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Bo$$, who famously was the first female rapper signed to Def Jam, has died.

Rapper Bun B announced the news Monday evening, paying tribute to Bo$$ ... whose real name was Lichelle Marie Laws. Bun posted a pic of Bo$$, and wrote, “Rest in peace to my big sis Lichelle Laws AKA Boss. One of the best female MCs and a dear friend."

Bun's announcement sparked quite a huge reaction from the hip hop world ... as Jermaine Dupri, Jadakiss, 9th Wonder, Ed Lover, Lloyd Banks, Slim Thug and many others all paid tribute to the pioneering MC.

DJ Premier also weighed in, praising Bo$$ as a talented legend, and made a public plea for Def Jam to release a collab he'd recorded with her in 1993.

DJ Battlecat remembered Bo$$ for leading the way for women in gangsta rap ... and added, "Rest in Detroit Queen."

Bo$$ was born and raised in Detroit, but moved to L.A. shortly after graduating high school. She integrated herself into the local music scene, catching the eye of one of DJ Quik‘s associates.

As the story goes, Russell Simmons was the one to sign her to Def Jam, and by 1993 she dropped her first (and only) studio album, "Born Gangstaz." She found some success on the charts with "Deeper" making the Hot 100.

No word on circumstances surrounding her death, or an official cause of death ... but Bo$$ had battled renal disease, which she was first diagnosed with in 2011. A GoFundMe was also set up in her name after a 2017 stroke and seizure left her needing "costly" care ... including a possible kidney transplant.

She was 54.

9:35 AM PT -- Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... Leonardo DiCaprio and Teyana Taylor are not dating, and there's nothing romantic between them at all. We're told Leo is still in a relationship, and he's not with Teyana. This interaction was strictly friendly, we're told.

Leonardo DiCaprio and his costar, Teyana Taylor, were looking pretty damn cozy over the weekend at a pre-Oscars party ... with a lot of touching going on between the two of them.

Check out these videos of the two actors -- who are currently in production for PT Anderson's new indie flick -- hobnobbing Friday night at the WME party here in L.A., where they were seen making contact at a couple different points in the evening.

Specifically ... Leo was seen with his arm wrapped around Teyana's waist as they got close and chit-chatted in private amid all the hustle and bustle of the party going on around them.

Teyana was wearing a fairly revealing outfit, FWIW ... and her lower back was exposed.

There was another moment where they were getting a little flirty -- with Teyana and LD facing each other and TT fixing Leo's ponytail from the back of his baseball cap. This one wasn't PDA, per se, but you can tell Teyana was comfortable doing it ... and ditto for Leo.

Once the hair help was complete, they continued to talk ... and laughed it up as well. No signs of them doing anything more telling than what we can see here, including kissing.

Still, it's pretty eye-opening to see ... especially since Leo is supposed to be dating model Vittoria Ceretti -- who was noticeably absent from this shindig. The last time Leo and Vittoria were spotted together in public was actually recent -- they were out and about in late Feb.

Teyana, of course, is in the middle of a divorce with Iman Shumpert ... which has gotten pretty ugly at times. They share children together, and while Teyana has tried keeping their divorce proceedings private -- much of the drama has surfaced in public court docs.

Of course, the bigger backdrop here is Leo/Tey acting in the same movie of late -- and on its face, it would appear they've gotten close. We've seen tons of footage of them on set, and they seem intricately involved in the script ... 'cause Teyana's shot a lot of scenes with LD.

Whether they're more than just friends, though ... anyone's guess. Clearly, they're comfortable with one another -- comfortable enough to put hands on each other, at least. One last thing .... we know Leo and Teyana left this party separately, for whatever that's worth.

We've reached out to Leo and Teyana's camp ... so far, no word back.

Originally Published -- 8:11 AM PT

Rising crime in Oakland has left Taco Bell in a precarious situation -- close their indoor dining rooms, or risk their employees' security ... and several TBs chose the former.

At least four Taco Bell locations in the Bay Area city have moved to a drive-thru-only model in the name of safety.

The company assured customers that safety is their top priority ... noting that additional protection methods have been taken amid the city's rising crime.

In addition to closing dining rooms, the local franchise owner has hired security guards and met with law enforcement. It's reported that another location -- which has kept its dining room open -- has gone cashless to deter robbers.

