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The director of 'The Holdovers' is being accused of ripping off another Hollywood creative, who claims the guy hijacked his own years-old script in what he calls outright plagiarism.

Simon Stephenson -- whose story/writing credits include 'Luca,' 'Paddington 2' and other big hits -- levied a heavy plagiarism allegation against Alexander Payne earlier this year with none other than the WGA ... and his claims are just now coming to light publicly.

According to Variety -- which has reviewed and published emails from this whole ordeal -- Stephenson hit up some WGA honchos to complain that Payne's script/story for 'The Holdovers' was a "brazen" ripoff of a script he wrote back in 2013 called 'Frisco.'

Not only are the plots nearly identical, Stephenson alleges, but he goes on to claim there is "line-by-line" replication ... adding he has proof Payne reviewed his screenplay in years past.

Stephenson wrote in one of his emails to WGA, "I’ve been a working writer for 20 years -- in my native U.K. before I came to the U.S. -- and so I’m very aware that people can often have surprisingly similar ideas and sometimes a few elements can be ‘borrowed,’ etc."

He adds emphatically ... "This just isn’t that situation. The two screenplays are forensically identical and riddled with unique smoking guns throughout."

Stephenson was reportedly told his gripes were not a guild issue, and that he might need to consider a lawsuit to address his concerns -- no word on whether he's done that yet.

As for Payne -- who's not a writer on 'Holdovers,' but who says he heavily supervised the script-writing process -- he's publicly said his flick is loosely inspired by a 1935 French film.

Vanessa Hudgens is pregnant, and she let the world know in the biggest way possible -- showing up to the Oscars ... with a big ol' baby bump in tow!

The actress is one of the hosts on the red carpet Sunday at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood -- where the ceremony will be going down later today -- and before all the stars arrived to take their own pictures ... Vanessa made sure to steal the spotlight with shots of her own.

She had a very good reason, too ... clearly, Vanessa is expecting a child -- and this is the first time anyone's hearing about it publicly. On its face, it seems she's fairly far along.

Of course, this is major news ... seeing how this would be VH's first child, and ditto for her husband, Cole Tucker. Remember, they just got married a few months ago down in Mexico ... and now, they're having a kid together in record time. No time like the present, right?!

Cole and Vanessa have been together as a couple since 2020 ... after she broke things off with her longtime boyfriend, Austin Butler -- with whom she'd been with for many years.

Vanessa and Cole were two peas in a pod ... she said she knew he was the one right away.

While she's clearly happy with her hubby ... the topic of her relationship with Austin has come up quite a bit lately -- especially with him being launched into superstardom through all these movies he's been in the past couple years, including 'Elvis.'

Vanessa just said last week she's happy her split with Austin led her to Cole -- and Austin, meanwhile, has said he valued his time with Vanessa ... and still respected/cared about her.

Austin himself is not scheduled to be at today's Oscars ceremony -- although, he has been out and about for Oscars-related parties this weekend.

So, he might be around somewhere later tonight as well. Ya gotta wonder how he might feel about this big development.

As Hollywood's rich and famous trickle in for the Oscars this weekend -- a massive protest is going down just a stone's throw away ... with folks hitting the streets to speak on Palestine.

A huge demonstration is unfolding about a mile away from the Dolby Theater in Hollywood Sunday -- at none other than the Dome Entertainment Centre, in fact -- where hundreds of people gathered with signage, megaphones and Palestinian flags ... while up in arms.

Of course, this is a pro-Palestine protest -- one that's been organized by groups like Writers Against the War on Gaza LA, Film Workers for Palestine, SAG-AFTRA Members for Ceasefire and others ... with their main message being, "No awards during a genocide!"

Another tagline being used for this protest ... "While You're Watching Bombs Are Dropping."

It goes without saying ... these folks are protesting against the ongoing war in the Middle East -- this as Gaza continues to be under siege as Israel seeks to eradicate Hamas.

As you can see ... tensions were high here, as people chanted and made their voices heard ahead of the biggest night in Hollywood. The Oscars are just about an hour from starting.

Unfortunately for these demonstrators, they won't be getting much closer to the actual Oscars venue itself -- the Dolby Theater is blocked off by cops, who've set a wide perimeter ... and who are standing guard with their riot gear ready to go in case things escalate.

Meanwhile ... the stars are getting ready for the big show -- lots of red-carpet arrivals are happening right now ... and they don't seem too worried about the ruckus up the block.

