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Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce may have failed to make their red carpet debut as a couple at the 2024 Oscars ... but they at least showed up for a shindig afterward, albeit on the DL.

TMZ has confirmed that the pop star and the NFL stud stopped by Madonna and Guy Oseary's Oscars exclusive after-party at a private residence in the Hollywood Hills on Sunday evening ... where there weren't any photos allowed inside.

Of course, British Vogue published a bunch of shots of stars who showed up and posed at what appears to be a designated photo-op area -- which had a bunch of fun cutouts, etc.

Some of the stars who were pictured included Robert De Niro, Matthew McConaughey, Jodie Turner-Smith, Lenny Kravitz, Salma Hayek and others. Notably, Taylor and Travis were not part of the photo lineup ... but are listed among the celeb guests who crashed it.

Like we said, sources with direct knowledge tell us they were in fact there ... even though they seem to have gone out of their way to not be seen/photographed, which is interesting.

Taylor and Travis landing here in L.A. comes after T-Swift's six sold-old shows in Singapore as part of her "Eras" tour -- which wrapped up this past weekend. Sounds like they were ready to get the hell out of there and come back stateside ... which is exactly what they did.

They enjoyed some alone time in Asia for the brief period Travis was there -- but obviously with her tour being on pause for a good month or so ... they were ready to come home.

They've had no problem letting their love story play out in the public eye in some settings ... but in others, they're weirdly private, and it really doesn't make much sense.

Remember, the singer supported the Kansas City Chiefs tight end at several of his football games -- including the Super Bowl -- and Travis has seen Taylor's "Eras" tour in four different cities. On its face, it seems like they're only cool being snapped in public at certain times.

Taylor herself even seems to be incredibly averse to being photographed at times -- going so far as to hidey under umbrellas to keep paparazzi from snapping her ... which, again, is so bizarre. Here for this after-party, it looks to have been more of the same ... ultra privacy.

Perhaps Taylor and Travis have had enough of the Dads, Brads and Chads weighing in on their every move? Time will tell!

Kate Middleton isn't the first notable name to fall victim to a Photoshop fail -- in fact, several celebrities have gone out of their way to lean into ridiculous edits in the past ... just look!

Diplo has purposefully edited pics of himself to feature a nonexistent waist and bulging muscles ... inspiring more than a few laughs from his Instagram followers.

Internet personality Lele Pons once made herself even more bootylicious by expanding the size of her bum thanks to some less-than-subtle editing. She still looked pretty stunning, FWIW.

Arielle Vandenberg -- who is best known for hosting "Love Island USA" before being replaced by Sarah Hyland -- chose to give herself an unrealistic hourglass figure for one doctored bikini pic shared on Instagram.

YouTuber Emma Chamberlain has also gotten in on the fun ... making her head massive in order to look more swole online.

Sadly, none of these edits were as controversial as the Princess of Wales' upload. Remember, the British royal sent the internet into a tizzy over the weekend after fans became convinced that artificial intelligence was used to create the Mother's Day tribute.

After the image became a trending topic online, Kate broke her silence ... saying that she had unsuccessfully photoshopped the pic herself. Perhaps she should upload an even worse edit to poke fun at herself? Unlikely, but we're here for the idea.

BTW, we know the Kardashians are often accused of Photoshop fails -- but that's a whole other topic for another day.

Lady Gaga is coming to the defense of Dylan Mulvaney after a social media post honoring the two celebs on International Women's Day sparked a harsh reaction online.

The singer posted a photo of her and Dylan -- who's transgender -- and made a point to slam trolls who reacted to Dylan's own IG post from Friday (International Women's Day) that featured her and Gaga together ... which got a massive amount of hate in her comments.

Gaga writes, "It’s appalling to me that a post about National Women’s Day by Dylan Mulvaney and me would be met with such vitriol and hatred. When I see a newspaper reporting on hatred but calling it 'backlash' I feel it is important to clarify that hatred is hatred, and this kind of hatred is violence."

She continued, "'Backlash' would imply that people who love or respect Dylan and me didn’t like something we did. This is not backlash. This is hatred."

LG adds, "But it is not surprising given the immense work that it’s obvious we still have to do as a society to make room for transgender lives to be cherished and upheld by all of us." Gaga says she's protective of the trans community ... but says she doesn't speak for them.

