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Stevie J says the incident that ended with his son and him getting booted from a Delta flight is rooted in race -- and he believes a white traveler would've gotten a pass.

We got the music producer Monday outside 3SIXTY9 in Los Angeles and asked what went down last week during his trip from L.A. to Atlanta.

Stevie says the gate agents told him and his son, Stevie II, to toss their alcoholic beverages before boarding ... but there was no way they were going to waste their booze.

He says they threw back the drinks and scanned their boarding passes and were walking down the jet bridge when all of a sudden dozens of police swarmed and escorted them off for a chat.

Stevie says it's a case of power-hungry cops mixed with racism -- claiming police took things too far, and would never treat white passengers the same way.

As we first told you ... Stevie is threatening legal action, and now he says he doesn't want beef with Delta but hopes they come to the table to hash things out.

Stevie says he's a good guy who was making people laugh in line to board the plane, and he's surprised this happened on Delta -- he proudly told us about his elite status with the airline.

After a 5-year battle, the hundreds of gymnasts who were victims of Larry Nassar's incessant sexual abuse have reached a $380 million agreement to settle their lawsuits against USA Gymnastics and the USA Olympic Committee.

MSU settled with 332 female athletes back in 2018 for $500 million ... and on Monday, USA Gymnastics and the USOPC raised the total amount to $880 million, the highest settlement amount for a single perpetrator in a sexual assault case, according to ESPN.

"This settlement is the result of the bravery of hundreds of survivors who, despite legal obstacles, long odds and the best corporate legal talent money can buy, refused to be silent," the gymnasts' attorney John Manly told the outlet. "The power of their story eventually won the day."

Along with the money, as part of the settlement, USA Gymnastics and the USOPC have vowed to make huge changes within the organizations to ensure the safety and betterment of the athletes.

Some of Team USA's biggest stars have spoken out about Nassar ... including Simone Biles, who claimed his abuse may have triggered her mental health struggles during the 2020 Olympics.

Danny Carey, the drummer for Tool, got busted for assault at the airport in Kansas City ... and cops say it all stems from a fight he got in with someone inside the terminal.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... airport police responded Sunday night to a report of a disturbance between 2 men and when they got to the scene they arrested DC and transported him to a nearby police station for booking.

We're told Danny was booked for misdemeanor assault ... and as you can see, he certainly didn't look happy in his mug shot. He's no longer in custody after being released on bond.

Cops tell us the police report is being forwarded to prosecutors for review, and potential charges will follow.

As for his weekend, Danny performed at the Kansas vs. Mizzou college basketball game with the band. He was clearly good luck, as Kansas won. Too bad things took a turn at the airport.

Danny hails from Kansas, and he's been playing drums for Tool ever since the rock band formed way back in the 1980s in Los Angeles ... with many considering him one of the greatest drummers of all time.

In addition to rocking with Tool, Danny also plays drums for smaller acts like Pigmy Love Circus, Zaum, Legend of the Seagullmen and Volto.

We reached out to Danny's reps ... but they had no comment on his arrest.

Screw debates ... how's this for politicians settling a disagreement?!

39-year-old Simao Peixoto, mayor of Borba, Brazil ... participated in a 3-round slugfest with political rival, 45-year-old Erineu Alvas Da Silva, a former councilor in the area.

Da Silva had been critical of the mayor online, calling him a "scoundrel" (fightin' words!), so the politician accepted the fight ... which went down under MMA rules.

So, punches, kicks, elbows, takedowns ... all legal.

Peixoto ended up winning the fight -- which was streamed by his staff -- by decision, according to the Daily Mail ... despite eating a flurry of heavy leg kicks which clearly hurt the mayor in the first round.

Before the fight, the mayor said this while agreeing to lace up the gloves.

"I'm not a street fighter … I'm the mayor of the municipality of Borba."

Peixoto continued ... "But if he really wants to fight … we're ready to fight … I've always been a winner."

It's certainly a more entertaining way to settle a dispute.

Dr. Mehmet Oz is dunzo on daytime TV -- after 13 seasons on the air "The Dr. Oz Show" is coming to an end, but that's good news for his daughter, whose own TV show will slide into dear ol' dad's position.

