Controversial S#!T

2:03 PM PT -- John Barnett's family released a statement on their loved one's passing, and they reiterated his cause of shining a light on safety concerns that he was raising while at Boeing -- noting he was deeply affected by the lawsuit he was embroiled in, which they say was going to trial in June. His family says they believe his experience at Boeing contributed to his death.

The Boeing whistleblower's attorneys say he didn't appear suicidal before he died -- which is why they think his death is incredibly suspicious ... and are calling for answers immediately.

Robert Turkewitz and Brian Knowles -- who were repping John Barnett in a retaliation lawsuit against Boeing, which was well underway -- tell TMZ ... Barnett was in the middle of depositions last week in his civil case, a process they say was nearing an end soon.

We're told Barnett was in good spirits and very much so looking forward to putting this whole saga behind him, ready to move on. They add, "We didn't see any indication he would take his own life. No one can believe it."

They add, "We are all devastated. We need more information about what happened to John. The Charleston police need to investigate this fully and accurately and tell the public what they find out. No detail can be left unturned."

The attorneys explain that Barnett had filed suit because he felt Boeing had retaliated against him after he tried sounding the alarm on what he believed was them turning a blind eye to safety issues ... and alleged in his lawsuit they'd fostered a hostile work environment.

Like we said ... Barnett's case seemed to be wrapping up -- and amid reports Barnett took his own life in the middle of all this, it's safe to say his legal team is incredulous. Knowles was even quoted as calling the self-inflicted wound being attributed to his client "alleged."

As we reported ... Barnett had been going around and speaking very publicly about the issues Boeing had been experiencing lately -- even coming onto our own show, "TMZ Live."

He explained why he felt them getting the green light to hit the skies again so soon after the Alaska Airlines incident was dubious -- claiming this was in line with his own experience with Boeing as a quality manager ... a period during which he alleged he saw many lapses.

In the aftermath of our chat with Barnett, Boeing planes have continued to experience problems -- including something dramatic just this week ... with a flight from Australia to New Zealand beginning to drop out of the sky after apparent massive equipment failure.

Neve Campbell vuelve a "Scream", algo que acaba de anunciar tras su salida hace un par de años por discrepancias salariales y mucho drama.

La actriz dio la noticia en Instagram el martes, publicando una foto de un guion de "Scream 7" con su nombre en él y algunos otros detalles interesantes acerca de quién está escribiendo y quién está dirigiendo (más detalles a continuación).

Nave escribe: "¡Estoy tan emocionada de anunciar esta noticia! ¡Sidney Prescott vuelve! Siempre ha sido un placer y un honor interpretar a Sidney en las películas de "Scream". Mi aprecio por estas películas y por lo que han significado para mí nunca ha disminuido".

Y añade: "Estoy muy feliz y orgullosa de decir que me han pedido, de la manera más respetuosa, que traiga de vuelta a Sidney a la pantalla y ¡no podría estar más emocionada! Bueno, en realidad sí podría".

Neve continúa diciendo que se siente honrada de trabajar en esta última entrega con el guionista original de las dos primeras entregas -Kevin Williamson- que ahora dirige.

Y termina diciendo: "A los increíbles fans de Scream, espero que estén tan emocionados como yo. Nos vemos en el set".

Está claro que los problemas salariales que Neve tuvo cuando se alejó de "Scream 6" se han resuelto, recordemos que primero dijo que los responsables de la película no le pagaban lo que ella consideraba justo, y como resultado se ausentó de la última película.

Por supuesto, después de toda la polémica, la franquicia "Scream" ha perdido a dos de sus estrellas principales -Melissa Barrera y Jenna Ortega- por lo que este movimiento para volver a tener a Neve como personaje principal (de nuevo) es una especie de obviedad. Ella es el alma de la franquicia después de todo.

A principios de este año, Neve sugirió que estaba dispuesta a volver en medio de todo el caos que la franquicia había experimentado últimamente, pero también dio a entender que solo volvería por la cantidad adecuada de dinero. Está claro que le dieron un buen cheque.

Neve Campbell is coming back into the fold for 'Scream' -- something she just announced after exiting a couple years back over pay discrepancies ... and a lot of drama since.

The actress broke the news on Instagram Tuesday, posting a photo of a 'Scream 7' script with her name on it -- and some other interesting deets about who's writing this, and who's directing (more on that later).