Gaga finishes by saying ... "I hope all women will come together to honor us ALL for International Women’s Day, and may we do that always until THE DAY that all women are celebrated equally. That all people are celebrated equally. A day where people of all gender identities are celebrated on whichever holiday speaks to them. Because people of all gender identities and races deserve peace and dignity."

In other words ... Gaga is fully in Dylan's corner here -- and says people oughta back off.

Dylan, of course, is no stranger to controversy. Remember ... Dylan faced some serious outrage online over her partnership with Bud Light last year -- which sparked a massive boycott, and hurt Anheuser-Busch's bottom line.

Those who opposed the collab, including Kid Rock, vowed to purposely not buy the beer brand -- even going as far as to destroy cans they'd already purchased. ICYMI ... Kid Rock even went viral for shooting up cases of Bud Light over the partnership.

The response wasn't all negative, though ... Paris Hilton, 'Drag Race's Sasha Colby and more voiced their support for Dylan in the aftermath.

Dylan now has a new champion in Lady Gaga -- who is a pretty powerful ally, FWIW.

Nicki Minaj appears to have chewed out a stagehand during her most recent tour date -- and it was all caught on video.

The rapper is in the middle of her "Pink Friday 2" tour, and on Sunday ... she was out in Seattle for a concert -- where some behind-the-scenes drama unfolded between Nicki and someone on her team, or at least someone on production.

Check it out ... Nicki and this woman -- who seems to be trying to work on NM's hair -- get into a little argument ... and it's mostly Nicki looking exacerbated/frustrated with this lady.

Before the woman can do anything for Nicki's 'do -- her boss side-steps her and shoos her away as she's getting ready to go back onstage ... getting back to business and carrying on with the show.

Some are calling Nicki's reaction a bit dramatic ... but others are actually defending her.

Kim Kardashian and Odell Beckham Jr. are looking more like a couple by the day -- and they seemed to soft-launch their relationship this weekend ... that's what this video suggests.

Check out this footage, obtained by TMZ, that shows Kim and OBJ at Jay-Z and Beyonce's Oscars after-party Sunday night at the Chateau Marmot in L.A. -- and you can see them mingling in a lobby-like area of the venue ... getting touchy-feely with each other.

As you can see ... Kim was chit-chatting with Odell in a pretty flirty manner -- going back and forth with him and seemingly comparing their outfits. At one point she actually puts her hands on Odell too ... going up and grabbing his face, almost as if she's going in for a kiss.

You never actually witness them lock lips ... but this is the most we've seen them interact with one another in public since they've been rumored to be dating ... going back months now.

Doesn't look like they knew they were being filmed either -- but at this point ... it's pretty obvious they're together as a couple. They even showed up together for all the post-Oscars shindigs ... first hitting the Vanity Fair after-party, and later swinging by Jay and Bey's thing.

Remember, they were also spotted out together in Vegas last month during the Super Bowl -- and there, too, they seemed to be trying to lay low ... and distance themselves a bit.

Same vibe here when they were outside heading into a party -- namely, trying to stagger a bit -- but they're not doing a very good job at throwing people off the scent anymore. Now with this new video -- it seems cat's outta the bag ... they're straight up dating each other.

Rumors of Kim and Odell being an item have swirled for months -- and all reports thus far have suggested that it's not that serious. However, they seem pretty into each other ... and the fact they continue to hang out all this time later indicates this might be the real deal.

Kim has yet to publicly declare anyone as her official significant since splitting from comedian Pete Davidson in August 2022. Of course, she was previously married to Kanye West, who she shares kids North, Saint, Chicago and Psalm with ... but that's over.

As for Odell ... he split from his longtime girlfriend Lauren Wood earlier in 2023, and has been single since.

While Kim and Odell have yet to confirm the rumored romance on paper (or on IG, more like) ... it's clear they enjoy each other's company. Perhaps a little bit more than that, TBH.

Lily Gladstone had to be 100 percent camera ready before she could pose for a portrait with Tim Cook ... yes, even the head honcho himself has to acquiesce to an Oscars glam team.

The actress -- who was up for Best Actress last night, but lost to Emma Stone -- stepped out for Apple's Oscars after-party at the Sunset Tower Sunday evening ... and she was hobnobbing with Apple's CEO, even stepping in to take some photos with him.

