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Jussie Smollett is back in the limelight just 3 months after getting released from prison ... after attending the BET Awards and getting incredulous reactions online.

The actor showed up at Sunday night's ceremony in LA, all smiles ... telling ET he's excited to be "expanding his empire."

He was asked how he feels about working his way back into Hollywood, but Jussie doesn't see it that way -- he says this has always been the plan.

Twitter was on fire as JS walked the red carpet and took his seat ... memes were created in his name, while some called out BET for allowing "race-baiting liars" in its space.

Sunday night's host, Taraji P. Henson, has been a vocal supporter of Jussie -- they both worked on "Empire" ... but she was silent about her co-star during the ceremony.

Jussie still insists he did not lie about what he says was a homophobic and racist attack, because IF he had lied he'd be a total piece of s**t -- and he claims everyone knows he's not that.

Beyoncé dropped her first new song in what feels like a lifetime ... and fans are loving every second of the upbeat track.

Her new track "Break My Soul" dropped Monday night ahead of her anticipated 7th album, "Renaissance," which is set for release late next month.

"Break My Soul" sends a message of breaking out of that normal 9-5 gig -- which a lot of people actually did during the pandemic -- and finding some new motivation ... she says what all her fans are thinking -- "Bey is back, and I'm sleeping real good at night."

Big Freedia, who has collabed with Beyonce before, is featured on the song too, and unsurprisingly -- the song's been trending on Twitter and is aiming to break the charts. It's Beyoncé's first solo track release since 2016.

Jen Psaki has been spreading proverbial burns all over Twitter lately -- that is, if you're dumb enough to believe it's actually her ... which the real McCoy is here to clear up.

President Biden's ex-Press Sec. -- who recently stepped away from the role -- made some apparently needed clarifications over a string of tweets that have popped over the past couple weeks ... with snarky messages aimed at the GOP, and trying to pass them as hers.

The tweets are being peddled by an account called Follow Plz? Faith Back Rub, which notes it's made for satire. At any rate, it seems to have been spreading these phony Psaki bombs.

One in particular that's made the rounds this weekend is about Biden falling off his bike and the need for kneepads ... invoking Donald Trump and Putin. After going viral with people apparently giving her kudos for the diss, the actual Jen Psaki set the record straight.

She writes, "Hate to disappoint, but…This is not my account. This is not approved by me on any level. (And there have been a number of these in the last few weeks)."

JP adds, "Anything with 'Parody..' in it means it is someone tweeting with an image and twitter account that looks like me and is not." You'd think that wouldn't need saying, seeing how most of the tweets have "Parody" written in -- but fake news never sleeps.

Some on Twitter claim to have personal insight into Psaki's psyche, suggesting while this isn't her -- she's probably thinking this privately. Others have noted she's too classy for all that ... but the truth is ... none of these people actually know her or what she thinks.

Bill Maher eviscerated a millennial reporter for the Washington Post and the paper itself for punishing one of its best reporters over a joke, and Bill says it's way bigger than just an H.R. issue -- it's a threat to Democracy.

As he put it, Felicia Sonmez -- whom he characterizes as "a lot" -- was enraged by fellow reporter David Weigel, who retweeted a joke ... "Every girl is bi. You just have to figure out if it's polar or sexual."

Well, that sent Felicia into orbit, enraged someone could make such an offensive remark. As Bill says -- IT'S A JOKE. Men joke about women all the time and VICE VERSA.

But, the "Real Time" host says Sonmez went to war, and the Washington Post quickly waved the white flag and suspended Weigel for a month without pay, saying retweeting the joke was a gross violation of its values -- Bill says one of those values clearly was NOT the First Amendment.

One of Weigel's colleagues dared to tell everyone to calm down -- that it was just a joke -- and Sonmez then went after him, demanding he be punished.

There was such a s*** storm over this, Bill called the Post newsroom an "unlicensed daycare center"

Bill is convinced ... Sonmez is emblematic of a generation that is comprised of "emotional hemophiliacs" who feel a crushing sense of entitlement and have the attention span of a gnat.