Here's a guy who has no problem burying secrets, because Frenchman Damien Boschetto's been sitting on an enormous one -- dinosaur-sized, literally -- for nearly 2 years now.

The 25-year-old says he stumbled upon dinosaur bones back in May 2022 while he was walking his dog in the forest near his hometown Cruzy in southern France. The thing is, Damien didn't just find one or 2 giant bones ... he unearthed a nearly intact, 70-million-year-old skeleton of a titanosaur!

Damien told France Bleu the discovery was totally dumb luck. He said, "While walking the dog, a landslide on the edge of the cliff exposed the bones of various skeletons."

As for why he kept relatively silent about his amazing treasure -- he said he wanted to give paleontologists time to excavate the entire skeleton before the site was overrun with pillagers and dinosaur enthusiasts. The fossil is now on display at the Cruzy Museum.

Titanosaurs, btw, were plant-eating dinosaurs known for their very long necks, and they lived during the Cretaceous period, which lasted from 145 million to 66 million years ago. Scientists say the largest titanosaurs were about 85 feet long and weighed 70 tons.

In other words ... it's giving Fred Flintsone's Bronto Crane at the quarry. Y'know -- the one he slid down to end each day.

"Love Is Blind" costars Jimmy Presnell and Chelsea Blackwell are back on as a couple -- or, at least they were this weekend, based on the video we got of them all over each other in a nightclub.

As fans of the Netflix dating show know, Chelsea and Jimmy ended the season with heartbreak and a lot of tears ... as they never even made it to the altar -- but Friday night in Hollywood, FL it looked like they were giving it another shot.

Folks at Daer Nightclub, inside the Hollywood Hard Rock Hotel, tell us they arrived together, and Jimmy had his arm around her most of the night. Their nightclub PDA marks the second sighting of the exes in South Florida.

As we reported, fans smelled something cooking when they noticed Chelsea and Jimmy had each posted images from the same table Thursday at JB's on the Beach in Deerfield Beach.

Even though they didn't post any pics of themselves, social media sleuths pieced it together when they both showed a bottle of Corona with matching backgrounds.

Chelsea -- who says people always say she looks like Megan Fox -- had mentioned she was heading to the Fort Lauderdale area for her best friend's wedding. She didn't say anything about Jimmy being there, but that could be because the "Love Is Blind" reunion isn't airing until this coming Wednesday.

LeBron James plopped down next to his female bosses at the Lakers game this week and made sure to ring in International Women's Day with 'em ... which they seemed to really dig.

This clip of LBJ sitting down with Jeanie Buss and Linda Rambis -- both of whom are top-level Lakers execs, and who are effectively his employers -- at Friday's game is going viral right now ... and for good reason, we suppose. It's pretty hilarious ... and eye-popping too.

Check it out ... LeBron moseys on over to where JB and LR are sitting, courtside, and takes a seat in between them -- where he starts to chop it and, apparently, drop jokes in between.

Some lip-readers think they see LeBron saying ... "First and foremost, Happy International Women's Day" -- which Linda and Jeanie seemed to love, 'cause they were all over the guy with snuggles and bicep rubs. Nothing too inappropriate, of course, but it was quite a sight.

Jeanie even leaned her head on LeBron's shoulder at one point while they yukked it up.

Like we said ... nothing overtly over the line here, but it certainly threw the Internet into a tizzy -- and became a bit of a meme over the past couple days. Y'know ... "rizz" jokes, etc.

Of course, it's silly to assume Linda and Jeanie were into LeBron here -- as some online have suggested after watching this -- because not only are both women already known to be close with him (he is THE biggest Lakers star, after all) ... but they're both happily married!

Jeanie got hitched to Jay Mohr last year on the beach ... this after dating him for a bit. And Linda, meanwhile, has been married to Kurt Rambis for quite literally decades.

Goes without saying ... LeBron is also a married man -- so everyone can settle down.

As for why LeBron wasn't playing in this game against the Bucks ... his ankle's jacked up. So, nothing wrong with a little facetime with the higher-ups -- that's essentially what this was.

Millie Bobby Brown has been flip-flopping accents lately -- and amid some criticism, she's telling haters to piss off ... 'cause she says she's a chameleon in terms of how she speaks.

