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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.

Bronny James has declared for the 2024 NBA Draft -- the USC freshman has officially thrown his name into consideration at the next level ... but it doesn't mean his college career is over for good.

The news broke just minutes ago -- LeBron James' 19-year-old son will go through the pro process ... working out and visiting teams leading up to the draft.

Don't expect the James gang to team up in the Association just yet -- Bronny released a statement on the decision ... saying he will maintain his college eligibility and enter the NCAA transfer protocol.

Diddy's son, Christian "King" Combs, is being sued for sexual assault, and the alleged victim claims she has audio recordings of him forcing himself on her during a yacht party ... and another accuser, Rodney Jones, is involved in this too.

Grace O'Marcaigh just filed the suit against King in L.A., alleging she was working as a steward on a yacht she claims Diddy himself chartered a few days before New Year's Eve in 2022.

In the suit, O'Marcaigh alleges she was doing her job during the shindig -- which she claims was advertised as a family-friendly excursion -- and King came on, after which she claims he immediately became fixated on her, uncomfortably so.

More evidence to support the Johnny Manziel and Josie Canseco dating rumors -- the former college football superstar made another appearance on the model's social media on Thursday ... and once again, the proof is in the hand tats.

Manziel and Canseco were both in NYC this week ... and as we previously reported, it appeared the two took the flight to the Big Apple together, as the former MLB star's daughter shared a pic that showed the quarterback in the background.

If the couple(?) was trying to keep a low profile, that's all out the window now ... 'cause Canseco posted a short video at dinner -- and it's clear Manziel was right by her side.

Shakira has a hot take on herself -- she thinks that the yodeling she became known for 20+ years ago mortifies her now, despite it being the secret sauce to her early success.

The Colombian singer spilled the beans on "Hot Ones" ... when host Sean Evans asked what moments from her early days made her wince, she copped up to overdoing those signature cries in her voice.

Shakira even busted out the vocal technique for Sean ... and TBH, it takes us back to her early hip-shaking "Whenever, Wherever" days -- but for the singer, she's just glad she dialed it down 'cause it was "exaggerated" and "too much Shakira."

Country music star Colt Ford has landed up in hospital after suffering a heart attack after his show in Arizona this week ... but his team says he's hanging tough.

The singer's team says Colt is currently in ICU at the Banner Desert Medical Center in Mesa, Arizona -- this on the heels of a medical emergency following his performance at Dierks Bentley's Whiskey Row in Gilbert Thursday night -- and his rep tells TMZ he's currently stable.

We're told he was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease called Myasthenia Gravis in 2022 -- so it may have something to do with his heart attack ... but it's still unclear at this point.

The Dodgers fan who caught Shohei Ohtani's home run on Wednesday night is now upset with her favorite team ... claiming officials from the org pressured her into giving it up for a low-ball offer.

Ambar Roman scooped up the memento in the seventh inning of LA's tilt with the Giants at Dodger Stadium -- after Ohtani blasted it some 430 feet from home plate into her seat in the right field bleachers.

It was Shohei's first-ever dinger as a Dodger ... and, initially, Roman was fired up to score the treasure. She was seen on the game's broadcast going crazy -- but just minutes later, she said things turned very stressful.

Taylor Swift made a surprise appearance at a local L.A. gastropub to celebrate someone's bday -- hanging out with a bunch of mere mortals without her boyfriend, Travis Kelce.

TMZ obtained these photos and videos of Taylor's West Hollywood outing Thursday night.

Check it out ... Taylor and one of her buddies rolled into Barney's Beanery, joining about 7 other people in a booth near the windows.

Suki Waterhouse and Robert Pattinson have two new titles – mom and dad!

The English actors just had their first child together and Suki was so excited that she posted a photo of herself holding the little one wrapped in a blanket on her Instagram page Thursday.

In the caption, Suki wrote, "Welcome to the world angel ❤️," but she didn't reveal any details about her cutey pie – not even the gender of the infant.