And, he hilariously if not seriously suggested on the 50th anniversary of Watergate ... if someone called the Post and said they were "Deep Throat" and wanted to meet in a parking garage to give a reporter info about the break-in, the young reporters would refuse to go and instead call H.R. and say it made them feel unsafe!

Eventually, Sonmez was herself fired for insubordination and not respecting her colleagues -- FYI, her tweets continued and blasted the paper itself -- but Bill says the whole episode is super embarrassing for a media org that fundamentally changed and inspired investigative journalism.

Kenny "The Jet" Smith says Shaquille O'Neal had every right to clap back at a hater trying to diminish his success ... telling TMZ Sports no superstar has won a championship on their own.

As we previously reported, Diesel went OFF on a Twitter user for claiming he wouldn't have won his 3 rings with the Lakers without Kobe Bryant ... saying, "no person can win without another star big dummy."

We spoke with Smith about Shaq's issue with the heckler ... and he says anyone who knows hoop understands winning a ring isn't a one-man gig.

Worth mentioning -- Shaq brought Kenny into the debate with his rebuttal to the hater ... saying Smith wouldn't have won a championship without Hakeem Olajuwon.

Smith backs up the Big Aristotle ... saying the Hall of Famer is just spitting facts. And if the argument were about Kobe, it would be the same result -- no one wins without a stellar supporting cast.

Amber Heard is speaking out and showing her face for the first time since losing big in the Johnny Depp case -- saying she holds no ill-will toward the jury, but social media is another story.

The actress sat down for an interview with 'Today,' which is going to be aired in pieces throughout the week ... but right out the gate, NBC is teasing a couple juicy soundbites from her chat with Savannah Guthrie in which AH gets into her feelings about the trial.

For starters, she discusses the social media coverage -- which was overwhelmingly in favor of her ex, Johnny Depp, and which she was clearly aware of during the 6-week proceedings.

She says even if you don't believe her/think she lied, you can't deny the posts in the digital world have been lopsided, suggesting there hasn't been a "fair representation" of both sides online.

Interestingly, Amber's attorney, Elaine Bredehoft, also tried to deflect blame toward the viral aspect of the saga, rather than take ownership of the loss.

As for the 7 men and women who said they didn't buy her account, Amber says there's no hard feelings, but she thinks it was Depp's personality and super-stardom that won them over.

Watch the clip, she seems to think JD charmed their pants off, and she also believes the fact Depp's side was able to present witnesses first also helped.

Shaquille O'Neal just eviscerated a hoops fan for trying to discredit his success with the Lakers ... telling the guy to "enjoy my stats and STF up."

The whole interaction started after the Legion Hoops Twitter account posted Diesel's insane stat lines from the NBA Finals during the Lakers' 3-peat from 2000-2002 ... which was meant to praise the big man's dominance.

Naturally, one user had to provide his unwarranted take on the topic ... tweeting out, "Even with all of this Shaq doesn’t win those rings without Kobe."

The jab got Shaq's attention ... and pissed him off so much, he clapped back with a fierce response.

"No person can win without another star big dummy," he said over the weekend. "How many would Magic (Johnson) have without Kareem (Abdul-Jabbar)? How many would Kenny Smith have without Hakeem Olajuwon?"

"WTF u talking about I hate dumb ass people," the Hall of Famer added. "Enjoy my stats and stf up."

The heckler has yet to respond to Shaq directly, but has been forced to defend his take with those backing O'Neal up.

While Henry Cavill's future as Superman remains undecided, comic book Twitter is up in arms after someone suggested he's probably not coming back ... because he's a dinosaur.

The theory was posted by YouTuber/blogger Matt Jarbo, who last week said Cavill likely wouldn't reprise the role -- despite a massive amount of clamoring for him to do so -- because he felt HC had gotten a little too old, and perhaps a little too expensive.

He wrote, "A month ago Henry Cavill turned 39. He started playing Superman before the age of 30, and hasn't filmed anything new in 5 years. Its safe to say he's aged out of the role. As sad as it is, WBD will definitely be pushing for a younger actor to take on the role."