The "Stranger Things" star recently addressed this issue head-on in a sit-down with TikToker Max Balegde -- where she was plugging her new Netflix movie, "Damsel," and where she was asked directly about her accent constantly switching up ... albeit, in very fawning terms.

Watch ... Max prods the subject, but does so in a way that's already taking Millie's side. He says he totally gets the notion of someone's accent changing depending on where they are.

That's the rationale a lot of her fans/supporters have offered up in defense of Millie after an interview she did with Jimmy Fallon nearly two weeks ago went viral ... where she sounded like a straight-up Yankee, despite having risen to fame with her signature British accent.

MBB took the reins in the convo here and explained why her accent changes on a dime -- BTW, during this conversation with Max ... she sounded like her usual red coast self, almost exaggeratedly so -- and basically said, yeah ... my accent changes with my surroundings.

She notes that she bounced around as a kid in terms of where she grew up -- including living across the pond, as well as here in the States -- and now, she's living in NYC with her fiancé, Jake Bongiovi ... so she says she's adopted more of an American accent lately.

That's all fine and good, but what Millie also admits is she'll tweak her accent depending on who she's talking to -- as a courtesy, it seems, and to fit in better. Which is ... interesting.

Chris Brown apparently got into a little fender-bender this weekend -- and while the scrape to his sports car will probably buff right out ... that doesn't mean he was happy about it.

The singer was hitting the town very early Sunday morning in Hollywood -- leaving The Nice Guy after a little partying, we're told -- and on his way out ... he seems to have bumped into another vehicle that left the front of his Lamborghini with some major scuff marks.

The fact that his whip is white makes the black marks all the more noticeable, of course, and it looks like Chris stopped to exchange info with whoever it was he might've tapped.

He certainly looked frustrated at the moment -- but handled his biz and went on his way.

The next morning, however, Chris seems to have realized the extent of the damage -- 'cause he was photographed looking a little heated as he appeared to be addressing the mishap with a crew of people he was with while leaving a private house party just hours later.

No word on what exactly he was saying -- but it sure reads like ... "LOOK WHAT HAPPENED TO MY F***ING CAR!!!" This new angle also appears to show the bumper is slightly dented.

Like we said ... it should be easy enough to fix it -- but considering how damn pricey these cars are -- it might end up costing CB a pretty penny ... assuming insurance doesn't just handle it. In any case ... Chris wasn't happy about having to deal with it, period.

Ariana Grande says some of her fans are letting her down by attacking her ex-husband, Dalton Gomez ... who they think cheated on her due to the lyrics of her new song, "Eternal Sunshine."

Ari posted a very clear demand Saturday, telling fans ... "I just wanted to say anyone that is sending hateful messages to the people in my life based on your interpretation of this album is not supporting me and is absolutely doing the polar opposite of what I would ever encourage (and is also entirely misinterpreting the intention behind the music) ... I ask that you please do not."

The fan outrage started mounting early Friday morning when the title track of her new album, "Eternal Sunshine" dropped.

The song includes a verse that goes ... "I've never seen someone lie like you do // So much, even you start to think it's true // So now we play our separate scenes // Now, now she's in my bed, mm-mm, layin' on your chest // Now I'm in my head, wonderin' how it ends."

In another line she says she got "played like Atari," and she's found a "good boy and he's on my side" -- an apparent reference to new BF Ethan Slater.

All of this prompted her legion of fans to torch Dalton on social media, and even threaten him with comments like ... "i don’t wanna see her like this literally ever again dalton gomez you will never have another peaceful sleep in this lifetime i promise you that."

Other intense reactions went like this ... "DALTON GOMEZ U WILL BURN IN HELL," and "getting with ariana after the worst years of her life and making her finally feel like she found true love and was healing only to cheat on her and be a horrible husband… dalton gomez i hate you so much."

Yeah, lots of feels. Way too much, according to Ariana herself.

In her attempt to call off the dogs, once and for all, she added ... "It is not how to support me. It is the opposite. Although this album captures a lot of painful moments, it also is woven together with a through line of deep, sincere love. If you cannot hear that, please listen more closely. Thank you."

Interestingly, she didn't exactly say the song isn't about Dalton -- instead, her point seems to be ... whatever happened, I'm cool with it now. And you should be too.

TMZ broke the story ... Ari and Dalton finalized their divorce last year, wrapping up their 2 years of marriage. They'd gotten together during the COVID pandemic, and our sources said things fell apart once they returned to their regular schedules.