NC writes, "I’m so excited to announce this news!!! Sidney Prescott is coming back!!!! It’s always been such a blast and an honor to get to play Sidney in the Scream movies. My appreciation for these films and for what they have meant to me, has never waned."

She adds, "I’m very happy and proud to say I’ve been asked, in the most respectful way, to bring Sidney back to the screen and I couldn’t be more thrilled!!! Well actually I could."

Neve goes on to say that she's honored to work on this latest installment with the original screenwriter for the first and second films -- Kevin Williamson -- who's now directing.

She finishes by saying ... "To the amazing Scream fans, I hope you are as excited as I am. See you on set."

Clearly, whatever pay issues Neve had when she first walked away from 'Scream 6' have been resolved -- remember, she first said the honchos behind the film weren't shelling out a wage that she considered fair ... and as a result, she was absent from the last movie.

Of course, in the aftermath of all that ... the 'Scream' franchise has lost two of its lead stars -- Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega -- so this move to get Neve back into the mix as the main character (again) is sort of a no-brainer. She's the soul of the franchise, after all.

It's interesting ... earlier this year, Neve strongly suggested she was open to returning amid all the chaos the franchise had been experiencing of late -- but also implied she'd only come back for the right amount of money. Clearly, they wrote her a fat check.

Un pasajero a bordo del Boeing 787 de Latam Airlines, que sufrió una caída en el transcurso del vuelo y se dirigía de Australia a Nueva Zelanda, relató su terrible experiencia y está compartiendo fotos de las lesiones que sufrió la gente también.

Brian Jokat, de 61 años, estuvo en CNN diciendo que se había quedado dormido en el avión cuando despertó y vio cuerpos volando y golpeándose con el techo, una escena que comparó con "El Exorcista" mientras el avión caía alrededor de 500 pies, según él.

Al principio, dice que pensó que era un sueño, pero entonces un pasajero que estaba junto a él cayó desde el techo y se golpeó con su reposabrazos y fue entonces cuando se dio cuenta de que estaba en una pesadilla real.

Después del vuelo, un portavoz de la aerolínea dijo que un problema técnico había causado la caída, pero dejó a todos sin saber lo que realmente pasó. Sin embargo, Brian compartió una idea de lo ocurrido, diciendo a CNN que el piloto reveló que perdió el control de sus instrumentos repentinamente, lo que provocó que todo quedara a oscuras.

Dice que el piloto, que estaba en estado de shock, regresó para chequear cómo estaba todo el mundo y les dijo que había perdido esencialmente el control del jet porque los indicadores se quedaron en blanco. Absolutamente aterrador, sin duda.

Al cabo de unos segundos, los indicadores volvieron a su patrón de vuelo normal y el avión aterrizó sin problemas en el aeropuerto de Auckland, para el alivio de Brian. También le dijo a The Post que estaba seguro de que todos iban a caer y se había hecho la idea de que todo estaba fuera de su control.

Por cierto, Brian compartió fotos de las heridas de los pasajeros mientras fueron sacudidos en la cabina y se ven absolutamente brutales, por decir lo menos.

Alrededor de 50 pasajeros fueron atendidos por heridas leves o moderadas, y una persona quedó en estado de gravedad.

Este es solo el último incidente de Boeing en los últimos tiempos: sus aviones han sido objeto de un escrutinio increíble debido a problemas en el aire y doblemente a raíz de la repentina muerte de John Barnett.

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.

Mientras Kate Middleton sigue lidiando con las consecuencias del escándalo de su foto, el príncipe Guillermo está actuando como un miembro Real y haciendo cosas Reales.

El Príncipe de Gales estuvo en Frameless London el lunes, una atracción turística de experiencias multisensoriales con un montón de exposiciones de arte, donde se codeó con participantes del llamado Earthshot Prize Launchpad, una iniciativa sobre el cambio climático.

El Príncipe Guillermo habló durante el evento y conversó con los ecologistas. Las fotos de su salida fueron publicadas en la cuenta oficial que él y Kate tienen en redes sociales.

El problema es que todo el mundo solo está pensando en una cosa en lo que respecta a William y Kate, y es en la foto editada que publicaron el fin de semana, que luego se reveló que estaba alterada, algo por lo que la misma Kate asumió la responsabilidad.

Hay una nueva ola de teorías conspirativas en las redes sociales, y a pesar del frenesí sobre su paradero y condición, Bill está aquí como si nada hubiera pasado.

Incluso antes de este evento climático, William apareció para un servicio de la Commonwealth junto a la reina Camilla y allí también parecía que todo andaba bien.