On Sunday, which happened to be Superman Day, he doubled down -- saying that Cavill was over the hill, and not what Warner Bros. Discovery wanted ... especially price tag-wise.

But it was Matt's age commentary that had people doing a double-take ... 'cause yeah, Cavill might be in his late 30s -- but the dude still looks great ... far from an old geezer.

Of course, a lot of what-about-ism was offered ... with many pointing to a number of "older" actors who've been tapped for superhero roles in the recent past, including some fellow DC alums like Jason Momoa and Gal Gadot, who are in their 40s and late 30s, respectively.

There's also Dwayne Johnson -- who's about to don a cape as Black Adam in his 50s, no less -- as well as Robert Downey Jr., who became Iron Man a bit later in life as well.

While Matt didn't elaborate on his old man hypothesis much, what he seems to be getting at is that he thinks WBD wants to go in a totally new direction with the character ... perhaps even a younger Superman in his 20s or early 30s, sorta like they did with 'The Batman.'

As for moola, yes ... Cavill would be costly to hire. He'd already made a reported substantial salary during his original run, and is in even higher demand now. A lesser-known actor could be brought on for significantly less money, and just as much fanfare. More importantly, HC appears to be over it. He hasn't even posted any Superman stuff today, and he's the guy!

What this seems to boil down to is regret among the fan base that Cavill was grossly underutilized in his heyday, and now that WBD is turning the page ... folks can't let go.

Shocking comments from NFL coach Jack Del Rio ... who just called the Jan. 6 attacks at the nation's Capitol "a dust-up."

The Washington Commanders defensive coordinator made the remarks during a meeting with media members on Wednesday -- in an attempt to explain his controversial post on his Twitter page earlier this week.

If you missed it, in a tweet on Monday, the 59-year-old questioned why the 2020 riots following George Floyd's murder were not being investigated with the same fervor as the January 2021 attack at the Capitol.

"Would love to understand 'the whole story' about why the summer of riots, looting, burning and the destruction of personal property is never discussed but this is ???," he wrote. "#CommonSense."

Del Rio elaborated further on his tweet to reporters at Commanders practice Wednesday ... making comments that raised eyebrows.

"Let's get right down to it," Del Rio said. "What did I ask? A simple question -- why are we not looking into those things if we're going to talk about it. Why are we not looking into those things?"

"Because it's kind of hard for me to say, I can realistically look at it -- I see the images on TV, people's livelihoods are being destroyed. Businesses are being burned down -- no problem. And then we have a dust-up at the capital, where nothing burned down. And we're going to make that a major deal."

FYI -- the insurrection, which occurred following the results of the 2020 election, resulted in the deaths of five individuals.

"I just think it's kind of two standards," Del Rio continued. "And if we apply the same standard, and we're going to be reasonable with each other, let's have a discussion. That's all it was. Let's have a discussion. We're Americans. Let's talk it through."

Del Rio, who posts polarizing opinions on his social media page daily, insisted his players are not concerned by his comments ... but added, "If they are, and they want to talk about it, I'll talk about it with anybody."

"I'm for us having a great opportunity to have a fulfilled life," he said.

Del Rio was hired by the Commanders following the 2019-20 NFL season. He previously worked as the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Oakland Raiders.

L.A.'s mayoral race is officially a 2-horse competition between Rep. Karen Bass and Rick Caruso, and Hollywood -- like the rest of America -- seems torn.

More celebs have shelled out traditional donations for Bass -- including some high-profile names like Steven Spielberg, Jennifer Aniston and Samuel L. Jackson, but Caruso (who's a commercial real estate titan) seems to have more vocal support on social media.

That makes sense, as billionaire Caruso's been self-financing his campaign.

Here's a breakdown as Tuesday's election results continue to pour in.

Aside from the names mentioned above, Congresswoman Bass has also pulled in cash contributions from the likes of Jennifer Garner, JJ Abrams, Ken Jeong, Octavia Spencer, Sally Field and William H. Macy ... all of whom pitched in $1,500 each.