Before the cameras could fully snap away, though ... her touch-up crew had to constantly come over and adjust things on her -- which left Timbo awkwardly waiting right by her side.

Check out the video, obtained by TMZ ... TC is trying to figure out what to do with himself as Lily's team keeps doing its work ... moving her dress around, fixing her hair, etc. You can tell he's a bit of an afterthought here -- and he's just there to make her look good!

Tim was notably unbothered ... he just smiled and stood to the side of the chaos. Eventually, Tim and Lily were able to pose for a series of pics -- so, mission accomplished.

Understandable that Lily would warrant this type of attention on Oscars night -- she was one of the front-runners during the ceremony ... but even after losing out to Emma, it looks like people still were hyper-focused on her and wanting to chat her up. Tim ... not so much.

A lot of folks feel like LG actually got snubbed out of a statuette ... but we'll leave that be.

Everyone from "Killers of the Flower Moon" left empty-handed, in fact, but hey ... at least they have each other -- not to mention a bunch of handlers who'll jump in at a moment's notice.

Emma Stone didn't seem to like Jimmy Kimmel's quip about her movie "Poor Things" -- and she let it show right afterward ... now, everyone's playing lip-reader as to what she said.

Clips of the Best Picture nominees played throughout the evening -- and when the "Poor Things" montage went up ... JK dropped a zinger about Emma's R-rated nominated movie, saying, "Those were all the parts of 'Poor Things' we're allowed to show on TV."

The audience chuckled a bit -- but when the cameras cut to Emma in the immediate aftermath of Jimmy's joke ... she quickly said something to her husband, Dave McCary.

On its face -- and based on nothing but trying to make out the words -- it appears she said "What a prick" ... that or "Oh my god." The internet seems to think it was the former.

The moment was immediately picked up online ... and people are still trying to decipher what ES actually said in response to JK insinuating that "Poor Things" was all about sex -- which, to be frank, it kinda is. There's more themes beyond that ... but sex is the main driver.

The only one who can clear the air on what was said is Emma herself -- but she's got a shiny new Oscar to celebrate right now, and she probably ain't gonna spill the tea today.

Anyhoo, it wasn't all tension between Emma and Jimmy during the evening -- in fact, he kicked off the ceremony showering her "Poor Things" performance with praise during his opening monologue ... so he had some love for her, and we're sure ES appreciated it.

In addition to Emma's Best Actress trophy ... her movie also won Costume Design, Production Design, and Makeup & Hairstyling. Big night for the "Poor Things" camp -- jabs regardless.

12:06 PM -- The L.A. Lakers say they're already in the process of fixing the typos on Kobe Bryant's statue ... admitting to ABC News on Monday they've known of the issues "for a few weeks."

"We have been aware of this for a few weeks," a spokesperson said, "and are already working to get it corrected soon."

The statue erected to immortalize Kobe Bryant outside of Crypto.com Arena has multiple typos on it ... at least four, to be exact.

The flaws were discovered this week ... on the base of the monument where an image of a signed box score from Bryant's famed 2006, 81-point game was etched in.

You can see Von Wafer's name is mistakenly spelled "Vom Wafer." Jose Calderon's name is also incorrectly listed as "Jose Calderson." The word "decision" in two of the "Coach's Decision" portions of the statue is also wrongfully written as "decicion."

A copy of the box score sold at Goldin Auctions back in 2022 shows none of the errors were featured on the original document.

We've reached out to the Lakers for comment, but so far, we've yet to hear back.

The Bryant sculpture was first put up at the arena back on Feb. 8 ... at a star-studded event. Phil Jackson, Stu Lantz, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Derek Fisher and Lakers owner Jeanie Buss were all there ... as was Vanessa Bryant, who helped introduce it with an emotional and, at times, lighthearted speech.

"For the record," Vanessa said before the public saw the carving for the first time, "Kobe picked the pose you’re about to see. So if anyone has any issues with it, tough s***."

At the ceremony, it was also announced the Lakers would unveil two more tributes to Bryant at their arena at a later date.

Kate Middleton's Mother's Day photo appears to be littered with Photoshop edits -- and upon closer inspection ... we think we've pinpointed all the major ones, and they're noticeable.

The Princess of Wales has already copped to altering the picture seen round-the-world -- but neither she nor Kensington Palace have clarified what exactly was doctored and how. According to Sky News ... metadata for the original photo -- which they seem to have obtained -- shows the picture was taken at their Adelaide Cottage home in Windsor.

