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The parents of those who claim to have been victimized on 'Quiet on Set' had no real shot to protect their kids -- so says Soledad O'Brien, who slams the industry.

We talked to the veteran journo -- who's set to host a moderated convo with some of those who were interviewed on 'Quiet on Set' in a new episode airing this weekend -- and she gives us her two cents about where some of the parents land in this equation in terms of blame.

She gives us an interesting take ... while she says many in the public believe some of these child stars might've been groomed at Nickelodeon ... Soledad argues the parents were too.

J. Cole's rap battle with Kendrick Lamar might bring some new heat for the Dreamvillain, who's now being accused of dropping transphobic lyrics in his clap back at Kendrick.

Cole bombs K Dot on "7 Minute Drill," the last track of "Might Delete Later" ... the surprise album he dropped Friday -- but fans are also dissecting his bars on the track, "Pi."

Without warning Cole targeted a rapper who dropped a trash album, and spit the damning lyrics ... "They plead the fifth, I'm seeing hints of a trans fella/In cancel culture's vicinity, he's no killer, trust me/Beneath his chosen identity, there is still a pussy, period.”

Angelina Jolie is unnecessarily making a big fuss over a non-disclosure agreement Brad Pitt wanted her to sign ... at least according to Brad who says she, and all celebs, sign these all the time.

The exes are still warring over Miraval, the French winery they co-own, and Brad just filed docs in that dispute ... refuting Angie's claim she walked away from an agreement to sell her share of the winery to Brad, because he insisted she sign a strict NDA.

In the docs, obtained by TMZ, Brad doesn't deny wanting her to sign one, but he says there's nothing onerous or broad about the NDA he presented her. In fact, he says it's pretty rich for Angelina to complain, because her lawyer "proposed an even broader, mutual non-disparagement clause" to Brad in connection with their divorce.

Michael Jackson's production company wants to stop two of his accusers from getting their hands on police photos that may include images of his private parts -- but they say they have every right to obtain the material.

John Carpenter -- the attorney repping Wade Robson and James Safechuck -- tells TMZ ... "The Los Angeles Police Department and Santa Barbara Police Department gave Michael Jackson and their legal team including Thomas Mesereau all of the incriminating evidence showing that Michael Jackson was sexually abusing children and that his corporations knew about it."

John claims Michael Jackson's companies have had this evidence for decades -- and so he believes they're entitled to the same information.

The Ravens and the Orioles are coming together for the city of Baltimore ... donating a combined $10 million to the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse emergency relief fund.

The two professional sports organizations announced the amazing gesture on Friday ... 10 days after a cargo ship crashed into the bridge over the Patapsco River and outer Baltimore port.

Two of the six victims were found dead in a pickup truck recovered in the water. The four others are presumed dead.

John C. Reilly ain't just your average movie star -- he's got some decent vocal chops to boot ... with this impromptu performance giving us major flashbacks to one of his roles.

The actor cowboyed up on stage at L.A.'s Fonda Theatre Thursday night ... surprising everyone during Sierra Ferrell's country set -- and as you can see, the crowd goes wild for his performance ... which seems to have come out of nowhere.

John was clearly having fun with this ... he's going full-on wacky and animated for this -- and the crowd can't get enough of him, it seems.

NeNe Leakes says she's okay with letting a little infidelity fly, but clarifies ... if you're gonna cheat, at least do it with some class.

Yup, you heard right -- 'RHOA' star Nene explains she's all about the "what you don't know, won't hurt you" philosophy! She was on IG live with Carlos King when she said, if a man's getting down with his side chick on a weekend trip -- and she's none the wiser about it -- that's pretty darn respectful in her eyes.

NeNe elaborates on her cheating etiquette -- saying those who lie to their side pieces by claiming they're the only one, and further, don't tell the side piece to keep a respectful distance from their main squeeze ... are definitely not playing by the rules.

Gerry Turner and his wife Theresa Nist made their long-distance relationship just a tad bit closer this week ... cuddling up after it came out that they were living apart.

The 'Golden Bachelor' stars appear to be hanging out right now -- with TN sharing a short video to her Instagram Story Friday ... where Gerry tossed an arm over her shoulder at a restaurant, where they were joined by a bunch of other people, who appear like past constants and some friends.

Our sources say Theresa had plans to visit Gerry in Indiana this week ... although it's not clear if this clip is from that scheduled trip, or something else entirely. Either way, the two seem very happy to be together again -- which may put those pesky split rumors to bed.