This update comes after KPIX-TV reported that one Taco Bell had been robbed four times over the course of the last four months. The restaurant was left with plywood-covered windows after the culprits drove a pickup truck through the building to steal a safe.

Taco Bell is faring a bit better than In-N-Out. Remember, the popular burger chain is set to close its only Oakland location over crime in the area.

Similarly, a Denny's -- which had operated in the area for 54 years -- shut down amid rising safety concerns. Even Raising Cane's shuttered one location near the airport last year.

As for what's being done to prevent the growing criminality ... the state's governor, Gavin Newsom, is reportedly trying to crack down on crime. He apparently sent over a hundred highway patrol officers to help control the surge of bad behavior in Oakland and elsewhere.

A passenger onboard the nosediving Boeing flight from Australia to New Zealand has recounted his horrific experience ... and he's shared pics of the injuries people sustained, too.

61-year-old Brian Jokat gave the blow-by-blow to CNN -- saying he'd fallen asleep on the plane only to awaken to see bodies flying past him and hitting the roof ... a scene he likened to "The Exorcist," as the plane dropped around 500 feet on Monday, according to him.

At first, he says he thought it was a dream -- but then a fellow passenger suddenly dropped from the roof, hitting his armrest ... and that's when he realized he was in a living nightmare.

After the flight ... an airline spokesperson said there was a technical issue that had caused the drop, but left everyone in the dark about what it actually was. However, Brian has given insight into what really went down ... telling CNN the pilot revealed he'd lost control of his instruments on a dime, with everything just going dark.

He says the shocked pilot came back to check in on everyone ... telling them he'd essentially lost control of the jet 'cause the gauges went blank on him. Absolutely terrifying, no doubt.

After a few seconds, the gauges returned and reengaged to their normal flight pattern ... with the plane ultimately landing safely at Auckland airport, much to the relief of Brian. He also told The Post he was certain they were all gonna go down and had made peace that it was all out of his control.

BTW, Brian shared pictures of people's injuries as they were being tossed around in the cabin -- and they look absolutely brutal, to say the least.

Roughly 50 passengers were treated for mild to moderate injuries, and one person was in serious condition.

This is just the latest incident with Boeing of late -- their aircrafts have come under incredible scrutiny due to problems in the sky ... and doubly so amid John Barnett's sudden death.

As Kate Middleton continues to deal with the fallout from her photo scandal -- Prince William is just ... well, being a Royal and doing Royal things.

The Prince of Wales was out and about Monday at Frameless London -- a multi-sensory experience tourist attraction with a bunch of cool art exhibitions -- where he was hobnobbing with folks for something called Earthshot Prize Launchpad ... a climate change initiative.

PW spoke during the event ... and he was seen chopping it up with environmentalists. Photos of his outing here were posted to his and Kate's official Royal social media account too.

The problem ... everybody around the world is only focused on one thing as it pertains to William and Kate -- and that would be this edited photo they posted over the weekend, which has now been revealed to be altered ... something Kate herself took the blame for.

There's a fresh round of conspiracy theories all over social media ... and despite this frenzy over her whereabouts and condition, Bill's out here just carrying on like nothing's happening.

Even before his climate event, William showed up for a Commonwealth service alongside Queen Camilla -- and there, too, he looked like nothing was amiss ... just business as usual.

As William was arriving at the latter event ... he and Kate were actually snapped in the car heading on over from Windsor, but Kate was turned to the side -- looking out a window.

Of course, with her admitting that she edited her Mother's Day photo ... there's more speculation and intrigue than ever before ... this after she's been out of the public eye for months now, with mounting concern over her well-being.

Kensington Palace has refused to comment further on what exactly Kate altered in the picture, and how -- but a lot of people have taken educated guesses on what she did.

Andrew Tate is facing more legal troubles ... the online influencer was busted Monday in Romania for alleged sexual offenses.

Tate and his brother, Tristan, were detained last evening for 24 hours after UK authorities issued arrest warrants accusing them of sexual aggression and exploiting people in Great Britain from 2012 to 2015.

Their spokesperson, Mateea Petrescu, categorically denied the accusations to the Associated Press, saying the Tate's "express profound disappointment that such serious allegations are being resurrected without substantial new evidence."

Four women complained to UK authorities, claiming the Tates physically and sexually abused them. But prosecutors declined to move forward with the cases, prompting the accusers to pursue civil litigation against the brothers as a last resort to hold them accountable.