We were also told the split was as amicable as could be -- although, "Eternal Sunshine" strongly suggests Ariana -- who's now dating Ethan -- had some hard feelings.

Maluma really is a papi now ... the singer and his girlfriend are celebrating the birth of their baby girl.

The 30-year-old Colombian superstar posted pics of himself nuzzling the newborn, apparently in the hospital nursery. Maluma says she was born Saturday at 8:23 AM, and he thanked his GF Susana Gomez "for fulfilling my biggest dream of being a Father."

Fans had anticipated the baby's name after seeing Susana rocking a diamond necklace spelling out Paris -- and Maluma confirmed that is indeed her name.

He also says baby Paris will have both parents' last names ... Paris Londono Gomez. Maluma's government name is Juan Luis Londono Arias.

On Friday, he'd posted a bunch of pics with Susana -- several of them in the nursery they've built for the baby's arrival -- and his caption, "Days to meet you" was a dead giveaway that their bundle of joy was close.

Maluma announced back in October that they were expecting by releasing his music video for "Procura" --  the video focuses on his romance with Susana, and in the final minute of it, he dropped the baby news.

This is NOT how Madonna should express herself -- she's getting scorched for this jaw-dropping blunder, when she stopped her show to call out a front-row fan for sitting through her show, only to learn they're in a wheelchair.

The clip of Madonna's cringe moment is from last month in Vancouver but is just now making the rounds ... and folks are slamming her -- not so much for the mistake -- but for her nonchalant reaction once she figured it out.

Between songs, Madge looked into the audience, locked eyes with the seated fan and said, "What are ya doing sitting down?"

When public shaming didn't make the fan get up, Madonna walked over for a closer look ... which is when her heart must've sank, because she quickly said, "Oh, ok ... politically incorrect. Sorry about that. I'm glad you're here."

The backlash ranges from humorous to pure outrage -- one person wrote, "I feel like she should have refunded that person's ticket" ... while another said, "Maam, there are 100 reasons why someone might sit- and all of them are valid"

While Madonna admitted her mistake on the spot, some folks aren't trying to hear it ... telling her, "'politically incorrect' no girl that was just MEAN 😭😭"

The only positive for the iconic signer ... it's the kinda mistake that might make people forget about the image of her falling off a chair last month during her tour stop in Seattle.

In her defense, Madonna clearly didn't have any ill intent, but at 65, she's been at this a while ... so, it's surprising she would make such a mistake. The woman's been touring for more than 4 decades, after all.

As everyone expected, Sen. Katie Britt was roasted in the 'SNL' cold open, but the surprise was Scarlett Johansson making a cameo to fill the role, and nailing the hilarious send-up of Britt's State of the Union response.

ICYMI .. the junior Alabama Senator went viral after her GOP response to President Biden's Thursday night SOTU address. The speech -- delivered from her kitchen for some reason -- struck most as oddly performative.

Scarlett still managed to take it over the top, saying, "I’ll be performing an original monologue called ‘This country is hell.’ You see, I’m not just a senator. I’m a wife, a mother and the craziest bitch in the Target parking lot.”

She also perfectly mocked Sen. Britt's facial expressions, hand movements and even some questionable fact-checking with lines like ... "I’m going to do a pivot out of nowhere into a shockingly violent story about sex trafficking. Rest assured, every detail about it is real except the year, where it took place, and who was president when it happened.”

On Thursday night, the Senator shared a story of a woman she met in Texas who told her about being sex trafficked by the cartels. While Britt blamed President Biden’s border policies, the Washington Post reported the woman’s experiences took place in Mexico during President George W. Bush's administration.

One of Scarlett's best lines in the skit imitated the QVC host tone of Sen. Britt's speech -- out of nowhere, she started hawking the diamond cross necklace she was wearing, saying, "Goes with anything, and you can wear it from da’ church to da’ club.”

A British woman's pet bird is also an early bird -- and the way it wakes up its owner is with some '70s soul music ... which the internet is absolutely loving on TikTok.

Kiki -- a singing cockatiel who's amassed 3 million followers -- has got the whole world chirping with its latest performance ... which its frustrated human posted online.

Kiki sings Earth, Wind and Fire's "September" bright and early -- to the chagrin of this poor woman.

Apparently for Kiki ... no hour was too early to bop along to the catchy chorus of the 1978 mega-hit while on top of a fish tank in the owner's room.

