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A fiery showdown ignited on "TMZ Live" when we tackled the explosive new California law banning legacy and donor preferences in admissions at private, nonprofit universities ... with the bill's author in the hot seat to discuss the details.

California Assemblymember Phil Ting threw down the gauntlet ... arguing education is the great equalizer of society, and it's totally unfair for well-off students to get a leg up into elite schools just because of family deep pockets. But our very own Harvey Levin fires back with some solid points from the private university perspective.

You’ve got to hear Harvey’s hot take on the whole donation debate -- but that doesn't sit well with cohost Charles, who questions the fairness of these universities’ DEI admissions policies.

Here's Leonardo DiCaprio getting super cozy with Vittoria Ceretti over in Rome ... and it's something we don't see often out of these two.

Leo and his model girlfriend are enjoying each other's company in Italy ... so much so, Leo snuggled Vittoria in his arms on a staircase at an ancient church as he sipped a hot drink and took in the sights.

We haven't seen Leo and Vittoria this lovey-dovey before ... so the photos are super interesting.

Ashton Kutcher is said to be concerned about getting dragged into the Diddy criminal case, but federal investigators do not have him in their crosshairs ... TMZ has learned.

Multiple sources with direct knowledge of the Diddy probe tell TMZ ... Ashton in no way is a target of the federal criminal investigation involving Diddy.

Additionally, a source close to Ashton tells TMZ ... "This narrative has got to stop. Ashton has nothing to do with this. Zero involvement. Zero knowledge of these [Diddy's] activities. Ashton like everyone else in Hollywood attended a Diddy party 20 years ago."

Eminem's daughter Hailie Jade Scott's expecting ... and her famous father just announced the pregnancy in a new music video.

The rapper just dropped the music vid for "Temporary" -- and in one scene Eminem and Hailie are sitting on a set of stairs on a porch when she hands him a custom Detroit Lions jersey ... that says "Grandpa" on the back.

Hailie also gives her dad a sonogram of the fetus ... and he holds it up toward the camera with a surprised look on his face.

Diddy’s every move is being dissected following his recent bombshell indictment -- and now a bizarre resurfaced video shows him calling out Lindsay Lohan and Jessica Simpson over their skincare endorsements.

In the resurfaced clip from the early 2000s, a rambling Diddy rants about how LL and JS don’t deserve props for their Proactiv collabs, claiming he was onto the skincare brand 7 years before they ever did their commercials -- so, in his eyes, they were late to the game.

It's a seriously cringe-worthy clip, with Diddy going on about how his "silky smooth cocoa butter skin" was courtesy of Proactiv long before Lindsay and Jessica made it trendy in the beauty scene.

Caitlin Clark just missed out on sweeping the field for WNBA Rookie of the Year ... and it's all thanks to one single vote for her rival, Angel Reese.

The results dropped after the Indiana Fever star was officially named ROY on Thursday ... and considering all the history she made this season, many were shocked to see anyone but Clark earning a vote.

The count was 66 to 1 .... with Clark gathering the whopping majority -- and the Chicago Sky star getting the outlier.

Kanye West appears to still be flying solo while enjoying Tokyo, Japan ... since the rapper's wife, Bianca Censori, was noticeably MIA on his latest excursion.

Check it out ... Ye, dressed in an all-white sweatsuit, happily signed the wall of a Jamaican restaurant in the capital city after he enjoyed a meal of jerk chicken.

According to reports, the music mogul visited the shop twice in one day ... and was so pleased with the food, he offered up his signature and a little design for the restaurant's walls.

Donald Trump's supporters seemed to forget they're on the same side ... with a group of men getting into a physical altercation at a Michigan rally for the former prez.

The Trump campaign is hosting a rally at Saginaw Valley State University Thursday afternoon, where large crowds gathered in anticipation of 45's planned address in the swing state. But, the scene outside took a chaotic turn when 3 men got into an all-out brawl in the parking lot of the university.

