality suite, happened less than a week after hundreds of thousands of fans packed the course to watch the famed golf tourney in Rome, dominated by the Europeans.

Billowing black smoke could be seen miles away ...  as multiple firefighters rushed to the scene and began battling the blaze.

“A fire was reported in one of the temporary hospitality structures to the right of the first fairway at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club earlier this afternoon,” Ryder Cup Europe wrote in a statement.

“Local fire crews were called to the scene at 5:07 PM local time and quickly brought the blaze under control."

Despite how bad things looked, no one was injured, most importantly.

Authorities also say there was no damage to the golf course ... outside of the temporary building that was engulfed in flames.

Colombia has The Weeknd to thank for a huge boost to the country's economy ... his latest not only brought in a whole bunch of money, but a ton of jobs with it.

The singer performed in Bogotá -- the country's capital -- Wednesday night, working with 35 different companies in the city, which translated into a sky-high number of folks able to work for the big night. In fact, we're told 1,500 jobs in all were created through the show.

The Weeknd's been selling out stadiums across the globe as part of his "After Hours Til Dawn" tour, blowing the roof off in London, Paris, and, of course, Bogotá -- and his latest shows ended up generating over 800 million pesos.

He brought the house down at Nemesio Camacho El Campín Stadium, BTW ... with fans having a blast all night long as he sang his chart-topping hits.

Sounds like The Weeknd's Colombian fans aren't the only ones grateful that he came and put on a show ... the rest of the country's gotta be thanking him, too!

Taylor Swift is striking fear in the hearts of NFL teams everywhere -- most recently, the alarm sounded for Philadelphia Eagles star cornerback Darius Slay ... who's publicly pleading with her to sit out their matchup later this season.

The 5-time Pro Bowler spoke out about Swift's recent attendance at Chiefs games to support Travis Kelce during his Big Play Slay podcast this week ... and he had a personal message for the "Anti-Hero" singer.

"Taylor, do not come to the game, 'cause it seems like you bring the energy of winning," Slay quipped on The Volume.

Slay has a good reason to be worried -- the Chiefs are 2-0 with Swift in the crowd, dominating the Bears in her first game in the stands ... and squeezing out a road win over the Jets this past weekend.

The Eagles will have a Super Bowl rematch with the Chiefs in Philadelphia on Nov. 20 in front of the Monday Night Football cameras ... and chances are Swift will be there, especially considering she grew up rooting for the Birds.

Taylor’s presence at games has been a blessing for TV ratings -- last Sunday, the Chiefs vs. Jets contest peaked at 29 million viewers and averaged 27 million throughout the contest.

The game was NBC Sports' biggest-ever streaming audience for a regular season Sunday Night Football contest.

Corey Feldman says his studded leather jacket from "Dream a Little Dream" was stolen during a recent gig ... again ... and the former child star is hellbent on getting it back.

The "Goonies" star says he was performing Sunday in New Jersey when someone went backstage and swiped the jacket right from under his nose.

Corey says he's furious someone would have the audacity to steal what he considers a "sacred artifact from his life" ... and he says he's feeling sad and hurt, in part because it reminds him of his late friend, actor Corey Haim.

It's the second time this wardrobe item's gone missing ... as we reported, it was stolen in 2011 while Corey was hanging out at the House of Blues in L.A., only for it to resurface years later at a Boston flea market, and ultimately make its way back to Corey.

This time, Corey says it was stolen from Homestead Bar & Kitchen in Morristown, NJ ... and he's offering a $1,000 reward for any info about the incident or the jacket's whereabouts.

Corey's worn it in movies like "Dream a Little Dream" and "The 'Burbs" ... as well as for a guest appearance on "Married With Children," and he says he's worn it onstage at every one of his performances ever since.

A Minneapolis driver got a serious eyeful of the cop who pulled him over -- he recognized her as an OnlyFans model who he's seen having sex online, and now Minneapolis PD is probing ... for any conduct violations.

What are the odds??? The female officer pulled over a guy last week, and he told FOX9 in Minneapolis that after about 10 minutes the cop started to look familiar ... and he realized he's been following her OnlyFans account for a few months.

As he put it, "You got to go to the VIP and you get to see the videos of her and her, I guess husband, I guess that’s who it is, they do full sex videos."

The officer, who hasn't been named, operates an OnlyFans page that offers videos and photos she describes as "solo play" and "amateur porn." She describes herself as 35, free-spirited and an "overly optimistic creator of sexy content to please others."

