NBC

Megyn Kelly is a day away from settling with NBC, and we've just learned something shocking -- NBC was paying her $25 million a year and the network may end up settling for close to $50 MILLION.

Sources familiar with the negotiations tell TMZ ... Megyn's deal is 3 years firm, and she has around 1 year and 10 months to go. We're told her lawyer, Bryan Freedman, is going to have a call with NBC brass tomorrow and demand the network pay her full remaining salary, or face a lawsuit.

We're told Freedman's case is that Kelly was targeted early on after she made critical remarks about Matt Lauer on her show after he was fired for sexual harassment. Lauer was well-liked at NBC, and the staff and talent became royally pissed off at Kelly because they felt she was attacking Lauer "with glee."

Our sources say Kelly believes her comments about NBC News Chairman Andy Lack pissed off Lack and other brass, and they had it out for her.

As for ending the relationship over her blackface comment, Kelly and Freedman will argue she was treated with gross unfairness, pointing to a town hall meeting Wednesday where NBC talent, including Al Roker, blasted her and she wasn't invited to defend herself.

They also point to other NBC talent that got a pass for insensitive comments, such as Joy Reid, who made homophobic comments in a blog before she started at MSNBC, but was never punished.

And, TMZ can confirm, attorney Freedman sent an email to NBC News Prez Noah Oppenheim saying he wanted a face-to-face to discuss a settlement and wanted Ronan Farrow in the room. Farrow is about to release a book highly critical of NBC and the way it handled his Harvey Weinstein reporting. NBC shut down that request.

We're told the showdown between NBC brass and Freedman will go down Friday during a phone call.

There are a lot of pissed off NBC staffers, who are watching the network cut costs left and right, yet they made a $75 million deal with Kelly to do 2 shows, neither of which showcased the skill set that made her famous.

Megyn Kelly will NOT be back on the air at NBC after her blackface remark, barring a major miracle ... TMZ has confirmed.

"Megyn Kelly Today" aired a repeat on Thursday morning, 2 days after she uncorked the absurd comment that it's okay to wear blackface at Halloween. Sources connected to the network tell us unless a Hail Mary is thrown and caught at some point today ... Megyn is gone for good.

The split with NBC comes the day after Megyn's emotional on-air apology where she insisted she'd learned a lesson due to the backlash.

The mea culpa was clearly a case of too little, too late for the Peacock ... which, to be honest, had issues with Megyn's show even before the blackface blowup. Translation: the ratings were terrible. They'd dropped more than 30 percent, year-to-year, in her time slot.

Another NBC source tells us it didn't help that Megyn's co-workers "hated" being on air with her. One specific example was during coverage of Dr. Christine Ford's testimony -- Megyn was part of the panel with Savannah Guthrie, Lester Holt, Andrea Mitchell and Chuck Todd.

We're told the other anchors and correspondents felt Megyn was way too bluntly conservative on air. Andrea eventually left the panel, mid-coverage.

The divorce -- which, we're told is more mutual than a firing -- isn't shaping up to be quick and easy. Daily Mail, which first reported Megyn's ouster, says she's hired high-powered attorney Bryan Freedman who's scheduled a sit-down with NBC ... no doubt to discuss the terms of her departure. She has a $69 million contract.

Megyn's talent agency, CAA, also dropped her.

NBC's already said it's airing another repeat of her show on Friday.

As for what happens Monday? Stay tuned ...

Melissa Rivers hopes Megyn Kelly's mea culpa for her idiotic blackface comment was genuine -- but she's reluctant enough to check in with an African-American friend before weighing in on the apology.

We got Melissa Wednesday at LAX, the day after she was sitting right next to Megyn when she uncorked her remark that it was fine to wear blackface for Halloween. So, you've gotta see Melissa's reaction when we asked about Megyn's apology.

Remember, Melissa was part of the panel -- all white people -- sitting with Megyn when she made the asinine remark ... which might explain why she consulted a friend.

As for the apology -- Melissa hints it's simply NOT possible 47-year-old Megyn still doesn't "know where the line is."

Megyn Kelly is getting torn to shreds, deservedly so, by her coworkers at NBC -- especially Al Roker -- who demanded she apologize to the country for her asinine blackface comments ... and she did.

Megyn began her show Wednesday morning with a 2-minute mea culpa ... insisting she had learned a lesson due to the massive backlash after she said it was fine to wear blackface for Halloween "as long as it's a character."

In her apology, she said, "It is not okay for that to be part of any costume. Halloween or otherwise. I've never been a PC kind of person, but I do understand the value of being sensitive to our history. Particularly on race and ethnicity."

Worth noting ... her apology drew a standing ovation from audience members -- many of whom were African-American.