The Bucharest Court of Appeal is expected to make a decision Tuesday on whether to execute the arrest warrants, carrying out the orders issued by the UK's Westminster Magistrates Court in London while the brothers are detained.

In a separate case, the Tates were indicted in Romania last year for rape, human trafficking and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women.

A year earlier, the Tates were originally arrested with two women in that case, but they were released from jail after 3 months and put on house arrest. The brothers have denied any wrongdoing.

Madonna had a real treat in store for her fans at her California concert Monday night … and it was none other than Cardi B!!!

The New York-born rapper shocked the packed crowd at the Kia Forum in Inglewood when she strutted out onstage without warning for a sexy two-minute-plus performance with Madonna.

Cardi's surprise appearance occurred during the "Vogue" segment in which Madonna usually brings out other celebs onstage to rate a raunchy dance-off as part of her "Celebration" tour.

Check out this video obtained by TMZ … Cardi and Madonna were seated in silver chairs next to each other holding signs emblazoned with the number "10" and the word "Chop."

The superstars rated the dancers pirouetting around them and worshipping their bodies, giving them all, of course, tens. Cardi also jumped into the contest, twerking her butt off. And you know she scored a ten!

At one point, Madonna held up the "Chop" sign, which in ballroom competitions means you're not advancing to the next round. The audience probably didn't catch that, but who cares … Madonna, Cardi and the rest were having a blast!

Meanwhile, Madonna got a little raunchy herself with Cardi, caressing her thighs throughout the segment. But that’s just expected with Madonna and Cardi didn’t seem to mind one bit.

As the song wrapped, Cardi was escorted by the dancers off the stage ... and Madonna just kept the show going.

Bam Margera got into a loud argument with his fiancée that was caught on camera, and while it looked and sounded like they were at each other's throats ... Bam says it actually stemmed out of love.

The former "Jackass" star was arguing with Dannii Marie last Thursday outside of a Nashville hotel -- not long after he'd injured himself in a skate stunt that left him with a torn MCL and ACL.

In the video, obtained by TMZ, you can see Bam and Dannii shouting at each other -- it's a heated conversation, for sure, but Bam tells us all is well in their relationship.

He says the argument started after he stepped outside for a smoke break ... we're told Dannii apparently thought he was trying to sneak away to use hard drugs, as he has in the past.

Fact is, a lot of online trolls have speculated Bam might relapse after his injury if he were prescribed pain meds. We're told Dannii found Bam outside in the alley, and confronted him about that very possibility thinking the worst, but he insists the only thing he lit up was a cig.

Long story short ... Bam says Dannii was simply expressing concern for him, and he absolutely appreciates his woman looking out for his best interests. He credits her with keeping him on the straight and narrow with his sobriety.

Bam says he took a urine test that day to reassure Dannii he was clean, and he tells us he remains substance-free even to this day -- marking 6 months of sobriety.

Bam's manager Mike Quinn tells TMZ... "Good news, Bam remains sober. The personal incident outside a hotel, involving Bam and his fiancée, Dannii, stemmed from Dannii's concern for Bam's wellbeing. This misunderstanding between the couple was resolved positively, as expected moments later. Bam continues to take his regular voluntary urine tests to confirm his sobriety."

Darryl Strawberry says he sustained a heart attack on Monday evening -- but, thankfully, medics were able to save his life ... and he's now recovering at a hospital.

The three-time World Series champion explained in a social media post the health scare happened in the St. Louis area.

He didn't go into too much detail about the emergency ... although he did say docs had to bring him "through a stent-procedure" to fix his ticker.

Fortunately, he added the process "brought my heart to total restoration!!!"

"Your prayers are so absolutely appreciated as I continue to recover," he wrote on his Instagram page, "in Jesus Name! #savedbyHisgrace❤️❤️."

Several celebs commented on the post, including Alex Rodriguez, Matt Barnes and Cecil Fielder, showing the ex-baseball star love and gratitude that he's now doing OK.

Straw's got a big few weeks coming up ... Tuesday is actually his 62nd birthday -- and on June 1, he's slated to have his No. 18 retired by the New York Mets.

"Oppenheimer" making nearly $1 billion, and now winning Best Picture, doesn't mean it's immune to criticism, especially from the real-life people harmed by the atomic testing -- but in the wake of the Oscars, some are willing to forgive ... though, not forget.