Jane Fonda donated $1,200, Donald Glover chipped in with $1,000, Rashida Jones another $1,000 and Helen Hunt pledged $500. So, a fair amount of dough from Hollywood.

While Caruso doesn't have nearly as many famous financial donors in his corner, his team tells us he's received a huge outpouring of online support ... which, arguably, is equally valuable.

Tweets for Caruso have come in from Kim K, Katy Perry, Elon Musk, Gwyneth Paltrow, Snoop Dogg and Kris Jenner -- just to name a few.

Bass is no slouch on social media either ... she's gotten backing from Tiffany Haddish and John Legend, who openly called for Angelenos to support her at the voting booths.

It remains to be seen who might emerge victorious, but if the latest polling can be believed ... neither candidate will get 50 percent of the vote in Tuesday's primary -- and that means they'll have a runoff in November.

BTW, Caruso -- who'd been a lifelong Republican until recently -- is running as a Dem, as is Bass. He's got the biz expertise, but she has years of legislative experience in D.C. and Sacramento.

If Ryan Clark's goal for Monday was to stir things up, mission accomplished ... the former NFL star just kicked a hornet's nest by saying Chris Brown is "more talented" than the legendary Michael Jackson!

Oh, he was immediately ripped for it ... the ex-safety received all sorts of mean comments from Twitter users after he tweeted the controversial statement.

"Chris Brown is more talented than Michael Jackson," Clark said, "there I said it! Have a great week."

"I do not care!! You out CB and MJ in the talent Olympics Chris Brown wins."

The responses RC got were hilarious -- from GIFs to some fans asking Clark if he was drunk or high ... 'cause they couldn't believe a sober mind could come up with such an analogy.

"Drinking early this morning??" one fan said while another said, "Whatever you're sippin on, I need it for later 😂 😂"

Another fan thought Ryan needed a Snickers candy bar ... saying, "I trust you and highly respect you but maybe you are hangry or something! Stay happy!"

Clark -- who currently works for ESPN -- even got ripped by his colleagues ... Marcus Spears hit him with the classic 'how?' GIF. Cowboys writer Clarence Hill Jr. even got in on the fun, responding, "get your boy man".

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Ewan McGregor is pulling out his lightsaber to defend one of his costars, Moses Ingram, who's been subjected to yet another round of racist attacks from a gross group of fans.

The actor, who plays Obi-Wan Kenobi, posted a video through the official 'Star Wars' social media account, in which he strongly denounced all the hate that MI has gotten the past few weeks -- this as the franchise's new Disney+ rolls out on the streaming service.

Check out EMG's message to those who've sent vile DMs to Moses -- a Black woman who recently shared some of the comments, a few of which invoked the N-word among other racist statements and threats ... including the ominous line, "Your days are numbered."

Ewan explains Moses is a brilliant actor and brings so much to the new 'Obi-Wan' series as Reva Sevander -- one of Darth Vader's key henchmen. She's a new character to the franchise, BTW

He says it succinctly ... as the lead actor/EP on the show, he's firmly in Moses' corner, as is the rest of the 'Star Wars' team. Ewan adds that anyone bullying her is no fan in his mind.

This isn't the first time an actor of color has fallen in the crosshairs of racist 'Star Wars' fanatics. Kelly Marie Tran experienced something similar when she was cast in the new trilogy ... and the harassment got so bad, she had to deactivate her social media for a while.

A viral video of a young woman getting beaten up has led the internet to believe it could possibly be Zendaya -- but based on the visual evidence we've seen ... it's likely BS.

This clip made the rounds this weekend ... it's 7 seconds long, and it shows somebody wailing on this poor girl inside of an apparent store somewhere. After they're done punching, they resort to kicking, sending the woman flying back and knocking her head against a wall.

Indeed, it's incredibly brutal -- and there's no context whatsoever, as far as we can see, that points to where or when this happened, who exactly was involved, or why.