They also report that the metadata shows it was taken with a DSLR camera ... and more importantly, it was apparently saved twice in Photoshop on an Apple MacBook -- once on Friday night and again on Saturday morning before it was released to the public by the Palace.

Remember, when it first went up on social media -- Prince William was credited as the photog -- and they said this snap was taken last week sometime ahead of Mother's Day.

Now, though, in light of the photo being reported to be manipulated -- and Kate falling on the sword as the one to blame -- everyone is picking this photo apart and analyzing it to see exactly how it may have been tweaked ... and we actually have some ideas of our own.

Take a look at what graphic designers in our own building say are apparent Photoshop edits ... or more accurately, Photoshop fails. The big red flag everyone has been pointing out is Princess Charlotte's hand overlapping with Kate's left hand ... where you see a blur.

Our own experts say this seems to be a bad use of the stamp tool in Photoshop ... that, or a possible flub in duplicating layers of two different images and not lining them up correctly.

In terms of Kate missing her wedding ring -- we know magazines are notorious for editing stuff like that, including copying/pasting body parts ... and our team here says that may well have been what happened with Kate's hand here. Basically, that whole section looks edited.

There's also the issue of Prince Louie's sweater pattern not lining up -- something our team noticed -- and Kate's jacket zipper seemingly disappearing and reappearing in the shot.

Even Kate and Charlotte's awkwardly overlapping appears to be a Photoshop mistake ... that's our own team's take anyway. It's just a handful of apparent mistakes we honed in on -- but there are certainly more others have picked up on ... and the conspiracies are flying.

Some are suggesting that Kate's face here is actually cropped from a Vogue cover -- but according to our graphic designers ... that doesn't seem likely since the lighting is all off.

The Palace isn't explaining itself here ... at least not fully. We've reached out to them for further explanation on what exactly was changed here -- but haven't heard back yet.

There's more intrigue ... with a new photo of Kate riding with Prince William as they drove to a private appointment -- and here, too, she's heavily obscured ... shying away from cameras.

It's the latest shot paps have gotten of her outside of Windsor ... but it's hard to really see her.

At this point ... people are calling for Kate to just come out and address the public -- because anything short of that won't appease everyone's curiosity or suspicions. With the fake photo being put out ... it's quite clear that Kensington Palace was okay with trying to pull a fast one -- or at the very least, wanted to make her seem like she's doing better than she is.

One last thing ... a lot of people have suggested AI is afoot in this Mother's Day pic -- but we talked to AI expert Paul Dawes -- CEO of More.Ai -- and he tells TMZ ... this photo appears to be more Photoshopped than AI-generated ... although it's possible it could be.

Dawes says an AI tool may have been used to edit real photos -- but this image does appear to be thrown together with actual photographs of real people ... that's his take.

Ditto for AI expert Mike Gioia of Pickaxe, who says this picture is likely more Photoshopped than tinkered with AI. He tells us the teeth, hands and eyes all seem fairly normal (or human) ... and he would know, as those are telltale signs of whether AI created it, or if it's the real McCoy. In this case, he says he thinks these features look more authentic than not.

Gioia does say this might've been created with the help of something in Photoshop these days called Generative Fill ... which uses AI to pop in generic images. It's just hard to tell.

Bottom line ... this is a bad Photoshop job -- but the question remains ... WHY??? Kensington Palace has been tight-lipped ... and they're letting Kate herself take the heat.

John Cena stripped down to practically nothing to pull off a streaker bit at the Oscars ... but we now know just how much skin he really showed, and what was actually covered up.

The wrestler-turned-actor took to the Dolby Theatre stage in Hollywood, Calif. in nothing but nude-colored modesty wear to make it appear like he was really naked at the annual industry event. In other words, his junk/ass was covered up after all, so he wasn't totally naked.

As you can see from the new photos ... John was totally unfazed by the minimal amount he had to wear -- as he smiled offstage while waiting for his hilarious segment to begin.

He was even snapped shushing a few people behind the scenes while rocking only Birkenstock sandals and an impressive timepiece.

Remember, John is no stranger to performing in little to nothing -- he famously wrestled shirtless while rocking only denim jorts throughout most of his WWE career.