Mientras William llegaba a este último evento, él y Kate fueron fotografiados en el carro en dirección a Windsor, pero Kate estaba de lado, mirando por la ventana.

Por supuesto, después de que admitiera que editó su foto del Día de la Madre, hay más especulación e intriga que nunca luego de que desapareciera del ojo público desde hace meses y provocara la preocupación sobre su estado de salud.

El Palacio de Kensington se ha negado a hacer más comentarios sobre lo que alteró exactamente Kate de la foto y cómo, pero mucha gente ha hecho conjeturas sobre ello.

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.

Michelle Yeoh had an awkward moment at the Oscars when it came to handing Emma Stone her Oscar -- something some perceived as racism ... but which Michelle is now clarifying.

Super weird hand-off Sunday when ES went up to accept her award for Best Actress -- Michelle and a bunch of other previous Best Actress winners from years past were onstage as well ... and MY was the one holding the statuette to give to Emma.

As Emma went to receive it from her ... Michelle held onto it, and tried passing it to Jennifer Lawrence before giving it to Emma -- who was standing right next to her ... and clearly not ready to help in the exchange. Like we said ... very weird, and Emma was taken aback.

Unfortunately, for Emma ... the whole thing ended up making her look bad, as some took this as her being rude to Michelle, and a handful of people accused her of her racial bias.

Now, Michelle's clearing the air (sorta) with an explanation. She wrote on IG, "Congratulations Emma!! I confused you , but I wanted to share that glorious moment of handing over Oscar to you together with your best friend Jennifer!!"

Michelle added, "She reminded me of my Bae Jamie Lee Curtis ♥️✨ always there for each other!!" We're not sure that really answers the question of what happened, but there ya go.

In any case, Emma didn't let the little mishap put a damper on things ... she gracefully accepted her award and gave a moving speech, where she seemed shocked she'd won. Afterward, she hit the town with everyone else and celebrated the honor at some after-parties.

As for her and Michelle ... seems like they're all good now, sharing hugs right afterward.

Millie Bobby Brown's explanation that her accent changes based on her surroundings is getting some serious support from experts -- including a guy who worked with Austin Butler.

Hollywood dialect coach Erik Singer -- who helped Austin master his Elvis Presley voice for Baz Luhrmann's flick about the King of Rock 'n' Roll a couple years back -- has come to the defense of the British actress ... telling TMZ people need to relax, 'cause MBB's 100% right.

Singer says ... "I really wish people would lay off of actors, and most especially that they'd lay off of criticizing people's accents."

He goes on to tell us it's entirely normal for people's accents to change depending on who they're talking to -- and he would know, since this is literally his job. ES says this phenomenon is called "accommodation" or "conversation" convergence.

In his experience, Singer says just about everybody does this ... especially actors.

Singer goes on to piece some things together about Millie's backstory and history -- including having grown up in both the U.K. and the U.S. -- and says that it's completely understandable that she might have a dual accent, and that different flavors come out in different times. In fact, he suggests Millie might be bi-dialectal ... which is a thing!

Short story long ... Singer says there's nothing surprising about MBB's accent flip-flopping.

Singer finishes by saying ... "If there's anything odd or wrong it's the fuss around it, and the insinuation that there could be anything wrong or odd about it!"

Millie did a pretty good job of defending herself last week -- saying she's living in NYC with her fiance, Jake Bongiovi, and that her accent changing based on where she's at/who she's with is something that happens all the time. Singer, it seems, would agree.

Erik's fierce defense of Millie isn't entirely shocking ... as his client Austin received backlash after he struggled to shake his Elvis impression.

Suzanne Somers' omission from the Oscars' "in memoriam" main segment left many fans livid ... but her husband is saying he's all good with the Academy's decision to leave her out.

Alan Hamel explains his POV to TMZ ... saying, "Last time I checked, we still had a First Amendment. I respect the Academy's decision to not include Suzanne In Memoriam. Frankly, the outpouring from millions of her fans, was the kind of In Memoriam Suzanne would have lovingly embraced."

He adds, "She adored and respected her Fans and similarly enjoyed a beautiful relationship with the Media and Paparazzi who elevated her career to heights rarely seen. She debuted on Carson in 1973 with her first of 27 books and remained active and relevant until her passing. God bless Suzanne Somers."