It's unclear if her apology went far enough for Al, though. A few hours earlier, he blasted her on the air, saying ... "She owes a bigger apology to folks of color around the country."

Ariana Grande is making an attempt to cover up any and all signs of Pete Davidson ... even if it means hiding a tattoo dedicated to Pete with a Band-Aid.

Grande performed "The Wizard and I" Tuesday in NYC during a pre-taped segment for the upcoming NBC special dedicated to the Broadway musical, "Wicked." Ariana has a "pete" tattoo on her ring finger, and you can see in this side-by-side, she made sure to cover it up for any close-ups.

The special is set to air October 29, meaning the split will be more than two weeks old ... so hiding the tattoo now does make a lot of sense.

TMZ broke the story, the "Wicked" performance was Grande's first public appearance since the split ... Davidson was set to headline a comedy gig at Temple University Wednesday, but dropped out last minute.

In a post that's apparently since been deleted, Ariana said, "time to say bye bye again to the internew for jus a lil bit. it's hard not to bump news n stuff that i'm not tryna see rn. it's very sad and we're all tryin very hard to keep goin. love u. and thank u for bein here always."

Ariana's also parted with the $100k engagement ring from Davidson, but will keep the couple's teacup pig.

Nick Cannon's getting a warm welcome at FOX for his new late night TV show, and so is his turban ... TMZ has learned.

Sources close to the situation tell TMZ ... Nick will rock his signature headgear without concern or pushback from the network. That wasn't the case in the latter part of his nearly 10-year run as host of "America's Got Talent" on NBC.

Sources said the Peacock Network wasn't jibing with his look on 'AGT,' and unleashed its wrath on him over a "black card" joke he made during a Showtime comedy special.

That dispute led to Nick quitting 'AGT', and leaving millions on the table.

As for his new FOX gig, we're told it has to be a weekly show, because Nick is currently finishing up his master's degree at Howard University. When he's done, it'll free him up to do a nightly show. We're told the show's set to debut in early 2019.

"This Is Us" creator Dan Fogelman's house got hit by burglars who made off with some expensive watches -- and then it got hit again ... and again.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... Dan's San Fernando Valley home was first burglarized a couple weeks ago when thieves broke in through a door and stole around $40,000 worth of watches.

We're told later that night -- around 3:30 AM -- burglars smashed a window and Fogelman came out yelling something ... scaring them away empty-handed.

And, for the trifecta ... our sources say Dan's home was hit again Thursday night -- while he was attending the premiere of this new film, "Life Itself" -- which set off his alarm.

We're told the burglars smashed another window in the back of his house to get in and rummaged through Dan's things. It's unclear if anything was taken, but when police arrived the suspects were gone.

Interesting note -- our sources say while cops were checking out the scene ... Dan's neighbor, Steve Carell, drove by to check on the situation after cops arrived.

Cops are investigating the burglaries ... and we're told they believe all 3 are related.

As we've reported ... Dan's not the only celeb in the area to fall victim to a burglary. In fact, he's not even the only one to have it happen multiple times.

President Trump may not be too far off in his claim that the death toll numbers in Puerto Rico were inflated ... so says a FEMA administrator, who insists deaths linked to spousal abuse in the wake of the hurricane aren't actually the hurricane's fault at all.

Brock Long -- who's been heading up FEMA's disaster relief effort in P.R. and elsewhere -- went on 'Meet the Press' Sunday to defend Trump's tweet last week, in which he accused Democrats of jacking up the death count after Hurricane Maria to make him look bad.

The original deaths were reported to be in the tens -- but since then, a new study has found that nearly 3,000 people have died as a result of the Maria. Brock disputes those figures though, saying that study and others were all over the place and inconsistent.

He also says you can't blame indirect deaths on the hurricane, explaining that people having heart attacks due to stress, getting into accidents, falling off their roof or suffering from spousal abuse after the hurricane can't be pinned on the natural disaster itself.

Sounds like he's splitting more hairs than 45 -- but he's clearly on Trump's side in this.

Andrew Gillum, candidate for governor of Florida, is laying blame directly on President Trump for putting the campaign in the gutter -- the day after his opponent's shocking "monkey" remark.

The Democratic candidate says Trump has set a "horrible" example when it comes to racial issues, and he thinks that's why Republican candidate Ron DeSantis felt comfortable saying voting for Gillum would "monkey this up."

Gillum says DeSantis' comment was ripped right out of Trump's playbook. He adds, he doesn't want to stoop to that level and hopes DeSantis will avoid it too.

Jennifer Lopez's TV turn as dirty cop Harlee Santos might technically be over, but she's about to do a lot of good in the real world ... particularly for Puerto Rico.