Sony Pictures confirmed the long-running daytime series will officially end on January 14 -- the fate of the show had been uncertain when Dr. Oz announced his run for U.S. Senate, and Fox stations in Pennsylvania and NYC pulled the program.

This opens up a huge opportunity for Daphne Oz and her show, "The Good Dish" ... which will officially launch on January 17.

The spinoff is all about food and cooking up family-friendly recipes -- and became an Oz fan favorite with weekly segments on "The Dr. Oz Show" for years. It's hosted by Daphne, Gail Simmons and Jamika Pessoa.

Just last month Oz announced he was entering the Republican primary in PA in his first attempt to run for public office. He's vying for the Senate seat currently held by Pat Toomey, who's retiring.

As we reported, FOX stations in Pennsylvania and NY took Oz's show off the air due to FCC rules requiring equal time for all candidates. No such challenge for Daphne and co. -- we're told 'Good Dish' will be on the air everywhere.

Zac Stacy told cops the brutal attack on his ex was all "staged" ... claiming the woman set him up because she was "bitter" he didn't want to be with her.

The former NFL running back's conversation with officers was all captured on police video, obtained by TMZ Sports, just days after he ruthlessly beat his ex at her Florida home.

In the arrest footage, Stacy can be heard speaking with Orlando Police Dept. officers for several minutes about the events that led up to the Nov. 13 altercation ... insisting it all "was staged."

"It's just a case of just bitterness, man," Stacy told the policemen. "That's why she did this. The whole assault thing, she staged it. She set me up."

Stacy continued, "The whole thing was staged. All she's trying to do is get money out of me. She got a reaction out of me."

Stacy explained that he believes his ex -- the mother of his months-old son -- was upset with him because he didn't want to continue a romantic relationship with her.

The former St. Louis Rams and New York Jets player told officers the woman knew he wasn't in a good place mentally (he said he had just gotten out of rehab for anxiety and depression), and she used that to get "a reaction out of me."

"She knew I was down, she knew I was going through anxiety and depression," Stacy said. "She knew I was trying to close this gap that's between me and my son and she's just upset that she got caught and she's upset I'm not taking care of him like she expected. And now she took it this far."

Stacy added, "This is just a case of just girl is just bitter that I don't want to be with her and she's just trying to destroy my whole reputation 'cause of this s***."

Stacy then told the officers he knew his actions were "f***ed up."

"I don't know what man -- how any man could have handled that situation," Stacy said.

The 30-year-old was eventually taken to a local police station and booked on charges of felony aggravated battery and felony criminal mischief.

Stacy is currently out on bond.

Kim Kardashian has passed the baby bar exam after two years of attempts, moving her one step closer to becoming a real-deal attorney.

Kim certainly didn't hold back her excitement when she made the announcement Monday,  saying, "OMFGGGG I PASSED THE BABY BAR EXAM!!!!"

Kim had previously failed the exam 3 times, but had COVID during one of those attempts, she joked, " ... on the 3rd try w a 104 fever but I’m not making excuses ;)"

The baby bar is the first of two exams needed to be taken to become an attorney in the state of California, Kim mentioned, "I was told by top lawyers that this was a close to impossible journey and harder than the traditional law school route but it was my only option and it feels so so sooooo good to be here and on my way to achieving my goals."

She also thanked Van Jones in her announcement, saying he was the one who pushed her to go to law school.

Finally, Kim gave a shout-out to her late father, Robert, who was a hugely successful attorney in L.A., saying, "I know my dad would be so proud and he would actually be so shocked to know that this is my path now but he would have been my best study partner. I am told he was notorious for making fun of people who didn’t pass on their first attempt like he did, but he would have been my biggest cheerleader!"

Kim took fans along on her journey, showing late-night study sessions and even sharing her failures.

Terrible news in the horse racing world ... 3 jockeys were hospitalized and 2 horses died after a horrific fall during a horserace in Hong Kong on Sunday.

The tragic event happened during the Group 1 Hong Kong Sprint at Sha Tin Racecourse ... when jockey Lyle Hewitson's horse lost its footing several hundred yards into the race, collapsing ahead of a large pack of horses.

The whole incident was televised ... and the video clearly shows Hewiston's horse, Amazing Star fall, sending the South African jockey slamming to the ground, before being trampled by a stampede of horses.

That caused a domino effect ... and sent 3 other jockeys and their horses flying to the ground.