In addition to Somers, actors Lance Reddick, Treat Williams, Ron Cephas Jones, and Burt Young were also overlooked during the main event ... as were screenwriter Norman Lear and British filmmaker Terence Davies.

Suzanne's name was only included in the last slide of the segment, but it was written in a small font along with the names of other late stars. She wasn't shown as one of the main stars who were honored with their faces shown.

As we reported ... Suzanne -- famous from "Three's Company" and a bunch of other TV shows/movies -- passed away after a long battle with cancer at her home in October.

The legendary actress was first diagnosed with melanoma in 2000 ... and developed breast cancer shortly after which she battled on and off for years. It fully returned in the summer of 2023 ... months before her tragic death.

Zita Vass says she's open to pivoting her views on wanting to say the n-word at concerts -- 'cause it sounds like she's just not aware of how or why people would possibly be upset.

We talked to the Guess model Monday on "TMZ Live," and she defended her take online from this past weekend ... where she expressed a desire to be able to say the derogatory racial slur in live music settings, especially if she was just repeating lyrics from an artist.

Zita's whole thing here is this ... if there's no hate in her heart, what's the big deal???

Welp, we tried explaining to Zita why some -- especially Black people -- might take offense to hearing her use the term ... and after a lot of back and forth, it sounds like she finally might've started to understand.

She admits there may be some ignorance on her part -- and the bigger takeaway is that she's willing to learn ... which is refreshing to hear. Of course, some just wanted to dump on her -- and that's exactly what a good amount of people did in her Instagram comments.

This conversation we had with Zita is definitely worth a watch -- it's almost like she's learning about racism (or perceived racism) live for the first time ... and seems pretty genuine about it too, surprised that some might not be willing to give her the benefit of the doubt.

Lady Gaga sale en defensa de Dylan Mulvaney después de que una publicación en redes sociales en honor a las dos celebridades durante el Día Internacional de la Mujer provocara una dura reacción en línea.

La cantante publicó una foto de ella y Dylan -que es transgénero- e hizo un punto para criticar a los trolls que reaccionaron a la publicación Insta de Dylan del viernes (Día Internacional de la Mujer) que la presentaba a ella y a Gaga juntas, y recibió una gran cantidad de odio en sus comentarios.

Gaga escribe: "Me resulta espantoso que un post sobre el Día Nacional de la Mujer escrito por Dylan Mulvaney y por mí sea recibido con tanto vitriolo y odio. Cuando veo que un periódico informa sobre el odio, pero lo llama "reacción violenta", creo que es importante aclarar que el odio es odio, y este tipo de odio es violencia".

Y continuó: "'Contragolpe' implicaría que a la gente que nos quiere o nos respeta a Dylan y a mí no les ha gustado algo que hemos hecho. Esto no es una reacción violenta. Esto es odio".

Gaga añade: "Pero no es sorprendente dado el inmenso trabajo que todavía tenemos que hacer como sociedad para darle lugar a las vidas transgénero para que sean apreciadas y defendidas por todos nosotros". Gaga dice que protege a la comunidad trans... pero dice que no habla en su nombre.

Gaga termina diciendo: "Espero que todas las mujeres se unan para honrarnos a TODAS en el Día Internacional de la Mujer, y que siempre lo hagamos hasta EL DÍA en que todas las mujeres sean celebradas por igual. Que se celebre a todas las personas por igual. Un día en el que las personas de todas las identidades de género sean celebradas en cualquier festividad que les hable. Porque las personas de todas las identidades de género y razas merecen paz y dignidad".

En otras palabras. Gaga está totalmente de acuerdo con Dylan y dice que la gente debería retirarse.

Dylan, por supuesto, no es ajeno a la controversia. Recordemos que Dylan se enfrentó a una gran indignación en Internet por su colaboración con Bud Light el año pasado, la cual que provocó un boicot masivo y perjudicó a Anheuser-Busch.

Los que se opusieron a la colaboración, entre ellos Kid Rock, se comprometieron a no comprar la marca de cerveza a propósito, llegando incluso a destruir las latas que ya habían comprado. Kid Rock incluso se hizo viral por disparar a cajas de Bud Light por la colaboración.

La respuesta no fue del todo negativa... Paris Hilton, Sasha Colby de "Drag Race" y muchos más expresaron su apoyo a Dylan.

Lady Gaga is coming to the defense of Dylan Mulvaney after a social media post honoring the two celebs on International Women's Day sparked a harsh reaction online.