As for how he pulled off his onstage quick change to present the Best Costume Design category ... the video above shows several Oscars production assistants draping John in fabric as the nominee montage played.

And the commitment to the bit has certainly paid off -- JC's appearance has been applauded as one of the night's highlights.

Other notable moments at this year's Oscars include Emma Stone ripping her dress during Ryan Gosling's performance of "I'm Just Ken," Jimmy Kimmel and Donald Trump exchanging words mid-show, and "Twins" costars Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito's reuniting onstage.

Ya gotta wonder how John's ex, Nikki Garcia, felt about the bit -- as she was also in attendance working the Oscars red carpet.

Passengers on a flight from Australia to New Zealand were being tossed around in a cabin after a technical problem caused the plane to take a brief nosedive -- leaving many injured.

Check it out ... one passenger's doubled over in pain and attended to by others, while another's clutching her head in agony onboard an LATAM Airlines Boeing 787-9 ... a model that's, ironically, called the Dreamliner.

It was certainly a tense moment Monday for everyone on board ... they're all looking around, wide-eyed and scared, not knowing what the heck just happened or if it's gonna happen again.

One passenger said some folks weren't strapped into their seatbelts at the time of the drop ... while another told CNN some people were tossed around so vigorously, the plane's ceiling ended up with blood on it!

Despite all the mid-air chaos, the flight -- which was stopping in New Zealand before heading to its final destination in Santiago, Chile -- managed to land safely at Auckland Airport as planned.

A spokesperson for the airline didn't elaborate on what the tech issue was ... just telling the New Zealand Herald the situation had affected some crew and passengers. Understatement much?

Besar Nimani, a former boxing champion with only one loss in his career, was shot to death outside a restaurant in Germany.

Nimani was leaving the establishment in Bielefeld Saturday night around 6 PM, according to a report, when 10 shots were fired ... at least some striking Nimani, who was pronounced dead at the scene.

"One or more perpetrators approached and shot the victim," police said in a statement, adding, Nimani "died at the scene due to the great wounds he received."

Authorities are currently investigating -- a "major police operation" -- as they hunt for the person (or people) behind the shooting.

Cops have not commented on motive or the identity of any suspect(s).

Besar, an Albanian who was born in Kosovo in 1985, fled to Germany in the late '90s as the Kosovo War raged in the Southeastern European country.

And, the boxer eventually made his mark in his new country ... becoming a successful pro pugilist. In fact, Besar was 26-1 with 22 knockouts ... and once held the IBF European Super Welterweight title. Nimani retired in 2019 after winning his last fight by TKO.

Nimani's brother, Berati, paid tribute to his late sibling on social media ... "My brother Besar Nimani was killed today in an ambush in Bielefeld, Germany."

He added ... "May God join us in heaven with him. I will forever be proud of you, I love you."

Kate Middleton is falling on the sword over a photo Kensington Palace released that supposedly shows her with her kids post-surgery ... and even now, folks ain't buying it.

A message on behalf of the Princess of Wales was posted to X Monday morning, which explicitly places the blame over the photoshopped pic at her feet. It reads, "Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing. I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused."

She adds, "I hope everyone celebrating had a very happy Mother’s Day. C" That final "C," BTW is meant to stand for Catherine ... so this is her taking responsibility, officially.

What's weird, of course, is that in the original upload ... Kensington Palace credited her husband, Prince William, with taking the photo -- and yet, Kate herself says this is on her.

Of course ... with all the twists and turns in this "Where Is Kate?" saga -- which has been dragging on for weeks now -- hardly anybody is believing this is actually Kate Middleton owning up to it. Most everyone assumes it's just Kensington Palace publishing some statement on her behalf. Can't blame them, considering this was truly misleading.

As we reported ... the Mother's Day photo in question was yanked by news agencies all over the world -- with these reputable outlets saying the image appeared to be manipulated.

A closer look at the photo shows some strange features, including what appear to be photoshopped elements near Princess Charlotte's left hand, and even Prince Louie's fingers appear to have a warped appearance. As it turns out -- the picture was in fact doctored.

This all follows weeks of nonstop speculation about Kate's whereabouts/condition -- as she's been out of the public eye for several weeks now following a mysterious abdominal surgery. Even when she surfaced for the first time a couple weeks ago, people still didn't think it was really her.

