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Elton John has dug deep into his pockets only to pull out a million bucks to protect people living with HIV from contracting the coronavirus.

Sir Elton posted a video, saying, "Today, I’m proud to announce that my Foundation is launching a $1million COVID-19 Emergency Fund to make sure that our frontline partners can respond to the effects of COVID-19 on HIV care for the most marginalized communities around the world."

The singer, who also hosted last Sunday's coronavirus relief concert, Fox Presents the iHeart Living Room Concert for America, has been a driving force in combating the AIDS epidemic for 30 years. People with HIV often have compromised immune systems, so they can be especially vulnerable in contracting the disease.

Mississippi State football coach Mike Leach issued an apology Thursday after posting a stupid coronavirus meme of a woman making a noose.

"After 2 weeks of quarantine with her husband, Gertrude decided to knit him a scarf," the caption on the meme said.

Get it? The woman wants to kill herself after having to spend time with her husband?! Wacka, wacka, wacka!

Yeah, Leach's players weren't laughing. In fact, two Mississippi St. players actually called Leach out on social media.

Defensive lineman Fabien Lovett responded to the tweet with "WTF." Senior defensive end Kobe Jones added to Lovett's tweet, saying, "Facts. He tripping."

Leach, ultimately realizing how dumb it was to post the meme, apologized.

Ellen Barkin may have been in the mood to flip off a photographer but she had ZERO right to tweet the image ... so claims the photographer now suing her.

Steven Hirsch is suing the actress claiming she posted his copyrighted photograph of her flipping the bird on her Twitter account. In docs, obtained by TMZ, Hirsch says he's a professional photog who is in the business of licensing his photographs to online and print media for a fee.

The photo in question is from January when Ellen attended the second day of Harvey Weinstein's criminal trial in NYC. She was there to support her friend and Weinstein accuser, actress Annabella Sciorra.

Hirsch says he licensed the pic to a NY outlet but never gave Ellen permission to use the photo. Ellen then tweeted the photo on January 23 -- it hasn't been taken down -- with the caption "mood" ... and it racked up more than 1,000 retweets and 15,000 likes.

The photographer is now suing her for damages. We've reached out to Ellen for comment, so far no word back.

Boxing rising star Billy Joe Saunders -- who's supposed to fight Canelo Alvarez in May -- has been hit with a suspension after posting a controversial video on social media where he talks about hitting women.

The 30-year-old WBO super middleweight champ claims the video was meant to be a joke and since apologized for it, but the British Boxing Board of Control quickly decided to hand down the indefinite punishment.

"I just wanted to make a little video for all you dads, husbands, if you’ve got girlfriends etcetera," Saunders said in his video.

"Obviously this COVID-19 is getting very serious and we are isolated away in tight spaces. If your old woman is giving you a little bit of mouth and you try to be patient, you try to be calm, cool, but after the 7th day or 6th day you’re just about to explode."

Yeah, the BBBOC didn't find it funny. At all.

"The British Boxing Board of Control having considered comments made by Billy Joe Saunders on social media have suspended his boxer’s license pending a hearing under the Board’s misconduct regulation, at a time and venue to be confirmed as soon as possible." the org. said in a statement.

The video got the attention of boxing superstar Claressa Shields, who clapped back with her OWN advice video -- explaining how to fight someone who comes at you like Billy Joe suggested.

"Hit them as hard as you can in the nuts," Shields said.

Sorry folks ... even if you like Donald Trump, come on -- now he thinks the coronavirus scare is something the media has cooked up to defeat him in November.

Trump flew off the handle on Twitter, saying, "The LameStream Media is the dominant force in trying to get me to keep our Country closed as long as possible in the hope that it will be detrimental to my election success."

He goes on ... "The real people want to get back to work ASAP."

So, he says the media is the "dominant force." Well, Mr. President, how about Dr. Anthony Fauci, who has cautioned about the desperate need to flatten the curve? How about the Governor of New York, who has held daily news conferences begging people to stay inside and warning this could last a long time?