The singer posted a photo of her and Dylan -- who's transgender -- and made a point to slam trolls who reacted to Dylan's own IG post from Friday (International Women's Day) that featured her and Gaga together ... which got a massive amount of hate in her comments.

Gaga writes, "It’s appalling to me that a post about National Women’s Day by Dylan Mulvaney and me would be met with such vitriol and hatred. When I see a newspaper reporting on hatred but calling it 'backlash' I feel it is important to clarify that hatred is hatred, and this kind of hatred is violence."

She continued, "'Backlash' would imply that people who love or respect Dylan and me didn’t like something we did. This is not backlash. This is hatred."

LG adds, "But it is not surprising given the immense work that it’s obvious we still have to do as a society to make room for transgender lives to be cherished and upheld by all of us." Gaga says she's protective of the trans community ... but says she doesn't speak for them.

Gaga finishes by saying ... "I hope all women will come together to honor us ALL for International Women’s Day, and may we do that always until THE DAY that all women are celebrated equally. That all people are celebrated equally. A day where people of all gender identities are celebrated on whichever holiday speaks to them. Because people of all gender identities and races deserve peace and dignity."

In other words ... Gaga is fully in Dylan's corner here -- and says people oughta back off.

Dylan, of course, is no stranger to controversy. Remember ... Dylan faced some serious outrage online over her partnership with Bud Light last year -- which sparked a massive boycott, and hurt Anheuser-Busch's bottom line.

Those who opposed the collab, including Kid Rock, vowed to purposely not buy the beer brand -- even going as far as to destroy cans they'd already purchased. ICYMI ... Kid Rock even went viral for shooting up cases of Bud Light over the partnership.

The response wasn't all negative, though ... Paris Hilton, 'Drag Race's Sasha Colby and more voiced their support for Dylan in the aftermath.

Dylan now has a new champion in Lady Gaga -- who is a pretty powerful ally, FWIW.

Kate Middleton's Mother's Day photo appears to be littered with Photoshop edits -- and upon closer inspection ... we think we've pinpointed all the major ones, and they're noticeable.

The Princess of Wales has already copped to altering the picture seen round-the-world -- but neither she nor Kensington Palace have clarified what exactly was doctored and how. According to Sky News ... metadata for the original photo -- which they seem to have obtained -- shows the picture was taken at their Adelaide Cottage home in Windsor.

They also report that the metadata shows it was taken with a DSLR camera ... and more importantly, it was apparently saved twice in Photoshop on an Apple MacBook -- once on Friday night and again on Saturday morning before it was released to the public by the Palace.

Remember, when it first went up on social media -- Prince William was credited as the photog -- and they said this snap was taken last week sometime ahead of Mother's Day.

Now, though, in light of the photo being reported to be manipulated -- and Kate falling on the sword as the one to blame -- everyone is picking this photo apart and analyzing it to see exactly how it may have been tweaked ... and we actually have some ideas of our own.

Take a look at what graphic designers in our own building say are apparent Photoshop edits ... or more accurately, Photoshop fails. The big red flag everyone has been pointing out is Princess Charlotte's hand overlapping with Kate's left hand ... where you see a blur.

Our own experts say this seems to be a bad use of the stamp tool in Photoshop ... that, or a possible flub in duplicating layers of two different images and not lining them up correctly.

In terms of Kate missing her wedding ring -- we know magazines are notorious for editing stuff like that, including copying/pasting body parts ... and our team here says that may well have been what happened with Kate's hand here. Basically, that whole section looks edited.

There's also the issue of Prince Louie's sweater pattern not lining up -- something our team noticed -- and Kate's jacket zipper seemingly disappearing and reappearing in the shot.

Even Kate and Charlotte's awkwardly overlapping appears to be a Photoshop mistake ... that's our own team's take anyway. It's just a handful of apparent mistakes we honed in on -- but there are certainly more others have picked up on ... and the conspiracies are flying.

Some are suggesting that Kate's face here is actually cropped from a Vogue cover -- but according to our graphic designers ... that doesn't seem likely since the lighting is all off.

The Palace isn't explaining itself here ... at least not fully. We've reached out to them for further explanation on what exactly was changed here -- but haven't heard back yet.

There's more intrigue ... with a new photo of Kate riding with Prince William as they drove to a private appointment -- and here, too, she's heavily obscured ... shying away from cameras.

It's the latest shot paps have gotten of her outside of Windsor ... but it's hard to really see her.