Most of the innuendo is joke-y in nature, and yet ... every time the Palace has tried to put out the fire ... it's backfired in their faces, and this latest move is a complete blunder.

The only thing that'll calm everyone's nerves now is a straight-up video where we see her.

The Oscars are over, and the stars all went out with a bang hitting up after-parties around town -- but the biggest hot spot was 100% Vanity Fair's shindig ... where it was a who's-who.

Hollywood's A-list crowd hit up the magazine's annual post-Oscars get-together -- which has become a staple during awards season, and where just about everyone who was in town swung by to have their photos taken and to hobnob with other celebs post-show.

Of course, ya can't blame anyone for wanting to hit up this Oscars bash -- the red carpet and giant lettering is eye-catching, to say the least, and everyone's dressed to the nines.

The pap shots were something to behold, but once people were inside and mingling -- there was a lot to see there as well ... with lots of different stars crossing paths and exchanging smiles. Indeed, Oscar winners themselves were on hand ... as were the runner-ups.

Some of the celebs on hand ... Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Emily Blunt and John Krasinski, Margot Robbie, America Ferrera, Billie Eilish, Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez, Sydney Sweeney, Sofía Vergara, Lenny Kravitz and lots of others.

FWIW, that wasn't the only game in town ... Beyoncé and Jay-Z threw another party at the Chateau Marmont -- and that bash was just as star-studded. In fact, there may have been some double dipping here.

Just a smidge of the stars who showed up for Jay and Bey's party -- the KarJenners, LeBron James, Kelly Rowland, Ciara and Russell Wilson, Chrissy Teigen and John Legend, Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, MGK and Megan Fox, Kerry Washington and more.

It was certainly a night to remember ... especially for some movies like "Oppenheimer," "Poor Things," "The Zone of Interest" and a handful of other flicks that truly cleaned up and swept.

"Barbie" left relatively empty-handed ... as did "Killers of the Flower Moon." That's not to say people weren't happy at the actual ceremony, though ... 'cause they absolutely were.

Peep all the photos showing the behind-the-scenes. A night to remember and then some!

North West is officially following in Kanye West's footsteps as she announced her debut album on Sunday ... a title that plays off her dad's legendary catalog.

Ye gave North the floor at his "Vultures 2" listening party Sunday night in Phoenix, and she unveiled her album name -- "Elementary School Dropout."

The announcement drew thunderous cheers across the venue, as the crowd immediately recognized the title as an homage to Ye's monumental debut, "The College Dropout" ... which dropped back in 2004, long before NW was even a twinkle in his eye.

Hip Hop nostalgia aside, North's album title is interesting for another reason -- Kanye is currently crusading against his daughter's private school in L.A.

The album title's gotta have Kim Kardashian feeling some sorta way ... we know she's been upset Kanye is airing his grievances about the school on social media, instead of discussing it with her privately ... as required by their divorce settlement.

North's crack at rap stardom started with her feature on Ye and Ty Dolla $ign's "Talking/Once Again" from "Vultures 1."

That put her in historic company as one of the youngest artists to place on the Billboard charts ... and an early indicator she'll be back on "Vultures 2" and, eventually, her own record.

Ryan Gosling did his big musical number at the Oscars  -- getting onstage in front of all his peers and belting out the 'Barbie' standout song ... and he did it guns (n' roses) blazing.

The actor just got done performing 'I'm Just Ken' during Sunday's broadcast -- and it was as epic as everyone expected ... with the Ry Guy fully committing to the bit ... and rocking the house with some killer vocals and even better backing musicians, including Slash!

Indeed ... the top hat-rockin' rocker joined Ryan onstage to play some live guitar, and he absolutely shredded as RG belted out the fan fave from the biggest blockbuster last year.

Ryan even came down to the front row -- where he had Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig help him sing the tune. And yes, he was fully decked out in all-pink wardrobe for the ditty.

For a little while, it was unclear whether Ryan was actually gonna do 'IJK' at the Oscars -- but in the end ... he finally signed on, and his costar Margot just recently reassured everyone he was itching to do it ... despite him kinda playing coy throughout this year's award season.

It was one of the only 'Barbie' highlights of the night thus far -- Billie Eilish just won Best Song, for 'What Was I Made For,' but it's been fairly quiet for the doll crew otherwise.

We'll see if 'Barbie' ends up getting some love for Best Picture ... or if 1 Oscar is it.