Hong Kong Jockey Club's executive director Andrew Harding says all 3 men were treated at Prince of Wales hospital with multiple injuries.

Hewitson ended up having a fractured hip and small bleed in the brain. 4x Hong Kong champ, Zac Purton, suffered four fractured ribs, a fractured wrist and a broken nose.

The third jockey, Yuichi Fukunaga of Japan, broke his collarbone.

Miraculously, all of the jockeys survived.

Unfortunately, the 2 horses weren't so lucky. Amazing Star and Naboo Attack suffered fatal injuries and had to be euthanized.

The race did go on after the collision. Australian jockey Blake Shinn and his horse Sky Field officially took the title ... a win he calls "bittersweet".

"I have mixed emotions for winning this race today," Shinn said.

"Obviously the first emotion is that my feelings are with the fallen jockeys and horses out there."

Santa Claus can pass up Philadelphia ... Meek Mill's got his hometown covered for the holidays, as he gives away more than half a million bucks worth of some fire gifts!!!

TMZ has learned Meek's planning to hand out a massive sack full of gifts for families in need this weekend -- things like bikes, video game gift cards, laptops, tablets, dolls and much more.

The Philly-born and raised rapper's getting his friends to kick in too -- Patriots owner Robert Kraft, Sixers partner Michael Rubin and Meek's managers at Roc Nation are supporting the huge gift giveaway.

The event, set for this coming Sunday, will be a more up close and personal giveaway than Meek could pull off last year during the pandemic. You might recall this heartwarming moment -- he had gifts delivered, surprising the families ... but could only video chat with them.

Justin Bieber was left exposed -- if only briefly -- after a fan jumped on stage with him during a performance ... something that got smothered quickly by the muscle on hand.

The pop star was in the middle of singing 'Intentions' Saturday across the pond at the O2 arena ... where he'd been booked for the Jingle Bell Ball as one of the marquee acts. All was going fine -- that is, until some dope decided to pull a stunt.

Check it out ... the guy hoists himself on the platform and appears to attempt a selfie from the back, but it doesn't look like he was successful. Within seconds, security was on his ass, sending him scrambling in the background.

You see Justin react to all the commotion, but it's unclear to what extent he realized something crazy was going down -- 'cause it all unfolded quickly. Still ... you gotta imagine he's grateful for the watchful guards doing their job, otherwise, it coulda been scary.

JB carried on with his set ... and seemed to have somewhat of a better reaction than Maroon 5's Adam Levine did a couple months ago, when he too was bum-rushed in a similar fashion.

Granted, that incident was a lot more up close and personal than this ended up being -- so who knows how Justin would've responded to actually being touched. A good rule of thumb for over-eager spectators ... stay down below and take it all in from a distance.

Kanye West is on a crowd-pleasing streak ... just a few days after wowing a sold-out L.A. Coliseum, he was a surprise performer at Rolling Loud California.

Ye popped on stage during Future's set at the festival, singing “Can’t Tell Me Nothing,” and as you can tell from the video ... the fans loved it. He performed a 5-song set that included DONDA‘s “Praise God,” and “Father Stretch My Hands".

But, that wasn't it from Ye... the rapper stayed on stage Sunday night through the rest of Future’s set and they both performed songs, with Kanye even freestyling a verse.

The duo had the San Bernardino, CA crowd super hyped, and they clearly wanted to keep it there... they kept going to DJ Esco between songs to decide what they’d do next.

Kanye's had an eventful week... the surprise performance with Future came 3 days after his beef-squashing concert with Drake Thursday night. The reunion with Drake was a benefit concert to free Larry Hoover, the cofounder of the Gangster Disciples, who is serving 6 life sentences in federal prison.

Steve Harvey committed another gaffe during a Miss Universe show -- this one wasn't as bad as what he'd done before ... but it was still pretty dang cringeworthy.

The comedian was tapped yet again to host the beauty pageant during Sunday night's broadcast, which was being televised all the way from Israel. While talking to the finalists, he got around to the eventual winner, Harnaaz Sandhu of India, and asked a strange question.

Watch ... the guy reads from his card and notes she supposedly has an interesting talent -- impersonating animals ... and he asked her to do just that right on the spot.