What people do believe they see here, however, is someone who appears to resemble Zendaya -- at least from the quick glimpses of this girl's face you can make out in the video. Yes, we'll admit ... it does look a bit like the actress -- especially from her 'Euphoria' scenes.

Again, there's no telling when this might've been from -- or if it's even Zendaya at all, frankly -- but FWIW, Z isn't rocking this length of hair at the moment ... she's got a much shorter 'do right now, as you can see in recent pap shots of her out and about in Massachusetts.

Her shoe-wear is also different than what's in this video -- rainbow-colored Crocs. Zendaya's got sneakers on here ... and has publicly said she'll either rock tennis shoes or heels, not much in between. Zendaya's never been snapped in Crocs from what we could find.

The bottom line is this ... there's no clear evidence this is, in fact, Zendaya -- and yet, Twitter's got her trending right now since they think it could be her. Zendaya or not though -- others have pointed out that those who are mocking this are sending the wrong message.

Even if it's just a doppelganger ... the filming and recirculation of an assault on a woman of color is something many see as a disturbing trend -- with this just being the latest example.

We've reached out to Zendaya's camp for comment. She hasn't spoken up on this quite yet -- but if it isn't her, it might be worth debunking ... 'cause this thing is running rampant.

The Doja Cat "rapper" debate will come to an end, eventually, and probably sooner than later based on her new declaration.

Doja Cat looked past her latest album "Planet Her" (which broke Billboard and Spotify records) and told Elle her next body of work will be bars-heavy. DC says, “I’ve rapped since the beginning, and I really couldn’t even sing that well to begin with -- I got a lot better.”

She added. “I use my voice as a tool to create these worlds, and it’s fine if people think that I can’t rap.”

While the public (that's pronounced Twitter) keeps arguing about Doja's skills, she's gained support within her field from artists like battle rap queen Remy Ma and Wale.

When that new music will drop is anyone's guess. DC just had to cancel her entire summer festival dates (including opening up for The Weeknd) due to tonsil surgery she has to have from vaping.

LeBron James is devastated after another shooter took the lives of at least 14 students at an elementary school in Texas on Tuesday ... and he's now begging for it all to stop.

"There simply has to be change!" the Los Angeles Lakers superstar said just minutes after the tragedy happened. "HAS TO BE!!"

Texas Governor Greg Abbott just revealed 14 kids and a teacher were killed at a Uvalde Elementary School on Tuesday morning -- explaining an 18-year-old has been identified as the suspected gunman.

James -- who has three children himself -- was clearly sick to his stomach after hearing the news ... taking to his Twitter page to plead for officials to make changes to try to put an end to the horrific mass shootings.

"My thoughts and prayers goes out to the families of love ones loss & injured at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX!" LeBron said.

"Like when is enough enough man!!!" the 37-year-old added. "These are kids and we keep putting them in harms way at school. Like seriously 'AT SCHOOL' where it's suppose to be the safest!"

LeBron then said he's "Praying to the heavens above to all with kids these days in schools."

Freddie Gibbs knows he's swimming in dangerous waters sometimes -- when it comes to stirring up feuds in hip hop -- but he's openly choosing to go that route ... a statement that turned out to be pretty prophetic.

Gangsta Gibbs is set to be the first guest on the Paramount+ series “ Yo! MTV Raps” which premieres on Tuesday, May 24, via the streaming service.

When asked by hosts Conceited and DJ Diamond Kuts about the nature of his constant Internet beefs -- which most recently include DJ Akademiks and Gunna -- Freddie admitted he loves hip hop pundits, and the hijinks of trash-talking … claiming no one was going to get hurt or get punched.

Mind you, this interview was shot a couple weeks ago ... before Freddie got into that real-life Royal Rumble in Buffalo!!! Soooo, his prediction of no one getting hurt was a bit off the mark.

TMZ broke the story … Freddie was eating at Dinosaur Bar-B-Que in Benny The Butcher’s hood when all-out chaos ensued and what seems like 20 or so people joined the melee.

Freddie got lumped up pretty good, but still managed to perform that evening to keep his Space Rabbit Tour going strong.