By the way ... you actually think people other than "the real people" don't want to get back to work? Absurd, and offensive.

How about a reality check. Trump is acting like this is all a media concoction, at the same time he's using his daily briefings in place of his campaign rallies ... trying to tell the world what a great job he's doing. He's essentially the M.C. of a news conference that doesn't need an M.C.

BTW ... 870 people have died so far in the U.S. alone, and DOCTORS think it's going to get worse.

Gigi Hadid has no problem standing up for her boyfriend, and she proved it in spectacular fashion early Sunday AM when she launched on Jake Paul.

Jake was at the Fury/Wilder fight Saturday night in Vegas and apparently ran into Zayn Malik. Apparently, Jake felt dissed because afterward he tweeted, "almost had to clap up zane from 1 direction because he is a little guy and has an attitude and basically told me to fuck off for no reason when I was being nice to him.... zane ik you’re reading this... stop being angry cause u came home alone to ur big ass hotel room hahaha."

And, Jake wasn't done ... "bro he literally started yelling and freaking the fuck out  “you wanna test me mate. lol I feel bad for childhood stars."

Gigi was more than ready to jump in ...  "Lol cause he doesn’t care to hang w you and your embarrassing crew of YouTube groupies ..? Home alone with his best friends like a respectful king cause he has me, sweetie. Unbothered by your irrelevant ugly ass. Go to bed."

Dallas Cowboys star wide out Amari Cooper was NOT shot in a parking garage in Texas -- despite rumors on social media ... TMZ Sports has confirmed.

Oh, and also Amari is saying it himself.

"That was fake news y'all. Everything good over here."

There were rumblings on social media the 25-year-old was attacked in a parking garage early Wednesday morning.

And, in the wake of the shooting death of rapper Pop Smoke, people were freaking out about the possibility of losing 2 notable figures to gun violence in less than 24 hours.

Obviously, Amari's statement should end the rumors -- but just for good measure, we also contacted the Dallas Police Dept. which confirmed nobody named Amari Cooper was involved in a shooting.

Amari's pal, Dez Bryant, says he also spoke with Amari today and confirmed all is well.

Mark Richt said to hell with a steak dinner at a 5-star restaurant for his birthday ... the ex-Georgia and Miami coach is going with "hot dog delight" for his big day.

And, it looks horrific.

Of course, the 60-year-old broke down the unique dish during Miami media day back in 2018 ... saying it's a combo of 2 pieces of bread, a sliced hot dog and American cheese HAMMERED with baked beans and ketchup.

Richt says it's "delightful." We're calling BS.

But, the birthday boy proved he's really about that HDD life on Tuesday ... and you gotta appreciate his dedication to the meal.

"Hot dog delight! My favorite birthday dinner!" the coach tweeted.

Naturally, the Twittersphere opened fire in the replies ... asking if the coach is okay, calling the dish a "dumpster fire" and predicting a long night in the bathroom is in his future.

Others were actually open to the idea ... asking how to copy the travesty.

Lynn Nottage -- a notable playwright -- suffered one hell of an ordeal getting locked in the bathroom at the Lincoln Center. And, thanks to her Twitter fingers ... she got help getting out!!!

Nottage -- the only woman to have won a Pulitzer Prize for drama twice -- didn't mince words when she tweeted Thursday morning to her nearly 20k followers she's locked in the bathroom, saying, "I have been banging and yelling if you see this tweet send help!"

Worth noting ... it appears she's tweeting from an iPad. Anyway ... about 13 minutes later the Lincoln Center's official account tweeted, "All is well! Thank you everyone for the speedy response. Lynn has been found and rescued. On with #IntimateAppaarel rehearsals!"

Yeah, that's the current opera being produced at the famous theater. Lynn -- who won a Pulitzer for her plays "Sweat" and "Ruined" -- is producing the show's libretto.

What's libretto you jabronis may be asking ... it's the text of an opera.

Nicki Minaj is feeling regretful after a nasty exchange of outrageous allegations with her ex, Meek Mill, and she says she's given herself a stern talking to ... yet again.