Tom Holland's costar for an upcoming production of "Romeo & Juliet" that he's acting is getting dragged through the coals by trolls -- and now, the director is speaking up.

Francesca Amewudah-Rivers -- who'll be playing Juliet, opposite Tom -- has been getting bombarded with racist and bigoted vitriol over the past several days on X and other platforms ... this after it was announced she and TH would be acting in an 'R&J' play soon.

There's a variety of hateful comments being hurled her way ... including people commenting on her appearance, her fashion sensibilities, etc. It's all very mean-spirited, and awful.

Universal Music Group is facing a new lawsuit ... and it all has to do with Mary J. Blige's most famous song -- which someone is now claiming illegally sampled an old jam.

According to new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, a company called TufAmerica, Inc. -- which owns Tuff City Records -- is suing the music publishing giant, claiming it sampled their song "Impeach the President" in MJB's "Real Love" without getting permission.

"Real Love" allegedly uses an uncleared sample from "Impeach the President" in both a sound recording and the musical composition. Tuff City claims they've reached out to UMG over the issue, but Universal hasn't addressed their concerns ... so, now they're suing.

Travis Scott's current promo run through major U.S. colleges is causing BIG problems at the University of Texas ... it's triggering people's Astroworld trauma all over again!!

The "Utopia" rapper, and Houston native, happily rushed the Darrell K Royal Memorial Stadium field Thursday with the Longhorns football team, creating tons of media for UT in the process.

UT's Instagram account captioned one of the posts, "POV: Travis Scott pulls up to practice 🔥"  ... highlighting a camera angle that showed players stampeding across the ground like a herd of cattle -- but some Texas residents are incensed by the content.

Drea de Matteo's not backing down when her son, Waylon, calls her out for her OnlyFans career ... revealing how her winning argument puts him in his place in an instant.

The "Sopranos" star calls her 12-year-old a "greedy little bastard" on the latest episode of "The Sage Steele Show" ... and she reminds him of all the luxuries he's enjoying when he brings up her ass-showing ways on the platform.

Drea recalls asking him once, "Do you like that jacket you just asked me to buy you? You like all the things that you want that make you happy? You like that new PC that you begged for for Christmas? Because you wouldn't have that s*** if Mommy didn't show her ass!"

The Rock isn't pleased with current-day America, and will NOT be endorsing Joe Biden ... as the President vies for a second term in The White House.

Remember, Johnson, with influence over hundreds of millions of fans, threw his support behind Biden ahead of the 2020 election ... a big get at the time for the presidential hopeful.

Biden, who is struggling with approval ratings in the gutter (56% of Americans disapprove of POTUS' job performance) and poor polling numbers, could certainly use the help ... but it ain't coming. At least, not from the WWE legend.

It's been exactly 30 years since we lost Kurt Cobain -- and even all this time later, there are some photos of the late rocker you haven't seen ... including these ones with Courtney Love.

To mark 3 decades since his death, a husband and wife named Constance Hansen and Russell Peacock -- who form the photog duo known as Guzman -- have released a new set of images capturing the Nirvana legend in the simple joys of everyday life with his then-wife.

The images are from their iconic 1992 "Family Values" photoshoot for Spin! magazine, where only 5 images -- including some with their 5-week-old daughter Frances Bean -- were used out of the 100 taken. Now, we're getting a look at all the rest ... and they're fascinating.

J. Cole went straight for the jugular when firing back at Kendrick Lamar ... calling K.dot's critically acclaimed "To Pimp a Butterfly" album the audio version of a sleeping pill, and folks are mad.

On Friday, Cole left the rap internet in a tizzy thanks to his surprise project "Might Delete Later" ... which features the song "7 Minute Drill," and a direct response to Kendrick's "Like That" disses that dominated the Billboard Charts these past couple weeks.

Cole took a page outta Jay-Z's infamous Nas diss track here ... Kendrick's albums "good kid, m.A.A.d city" and "DAMN" were given their due credit, but JC writes off 'TPAB' off as overrated trash that got the attention of outside media.

The 99 Cents Only stores are all going out of business, and they'll be shutting their doors across the country in due time ... which has caused many to be up in arms.

The parent company announced the big news Thursday, saying they were going to begin a nationwide wind-down of all of their locations in the U.S. ... a whopping 371 locations, all of which will be shuttered in waves over the coming months.

Specifically, there are 4 states that currently host 99 Cents Only stores -- California, Nevada, Arizona and Texas ... and yes, they're all going bye-bye.