Watch the video ... 2 men decked out in MAGA merch pummel another attendee wearing a hat and sweatshirt supporting the former president's 2024 campaign.

In a brutal twist of fate, a guy trying to save a lizard from getting squished on the road ended up getting smashed by a car himself.

The shocking scene was caught on camera -- Luis Ricardo Coronel steps into the middle of Paraguay's Route PY04 to scoop up a teju guasu lying on its back -- but in a split second, he glances back, and BAM, a car comes flying straight into him at full speed.

The blue Toyota IST, driven by Mirtha Tereza Delgado, slams into him with such force that Coronel -- and the poor lizard -- are carried several meters before he crashes down onto the asphalt.

An apparent Bigfoot has made his (or her) inevitable TikTok debut ... and the footage is actually the best to date of a Sasquatch in the wild -- as opposed to a snack commercial.

Here's the big hairy deal ... a video posted Wednesday that has since gone viral shows what sure as hell seems to be a Bigfoot just chilling against a tree in a wooded area of Lawton, about 3 hours from Oklahoma City.

The video is only a few seconds long, but it sure does look like something ripped right out of "Harry and the Hendersons" ... the TikToker who posted called the instance the "scariest moment" of his life.

Will Smith really knows how to clear an area ... with his rear end!

According to movie director, Barry Sonnenfeld, the actor was such a fart bag during the filming of the 1997 sci-fi film, "Men In Black," that he caused the entire cast and crew to abandon the set for 3 whole hours.

Sonnenfeld made the shocking revelation during Wednesday's episode of Kelly Ripa's podcast, "Let's Talk Off Camera," while he promoted his new book, "Best Possible Place, Worst Possible Time."

Two moms turned an outing at an indoor playground into a violent scene ... exchanging blows MMA-style in a ball pit in front of their kids, and a surrounding crowd.

Check it out ... the 2 parents are seen wailing on each other, as bystanders try to pull them apart. Even with a kid clinging to one mom's leg, the fight does not cease ... the woman in a white top throws her rival in a cream-colored dress to the ball-covered floor.

The fight escalates as the women slap and claw at each other ... both ladies resorting to hair-pulling at different points of the grapple.

Ryanair's public relations department sure must be working overtime ... another one of their Boeing jets has gone viral -- this time for a shocking engine fire.

One of the airline's jets was forced to evacuate nearly 200 people from a flight Thursday, after flames shot up around the engine just before takeoff.

The incident, which took place on a grounded plane set to leave the Brindisi Airport in Italy, saw first responders descend on the scene to deal with the blaze.

Sunday's alleged theft of a neighbor's package was not the first time Rashee Rice's mom has been accused of stealing this year ... she was actually arrested in the spring over similar allegations.

TMZ Sports has learned ... Marsha Kearney was arrested and hit with one misdemeanor count of theft of property greater than or equal to $100 but less than $750 -- following claims she took a bunch of household items from a man on March 27.

Court documents we obtained show prosecutors alleged she nabbed 40 items from the guy -- "including food, tumblers, laundry products, merchandise and socks."

Ron Hale, the actor arguably best known to soap fans as Mike Corbin on "General Hospital," has died, TMZ has learned.

Law enforcement sources tell us ... Ron died of natural causes at his home in St. George, South Carolina on August 27. A specific cause of death was not disclosed.

Throughout his decades-long career, the veteran actor appeared in several TV series ... including starring in the popular '70s soap "Ryan's Hope" -- in which he played Dr. Roger Coleridge.

Melania Trump's husband may have once voiced support for a national abortion ban, but the former First Lady is making it clear she's 100% pro-choice.

In an excerpt from Melania's upcoming eponymous memoir, Donald Trump's wife passionately backs a woman's right to choose regarding abortion ... questioning whether the government should be allowed to dictate what a woman does with her own body.

She writes ... "Restricting a woman’s right to choose whether to terminate an unwanted pregnancy is the same as denying her control over her own body. I have carried this belief with me throughout my entire adult life."