The question Minneapolis PD's police chief now has to address is ... what, if anything, is wrong with the cop -- who's reportedly received commendations for her police work -- doing this as a side job.

The Dept. policy forbids off-duty officers from any work that's "not compatible with police work" ... which includes working at "any establishment that provides adult entertainment in the form of nude, semi-nude or topless exhibitions."

Obviously, she's not working at a business, but rather operating one from her home -- but the police brass might see it differently.

Kim Zolciak and Kroy Biermann continue to live under the same roof -- which is starting to sound like hell on Earth -- especially given Kim's latest claim and call to 911.

Zolciak called cops in Georgia last Thursday around 11 PM to report Kroy had taken her 2 cellphones. In the 911 call, obtained by TMZ, Kim says she's on the home phone because Kroy's been holding her cells hostage for the last several hours.

You can't hear Kroy at all in the background, but Kim states she doesn't feel safe and needs to leave the home. She says Kroy locked himself in the master bedroom.

Per usual, the couple's 4 kids, who have continued to seemingly suffer through Kim and Kroy's back and forth, are home at the time of the incident -- but Kim says they're all asleep.

According to the police report, obtained by TMZ, officers came to the home and sorted things out ... eventually getting Kim's phones back. The former "RHOA" star agreed to sleep in a separate bedroom with the door locked in order to keep the peace.

Cops have frequented the estranged couple's home as of late ... we were first to publish body cam footage of an incident from back in August when Kim claimed Kroy locked her out of their bedroom with her belongings inside.

Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner have been embroiled in a bitter, child custody dispute, but they have been spending hours together over the last 2 days trying to hammer out a divorce settlement ... multiple sources tell TMZ.

As TMZ reported, Joe and Sophie have a prenup, and one of the provisions is that they go to mediation to settle all outstanding issues related to their divorce ... this according to multiple Joe/Sophie sources.

Joe and Sophie spent a full day Wednesday hashing out divorce issues, and we're told they are dealing with a property settlement guided by the prenup, as well as child custody.

As you know, there's a jurisdictional dogfight going on over which judge will handle the case -- a Miami judge, which is what Joe wants, or a UK judge, which is Sophie's choice.

Sophie has filed legal docs in federal court trying to get the case removed to the UK. Although there's an active legal dispute over jurisdiction, our sources say they are trying to reach an agreement on both which judge handles the case and what the custody arrangement should look like.

It appears Sophie wants to live in the UK with the kids and Joe wants them to stay put in the U.S., but they are trying to reach some sort of custody agreement that would make jurisdiction essentially irrelevant.

We're told they're both down with joint custody, and if they can agree on a structure -- for example, the kids stay with one parent during the school year and the other parent during the summer with both parents getting visitation -- they would probably just ask the Florida judge to ratify it.

The good news ... since they're in mediation, which continues on Thursday, it appears neither Joe nor Sophie are challenging the prenup.

David Beckham is dragging his wife, Victoria, for claiming she was raised in a "working-class" household ... demanding she show some honesty in a new docuseries.

The couple got into it while filming the Netflix series, "Beckham," which debuted on Wednesday -- during an interview with the Spice Girls member, Victoria talked about her hard-working family ... alleging she fell into the "working class" category.

David then stuck his head into his wife's interview, scolding her for being dishonest to the producers ... and as she tried to defend herself, DB stuck his ground, making her say what kind of ride she took to school as a kid.

It seems Victoria tried to dodge the Q, but David kept pushing -- and she eventually admits her dad drove her in a Rolls-Royce. Folks online have been applauding David for keeping Victoria's claims in check, too.

Fans of David know his 4-part miniseries follows his rise to the top of his international soccer fame ... as well as their relationship in the late '90s and even David's alleged affair in 2003.

Sexyy Red is denying she's the one responsible for posting her own sex tape to social media.

The video was posted to SR's Instagram Wednesday, and on Thursday the rapper dismissed the leak as "goofy sh*t" and said her close friends would know the move wasn't in her character.

She may be one of Hip Hop's biggest open books to date -- her breakout song "Pound Town" dropped at the top of the year and created a sex-positive wave.

Sexyy's social media has been centered around controversy as of late. It was recently discovered she was hanging with a local Atlanta rapper after he posted them together ... many speculating it was done without her permission.