The sleep-deprived owner then puts up her finger to order "silence" from the bird, who complies ... but is back at it a second later because, let's face it, the song's just too good to give up!

Frustrated with Kiki's antics, the owner sent out a cry for help in the caption, writing -- "Send help plz where's the off button on parrot."

With 22 million likes and counting, the comments poured in -- one person acknowledged the owner "didn't turn it off, just snoozed it" ... while another joked, "Who's the manager of the bird? I need to contact them about putting this star on my next track🔥."

Kiki's been spreading joy and laughter across the internet for a while now with a bunch of other renditions, such as "If You're Happy and You Know It."

Y'know it's Oscars weekend when even the likes of Nicolas Cage are out on the scene ... in this case to honor "Killers of the Flower Moon" director Martin Scorsese and the cast of his Best Picture-nominated film.

TMZ got video inside the Bev Hills celebration, where Nic, himself an Oscar winner, and his wife Riko Shibata mingled at the Giorgio Armani-hosted party.

It's a rare sighting of Cage at showbiz events. He's more of a karaoke bar kinda guy, but, like we said, it's that kinda weekend in Hollywood.

Several other nominees were front and center ... including 'Flower Moon' star Lily Gladstone, who's up for Best Actress. She's already made history as the first Native American woman nominated for the award, and most critics say she's got a good shot to win Sunday night.

Her costar, and Best Supporting Actor nominee, Robert De Niro was there and looked to be in good spirits ... as he stopped to take a few snaps with folks. We also got shots of last year's Best Supporting Actor winner Ke Huy Quan, Olivia Munn and John Mulaney, Jane Seymour and Paris Jackson doing the small talk thing.

Other faces in the crowd -- Best Actor nominee Jeffrey Wright, Alessandra Ambrosio, Scott Eastwood and Callum Turner, who was not with his relatively new GF Dua Lipa ... unfortunate, for him, and everyone else there.

If Kate Middleton is a princess in pain, she's desperately trying to hide it by releasing a pic of herself smiling -- or grinning and bearing it -- surrounded by her 3 children.

The Princess of Wales posted the family pic Sunday in honor of Mother's Day in the UK. It's just the 2nd time we've seen Kate since her mysterious abdominal surgery in January ... and the first full-body shot since speculation about the procedure, her recovery, and her whereabouts have run rampant on the Internet.

In her caption, Kate writes, "Thank you for your kind wishes and continued support over the last two months. Wishing everyone a Happy Mother’s Day."

As we reported, the princess was photographed last week while out for a drive near Windsor Castle ... with her mother behind the wheel, and Kate wearing shades while in the passenger seat.

Of course, the fact we couldn't see her full body only fueled the outlandish social media rumor mill about her health.

Naturally, royal watchers are picking apart the new, more revealing pic, too. For instance, Kate is not wearing her wedding ring as she has her hands around her 2 younger children ... 8-year-old Princess Charlotte and 5-year-old Prince Louis.

The last time she attended a public event was on Christmas day, and yes, she was wearing it then. That fact won't help to quell one of the running theories, which involves speculation she and Prince William are on the rocks.

Then again, it could simply be the ring is off because she's experienced inflammation since her surgery.

One more note about the shot ... Kate is seated, as 10-year-old Prince George stands behind his mother. So, for those of you who have BBL on your "What's up with Kate" bingo cards ... we can't rule it out. Just sayin' ...

Lukas Gage definitely got people talking when he referred to fellow actor Archie Madekwe as his new husband -- but now, he's setting the record straight on where their bromance stands.

We got the "Euphoria" actor at LAX, and while he's quick to acknowledge the "Saltburn" star is a major hottie, he says they're categorically not dating -- and, at this stage anyway, they're just really good friends.

The clarification was necessary after their joint arrival at a Vanity Fair party this week ... where Lukas dubbed AM his new spouse when one of the paps grilled him about their status.

As you can see in the clip, LG said, "Yes, this is my new husband" -- but his body language certainly suggested he was just joking around.

It also looks like Lukas was poking fun at that speculation when we talked to him -- especially since his 6-month marriage to Chris Appleton just came to an end in November. Having already found himself a new hubby would have been quite the rebound!

But, it did seem like the 'White Lotus' star was giving love another shot, joining Hinge at the start of the year. However, the update on his dating app activity is they're just not his thing ... for now.

Lukas says he's focused on finding himself, and happily dating himself. Preach!