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The first win of the 2020 NFL season goes to the Carolina Panthers social media team ... which RUTHELESSY destroyed the Atlanta Falcons' new uniforms in a Twitter exchange for the ages.

It's no secret ... the Falcons pretty much fumbled its new jersey reveal -- the threads leaked a week before the big scheduled debut, which forced the team to push everything up to Wednesday morning.

A lot of people wish the team hadn't gone through the trouble at all ... with the general consensus (on social media at least) being the jerseys SUCK and never should've seen the light of day.

To add insult to injury, the Falcons' NFC South rivals got in on the fun ... with the Panthers Twitter comparing the new look to the Mean Machine jerseys from "The Longest Yard" in a hilarious video.

Incredible work.

Of course, the Falcons tried to recover by using the famous Cam Newton quote he used after getting cut this past offseason ... even including his signature crazy font.

"#šhïñëTHRŪthëŠHÄDĒ," the Falcons' Twitter responded ... but the damage was already done.

Someone in the Panthers' social media dept. needs a raise ... 'cause seriously, the comparison is spot-on.

Tekashi 6ix9ine is vowing to be on his best social media behavior now that he's outta prison ... his lawyers say the rapper won't start beefs or troll other artists, because the feds are watching!!!

Tekashi's attorney, Lance Lazzaro, tells TMZ ... 6ix9ine has no restrictions regarding his use of social media, despite being on federally supervised probation for the next 5 years.

While 69's probation officer will be monitoring everything Tekashi posts on social media, we're told 6ix9ine will not post anything inflammatory and will use his discretion and common sense when he uses social media.

As we first reported ... Tekashi was sprung from prison early after a judge signed off on a request to get out to avoid infection from the coronavirus. 6ix9ine is now on supervised release in-home incarceration, which isn't that much different from the way we're all living.

Tekashi was notorious for being an online troll before he got locked up, but his other attorney, Dawn Florio, tells TMZ ... 69 will not be trolling or starting beefs online, and he won't be promoting gang affiliation on social media either.

He made his return to Instagram Sunday, commenting on a story about snitching by saying, "Coming to the rescue." A clear jab at himself, but it likely wasn't received too well by those locked up because of Telashi's snitching.

Instead, we're told Tekashi will be using his social media platforms to promote his new music.

Sounds like social is not a top priority for Tekashi, at least for now ... we're told he just wants to spend quality time with his fam after a lengthy prison stint.

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.