You could tell she wasn't prepared for that, let alone having to actually do it. And yet, Sandhu toughed it out anyway like a champ, telling Steve she would, since she had no other option on live TV. And then ... she did a cat impression, and it was actually really good.

Sandhu belted out a handful of loud meows, and went on to say that a particular skill -- such as this one -- could lead to bigger and better things ... so dream big, kids!

Now, while this might seem relatively harmless -- SH is actually catching some backlash for the ask here ... because, apparently, he didn't pull this same stunt with other contestants he interviewed in the moment. Instead, he asked about their legit accomplishments.

Of course, this brings back memories of him mistakenly announcing the wrong Miss Universe winner in 2015 ... and while this isn't nearly as big a blunder, it's still not great.

Kylie Jenner almost got a surprise marriage proposal, but cops intervened before an obsessed fan could pop the question.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... they were called to Kylie's neighborhood Thursday for a report of a man who had hopped a fence and knocked on a door looking for Jenner. Only problem? The guy had the wrong house and was at Kylie's neighbor's place.

Cops spoke to the 23-year-old man -- armed with flowers -- who told them he was there to profess his love for Kylie, and ask for her hand in marriage.

Obviously, the whole thing didn't fly with police -- who arrested the guy for misdemeanor trespassing -- and took him in for booking.

The Fonz's 1949 motorcycle recently sold for $231,562 at auction, but it won't just go to a museum or any old home ... it'll be in the hands of celeb grease monkey Richard Rawlings.

The motorbike was among the most prized items from the Henry Winkler-themed auction... it was expected to sell for $80k-$120k, but Rawlings scooped it up for nearly double.

The "Fast N' Loud" star tells TMZ ... his winning bid is a tribute to his dad who is battling Alzheimer’s ... he says back in the day, they would watch "Happy Days" together.

Rawlings says his dad used to ride a bike and wear a leather jacket that looked similar to Fonzie on the sitcom ... and even added he had a lot of swagger just like Fonz!

One year at Richard’s school carnival while there were games and bake sales, Richard’s dad rode his motorcycle to the school wearing his leather jacket and set up a kissing booth. As Richard says, the PTA moms ate it up.

Now Rawlings will have the actual bike that Fonz rode on, in the show ... though he won't have the actual outfit Fonzie wore -- which went for $75,312 in the auction.

Richard says he plans to ride the bike a few times, and then he'll put it in his new Monkey Trap that will have cool cars and memorabilia from all the shows he has done.

No matter what you think about LaVar Ball's antics when it comes to his sons, you gotta respect it ... so says Matt Barnes who tells TMZ Sports at the end of the day, he got 'em all to the NBA.

Remember, LaVar has aways been his boys' official hype man for years -- praising Lonzo, LiAngelo and LaMelo any chance he gets ... promising fans (and haters) they would all be in the big league.

LaVar ended up being right ... Gelo is on a G-league team, Zo is dominating with the Bulls and Melo has brought the Hornets back to life.

Barnes applauds LaVar for it, telling us he's a great dad for making sure his kids got to the top level.

Even if he did do a lotta trash talk.

"As far as him being a great dad and helping his kids to where they're at to succeed, I definitely salute him," the 41-year old tells us at LAX this week.

"The kids are very talented. Hope Gelo gets a real chance to make an NBA team but to have 2 kids in the league that are doing well and a hopeful third..."

"I can do nothing but respect that."

"Home Alone" star Devin Ratray -- who played Buzz McCallister in the flick -- had a spat with his girlfriend that got so bad ... someone called the cops to get things under control.

Law enforcement sources tell us they were called to a Hyatt near downtown OKC earlier this week for a domestic dispute between Ratray and his girlfriend.

Ratray's rep says the two got into a verbal argument, nothing physical, and things were so nasty the two broke up. The rep would not say what the argument was about.

Cops tell us things were sorted out once Devin and his gf decided to go their separate ways for the night -- she got a separate room -- and no one was arrested.

Of course, Ratray will live in classic Christmas movie infamy as Buzz, who tormented his little brother Kevin (played by Macaulay Culkin) for years to come. The actor recently revealed to People that there was a possible "Home Alone" reunion in the works ... but unclear if this hiccup will derail that project.

For what it's worth, "Home Alone" fans looking to relive their childhood fantasies can participate in an upcoming raffle to stay a night in the famous McCallister home thanks to Airbnb.