Maybe the only bad thing uttered about the Christopher Nolan-directed flick has been that it glosses over the long-lasting radiation exposure and cancer cases generations of New Mexico locals have endured following the July 1945 nuclear bomb test.

Despite the omission, one of those victims, Wesley Burris, tells TMZ he doesn't have any ill will about the film being cemented as "the best" of the year. He says it's unlikely the cast or filmmakers were aware of the victims' backstories ... let alone that there were victims at all, starting nearly 80 years ago.

Remember, the explosive test took place amid thunderstorms over White Sands Missile Range, resulting in toxic debris falling back to Earth in the ensuing rain. It contaminated the landscape, water supplies, the food chain and exposed NM residents to harmful radiation.

Wesley reflected on the event that changed his life when he was just 5 years old. He described the detonation as being so bright, it was like looking at the sun, and the force blew him outta bed.

The medical fallout for his whole family's been devastating -- Wesley got skin cancer, his brother had radiation cancer, his sister had breast cancer and her daughter was born with leukemia. He also had friends who died from cancer they attributed to the atomic test.

Wesley acknowledges the government might not have known what the outcome would be, but failing to inform residents about it ahead of time was messed up.

In fact, he says they were all in the dark about what went down for a while, only to be told years later it was a nuclear test.

As for the movie, he says he paid money to go and watch it and thought it was good. But, he still thinks people should know what really happened in the aftermath, and realize people are still dying from it.

Tina Cordova, co-founder of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium, joined us last week on "TMZ Live" ... to share how the nuclear testing is still affecting NM families -- including her own who lived 15 miles from the blast.

Tina's less forgiving than Wesley ... as she believes the literal and figurative fallout was intentionally left out of the film -- just as NM residents were left out of 1990's Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, which provided compensation to residents living near nuclear testing sites. But, only those in Arizona, Utah and Nevada.

Puka Nacua put his hoops skills on full display at the NBA's All-Star festivities last month ... and he tells TMZ Sports if he ever needed basketball to pay his bills, he could probably get it done professionally overseas!!

The Rams wideout put on the show on Feb. 16 at the All-Star Celebrity Game in Indianapolis ... scoring 16 points while throwing down two highly impressive dunks. It was so eye-opening, many wondered if the football player could actually transition just fine into the sport if he wanted to.

So, when we got him out at LAX this month ... we asked the question -- and he didn't say no!!!

While he was sure he could never get it done in the NBA, the 22-year-old didn't rule out other pro leagues across the pond ... telling us, "Maybe in another country!"

Nacua, however, doesn't seem interested at all in pursuing another career anytime soon -- telling us straight up, "I'm a lot better at football, that's for sure."

Of course, there's really no reason whatsoever to even explore at this point. The former BYU standout just had one of the greatest rookie seasons in NFL history, catching 105 passes for 1,486 yards and six touchdowns.

It's Tuesday, and we're off and running to start the week at TMZ ... especially on TV!

Let's start with 'TMZ Live,' where Harvey and Charles discussed the latest wave of scandal at Kensington Palace -- all thanks to a doctored photo depicting Kate Middleton with her children ... which she has now come out and admitted she edited herself, to the suspicion of many.

The Royals keep digging themselves a deeper hole with all this ... and it's getting spooky.

Next up, we got 'TMZ on TV' ... where the gang talked John Cena's nearly-naked stunt at the Oscars -- which practically saw him in his birthday suit on stage, and national television.

As it turns out, he wasn't nearly as naked as we all assumed -- but pretty damn close.

Finally, 'TMZ Sports' ... where Babcock and Mojo discussed a big Kobe Bryant misspelling.

Check your local listings for when TMZ is on in your area or catch up on past episodes!

American actress Abigail Breslin was just 9 years old when she played Olive Hoover -- the shy kid who loves her waffles 'a la mode' while on a wild adventure to win a beauty pageant -- in the comedic film "Little Miss Sunshine" back in 2006.

Breslin shared the big screen with Paul Dano as Olive's older brother and an aspiring Air Force pilot, Dwayne, Alan Arkin as Olive's loving grandfather and drug addict, Edwin and Toni Collette as the stressed out working mother, Sheryl.

She also starred as "Little Rock" in "Zombieland" alongside Emma Stone and Bill Murray.