The rapper was speaking at Wednesday's Pollstar Live! event at The Beverly Hilton -- just hours after beefing with Meek -- when she addressed the heated social media outburst.

She framed her answer as advice for up-and-coming artists. saying it's important to ignore the small stuff and keep your eye on the bigger picture, and specifically in her case ... put out music and shut the hell up.

Clearly, Minaj didn't practice what she was preaching, when she called her ex a clown and accused him of being a woman-beater ... after Meek apparently disrespected her husband, Kenneth Petty, by liking a meme about him.

Nicki says if she could do it over again, she would've fought the urge to go on the attack and suggests every time she does something like this ... 5 minutes later, she wishes she hadn't.

But, she's not one for phony excuses or backtracking either, so she tells the crowd she considers it a lesson in mastering her anger and emotions ... a lesson that bears repeating.

As we've reported ... Nicki and her hubby have been at odds with Meek Mill since running into him at a store last month and shouting at each other. Though things escalated quickly on social media Wednesday, they seem to have cooled considerably after Meek dropped one final tweet denying Nicki's allegations.

If Minaj sticks to her own advice, maybe things will be chill from here on out ... but we wouldn't bet on it.

Nicki Minaj and Meek Mill have taken their years-long beef to a whole new level -- or we should probably say a new LOW because they're both leveling disgusting, unproven allegations at each other.

It appears Nicki's fired the first shot ... going off on Meek after seeing that he liked a meme that took a shot at her hubby, Kenneth Petty. Mrs. Petty then posted on IG, calling Meek a clown and alleging he's a woman-beater. She wrote, "U do IT for likes. #TwitterFingers beat women, scared of men."

She made it a double-barrel social media attack by tweeting, "You beat your own sister and taped it. Spit on her & taped it. Kicked me in front [of] your mother and sent her to the hospital. Sucking drake d**k made u feel tough again. Move on."

There's no evidence to support any of those allegations.

It didn't take long for Meek to respond by roping Nicki's convict brother into the mudslinging. As we first reported, Jelani Maraj was found guilty of predatory sexual assault against a child, and just got 25 years to life.

Again, Meek's claims she knew about her bro's crimes and paid for his attorneys ... all unproven.

There's a lot more ... as the war of words continues, but you get the point.

As we've reported ... Nicki and Kenneth ran into Meek at a WeHo store last month. The confrontation nearly came to blows and an epic shouting match ensued.

So, the beef's been simmering since then. It's now on full boil. We've reached out to both camps for comment about the wave of unfounded allegations.

So far, neither side's saying a thing.

There's no ignoring this elephant in the room, especially because he's taking over multiple rooms ... in a hotel!!!

Ya gotta see this unbelievable video of a wild elephant roaming around the Jetwing Yala hotel in Sri Lanka. As you can imagine, it gets a wide berth upon entering the joint ... no one's rushing him at the check-in line. Yes, he packed his own trunk ... and as you can see, used it to poke around the place.

Best of all, the full-grown Asian bull elephant, -- named Natta Kota by locals -- is a repeat customer!!! The hotel says he's been wandering in from time to time since 2013, spending days napping in the shade and stomping through the resort's walkways.

The pachyderm used to be a seasonal visitor, according to the hotel, stealing fruit from vehicles and grub from the kitchen -- but now he's got a permanent residence at Jetwing and he's left in peace.

No word if he's racking up rewards points, but he's definitely a bull (elephant) in a china shop. Someone's gotta pay for that lamp!!!

Walmart's learning a valuable lesson about making Paul Walker jokes on Twitter, even if said joke is ripped from a funny TV show.

Here's what went down -- a Twitter user shared a story about Walmart selling Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls with strawberry and cream-flavored icing ... and added a funny gif of a car wildly racing through traffic with the caption, "*me racin to the nearest Wally World*."

Innocent enough ... however, the person behind Walmart's Twitter account Thursday decided to take things up a notch and responded to the gif by saying, "Hey, Paul Walker. Click it, or ticket."