J Lo is partnering up with the Hispanic Federation and the UNIDOS Disaster Relief and Recovery Program to auction off a lot of her personal wardrobe from her NBC hit show, "Shades of Blue," to raise funds for struggling communities in Puerto Rico that were decimated from Hurricane Maria last year.

The clothes are going to be put up for auction on Screenbid -- a website dedicated to pawning off costumes to the stars. Detective Santos' garb is already on the racks right now and will remain up for grabs through September 9. Among the articles on the auction block -- J Lo's camel pants and silk striped blouse, her olive jacket and jeans, her anorak, her tank top and sweatshirt, her gold hoop earrings and, of course, her black cop boots.

Each item sans the earrings will have opening bids of $50 -- the earrings are starting at $100. However, we're told the wardrobe is expected to fetch thousands of dollars each.

This just in ... LESTER HOLT CAN SING!

The "NBC Nightly News" anchor got out from behind the desk Sunday night and took center stage at the Hill Country BBQ joint in NYC to sing his face off -- and it's pretty good!

Holt channeled his inner Bill Withers and belted out the 1977 hit "Lovely Day" with his band, The Rough Cuts.

The whole thing went pretty smoothly -- but Lester definitely loses some cool points for having to check his lyrics sheet a few times during the set. Come on man, it's a classic!!!

Rudy Giuliani just added a new edition to the "alternative facts" library from the Trump White House -- telling a reporter "truth isn't truth" when it comes to ... well, the truth.

The President's personal attorney was on NBC's 'Meet the Press' with Chuck Todd and got grilled on why 45 hasn't sat down for an interview with Special Counsel Robert Mueller to wrap up the Russia investigation. Giuliani's reason ... let's not rush into a lie under oath.

He basically says Mueller's gonna get a he said, he said -- from Trump and Comey -- as to who said what to whom ... who knew what ... and when. And, because Comey used to be tight with Mueller in the FBI, Rudy says it's a no-brainer who the latter will believe.

Suzanne Somers seems down with giving Matt Lauer a second chance ... and she fears the casualty in all of this is old-school flirting.

We got Suzanne Wednesday in Bev Hills leaving Madeo and asked if she agreed with Lauer's first wife saying he deserves another chance. Suzanne says she can only speak from experience and says he was always lovely to her. She went on to say she's not in a position to judge what Lauer did on his time off.

Lauer was fired for -- among other things -- allegedly dropping trou in his office in front of a female staffer and presenting another staffer with a sex toy. It's pretty clear Suzanne means she has no idea what Lauer did in private.

If you're wondering if people will flock to see Aerosmith in Vegas, look no further than exhibit A on the "Today" show ... where fans literally couldn't keep their hands off the band.

Steven Tyler, Joe Perry and co. were making their way onto the NBC morning show set Wednesday to talk about the residency with a sea of people around them begging for high fives and cheering them on. One daring spectator actually crossed the barricade to bum-rush Steven for a selfie.

Gotta say, he handled it like a pro ... sloughing him off with ease and keeping it moving without incident. If this dude thought he could get away with that ... Steven pretty much told him to dream on. He basically said as much on Twitter, anyway.

An "America's Got Talent" husband and wife duo felt the burn ... when their blindfolded trapeze trick -- over open flames -- came to a shocking end.

Mary and Tyce were flying through their act on Tuesday night's broadcast, pulling off some amazing stunts on a trapeze ... and even amped things up with a fire pit. The act took a turn though -- when Tyce slipped on a blindfold.

While hanging upside down, he was supposed to grab his wife as gravity pulled her down over his body -- but she, literally, slipped through his hands ... falling at least 20 feet as a couple of the judges shrieked in horror.

Dunder Mifflin fans have lost a member of their TV family -- Hugh Dane, who famously played Hank the security guard on "The Office," has died.

One of Hugh's costars on the sitcom, Rainn Wilson, tweeted out the news Monday with a link to a nonprofit Hugh was involved with. The org., The Inner City Cultural Center in L.A., posted about Hugh's death late last month ... they say he died in mid-May.

It's unclear what Hugh might've died from -- the ICCC didn't provide any details about the circumstances surrounding his death. They did mention, however, he'll be honored through a memorial this weekend.

Hugh had a long acting career dating back to the 1990s. Besides his recurring role as Dunder Mifflin's Scranton branch enforcer ... he's also appeared on "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," "Martin," "Boy Meets World," "Everybody Hates Chris," "The West Wing," "Friends," "Sister, Sister," "The Steve Harvey Show," "Curb Your Enthusiasm," "New Girl" and lots of other shows and films.

He was 75. Here's to Hank, and his blues ... RIP.