Eric Carmen -- famous for being the frontman of the Raspberries, and for multiple solo hits through the '70s and '80s, including "All By Myself" -- has died ... this according to his family.

The sad news was posted to the singer's own website, with a message posted from none other than his wife, Amy. It reads, "It is with tremendous sadness that we share the heartbreaking news of the passing of Eric Carmen."

It goes on ... "Our sweet, loving and talented Eric passed away in his sleep, over the weekend. It brought him great joy to know, that for decades, his music touched so many and will be his lasting legacy."

Amy adds, "Please respect the family’s privacy as we mourn our enormous loss." No further details were shared about the circumstances of his death ... Eric had no known or reported ailments of late.

Obviously, it's a huge blow to the music industry -- as Eric was a staple in pop culture in the late 20th century. Not only was his hit 'ABM' a massive success ... but he went on to churn out several others well into the next decade ... including "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again," "She Did It," ''Hungry Eyes" (from the "Dirty Dancing" soundtrack), and "Make Me Lose Control."

Other great songs of his included ... "Go All the Way," "Love Is All That Matters," "I'm Through With Love," "It Hurts Too Much," "The Way We Used to Be," "I Wanna Hear It From Your Lips" ... and many, many more.

In addition to 4 albums he put out as the lead singer of the Raspberries, Eric released 6 studio albums solo ... and he went on to become a phenomenon in the music biz. He's survived by his wife and two children. Eric was 74.

Dak Prescott claims a woman is threatening to go public with false sexual assault allegations against him if he doesn't pay her $100 million ... and now, he's suing to try to put a stop to it all.

The Dallas Cowboys superstar filed the lawsuit in Collin County, Texas on Monday ... alleging the woman, Victoria Shores, spelled out her extortion plot in a letter to him and his representatives back on Feb. 13.

Prescott claims Shores alleged in her letter that he assaulted her in Feb. 2017 -- just after his rookie season with the Cowboys had concluded. He said in the suit that if and only if he paid her $100 mil, she'd stay silent about it all.

The quarterback's attorneys, however, said emphatically in the lawsuit Monday, "Mr. Prescott has never engaged in any nonconsensual sexual behavior with anyone."

In fact, they wrote, "the timeline of events and [Shores'] actions in the years since the alleged assault are consistent with being involved with only consensual actions with Mr. Prescott."

"The fact that Mr. Prescott did not hear a single negative thing about this supposed interaction from nearly a decade ago is truly telling of" Shores' motives.

Prescott is now suing the woman and her lawyers for defamation, slander, civil extortion/duress and more.

Prescott's attorney, Levi McCathern, wrote in a statement to TMZ Sports on Monday evening, "Lies hurt. Especially, malicious lies. We will not allow the Defendant and her legal team to profit from this attempt to extort millions from Mr. Prescott."

A whistleblower who was at war with Boeing died last week -- and investigators say it appears he took his own life, this while he was embroiled in a lawsuit against the company.

John Barnett was discovered dead on Saturday out in Charleston, SC -- where cops say his body was found in his truck in a hotel parking lot ... with him suffering an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. No word on if foul play is suspected -- but police are investigating.

Barnett's attorney, Brian Knowles, called the passing of his client "tragic" ... and went on to express explicit doubt about the circumstances of his death, making sure to call the self-inflicted gunshot wound cops are citing as "alleged."

What's more startling is Barnett was literally in the midst of a whistleblower lawsuit against Boeing -- his former employer of 32 years -- as he was alleging retaliation for sounding the alarm on what he characterized as cutting corners on assembly lines for their planes.

This is a drum Barnett had been beating for a long time -- and he even came on "TMZ Live" recently to address issues that Boeing's 737 Max aircraft had been experiencing lately.

Of course, the one incident that comes to mind is a door blowing off a 737 flight mid-air in January ... which left the passengers clinging to dear life as the plane tried to land safely.

Barnett -- a former quality manager at Boeing -- spoke with us and said he wasn't surprised by the mishap ... alleging he'd seen Boeing turn a blind eye to safety concerns for years. He also told us that Boeing's 737 Max aircraft being given the green light to fly again so soon after the Alaska Airlines incident was alarming ... suggesting it might've been unsafe.

Fast-forward to last week ... when Barnett was in the middle of depositions in his case against Boeing. The company released a statement and said it was saddened by his death.

He was 62.