At this point ... people are calling for Kate to just come out and address the public -- because anything short of that won't appease everyone's curiosity or suspicions. With the fake photo being put out ... it's quite clear that Kensington Palace was okay with trying to pull a fast one -- or at the very least, wanted to make her seem like she's doing better than she is.

One last thing ... a lot of people have suggested AI is afoot in this Mother's Day pic -- but we talked to AI expert Paul Dawes -- CEO of More.Ai -- and he tells TMZ ... this photo appears to be more Photoshopped than AI-generated ... although it's possible it could be.

Dawes says an AI tool may have been used to edit real photos -- but this image does appear to be thrown together with actual photographs of real people ... that's his take.

Ditto for AI expert Mike Gioia of Pickaxe, who says this picture is likely more Photoshopped than tinkered with AI. He tells us the teeth, hands and eyes all seem fairly normal (or human) ... and he would know, as those are telltale signs of whether AI created it, or if it's the real McCoy. In this case, he says he thinks these features look more authentic than not.

Gioia does say this might've been created with the help of something in Photoshop these days called Generative Fill ... which uses AI to pop in generic images. It's just hard to tell.

Bottom line ... this is a bad Photoshop job -- but the question remains ... WHY??? Kensington Palace has been tight-lipped ... and they're letting Kate herself take the heat.

Kate Middleton is falling on the sword over a photo Kensington Palace released that supposedly shows her with her kids post-surgery ... and even now, folks ain't buying it.

A message on behalf of the Princess of Wales was posted to X Monday morning, which explicitly places the blame over the photoshopped pic at her feet. It reads, "Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing. I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused."

She adds, "I hope everyone celebrating had a very happy Mother’s Day. C" That final "C," BTW is meant to stand for Catherine ... so this is her taking responsibility, officially.

What's weird, of course, is that in the original upload ... Kensington Palace credited her husband, Prince William, with taking the photo -- and yet, Kate herself says this is on her.

Of course ... with all the twists and turns in this "Where Is Kate?" saga -- which has been dragging on for weeks now -- hardly anybody is believing this is actually Kate Middleton owning up to it. Most everyone assumes it's just Kensington Palace publishing some statement on her behalf. Can't blame them, considering this was truly misleading.

As we reported ... the Mother's Day photo in question was yanked by news agencies all over the world -- with these reputable outlets saying the image appeared to be manipulated.

A closer look at the photo shows some strange features, including what appear to be photoshopped elements near Princess Charlotte's left hand, and even Prince Louie's fingers appear to have a warped appearance. As it turns out -- the picture was in fact doctored.

This all follows weeks of nonstop speculation about Kate's whereabouts/condition -- as she's been out of the public eye for several weeks now following a mysterious abdominal surgery. Even when she surfaced for the first time a couple weeks ago, people still didn't think it was really her.

Most of the innuendo is joke-y in nature, and yet ... every time the Palace has tried to put out the fire ... it's backfired in their faces, and this latest move is a complete blunder.

The only thing that'll calm everyone's nerves now is a straight-up video where we see her.

Murray The Magician is walking the plank -- the magic world's version, anyway, as the famed Magic Castle suspends him for breaking a longstanding rule about revealing how to do tricks, but he says that rule's gotta change.

Here's the deal ... Murray filmed a fun video he shared online, doing a bunch of different magic tricks for the camera only to have his sexy sidekick -- his wife, Dani -- burst his bubble and reveal the secret behind each trick.

Murray's video racked up more than 50 million views on Facebook, and now Hollywood's most famous and exclusive magic club, The Magic Castle, has suspended him.

The Academy of Magical Arts, the group that runs The Magic Castle, told Murray he's suspended pending an investigation into complaints he violated their rules by exposing magic online.

In the letter, obtained by TMZ, the AMA tells Murray he's no longer allowed to even enter the Magic Castle, where he's been a member for decades and frequently performs.

Murray tells TMZ ... the magic community needs to update these outdated rules because it's 2024, and folks can go on the internet and learn magic tricks on their own.

Basically, Murray's calling out the AMA for guarding an empty safe by punishing magicians who pull back the curtain. As he says, it's not like he was sharing details behind David Copperfield or Criss Angel's famous tricks, because everything in his viral video is available on Amazon for anyone to purchase and use.

Murray says the real issue here is his fame ... he says the video wouldn't be a problem if he was a birthday magician in Barstow, but because his video is racking up a bunch of views, suddenly the AMA has beef.