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Michael J. Snyder -- known for being the first franchisee of the Red Robin restaurant chain, who later became CEO -- has died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head ... TMZ has learned.

Yakima County Chief Deputy Coroner Marshall Slight tells us ... Snyder committed suicide with a high-powered gun Sunday in Washington state. We're told he shot himself on a bench in the front yard of his home.

Slight says police responded to a 911 call and found Snyder's body ... no suicide note was left behind.

Michael and his brother became the first Red Robin franchisees in 1979 and went on to open 14 of the burger restaurants in Washington, Colorado and Idaho. Snyder merged his franchise company with the parent company in 2000 ... and took over as CEO and President.

He was ousted in 2005, though, after an internal investigation discovered he had misused funds and charter planes. He reportedly remained the largest individual shareholder of the company.

Tristan Thompson has something in common with Kevin Durant -- he's finally lost it with hecklers.

T.T. snapped at the end of the Cavs-Nets game Monday night ... flipping off some courtside fans after Cleveland sealed the W.

The dudes on the receiving end were pretty shocked ... you can hear them yelling, "Get out of here, you bum" and "someone's gotta get that on video!"

Of course ... it wasn't as bad as K.D. telling a courtside fan to "watch the f**king game and shut the f**k up" -- but Tristan's DEFINITELY still about to get fined for the incident.

Doesn't seem T.T. cares all that much ... guy's on a hell of a double-double run -- and Cleveland finally snapped its losing streak, which had Tristan feeling himself after the game.

"They better put some respect on my name," he said.

FYI ... Durant was popped $25k for yelling at his heckler earlier this season -- and Patrick Beverley is expected to get more than that for throwing a ball at a fan during a game over the weekend.

Seems these guys really do need to take some advice from Michael Richards ...

Pete Davidson gets by with a little help from his friends ... and courtside seats at the Knicks game.

The 'SNL' star looked like he was really enjoying himself Monday night at Madison Square Garden, as he watched his NY Knicks take on the visiting Washington Wizards. Pete was smiling and having a drink while seated next to his pals -- comedian John Mulaney and actress Chloe Sevigny.

Not sure who the guy in the Washington shirt is, but he should be happier now ... his team won.

Pete's good time came hours after he addressed online the public bullying he's been dealing with since his relationship with Ariana Grande began ... and after it ended. Pete blasted the trolls for harassing him, saying ... "No matter how hard the internet or anyone tries to make me kill myself. I won't."

Grande responded online early this morning, telling her fans to "be gentler" with Pete and others ... saying she cares deeply about Davidson and his health. She added ... "I will always have irrevocable love for him and if you've gotten any other impression from my recent work, you might have missed the point."

Danielle Bregoli is REALLY excited about teaming up with Snapchat for her new show ... and maybe even more excited about sticking it to good OLD Facebook.

We got Bhad Bhabie leaving the Valley Inn Restaurant in Sherman Oaks Monday night, where our photog congratulated her on her reality series. As we first reported, she inked a 12-episode deal for a 12-episode show called "Bringing Up Bhabie."

She's definitely all in. 15-year-old BB declares Snapchat and Instagram are her generation's go-to social media hub, and slams Facebook as the toast of the older crowd. She kinda went off on a hilarious FB bashing jag.

Danielle might be too young to know this, but Facebook bought IG in 2012 for a cool billion -- so, it's still cashing in, obviously.

2 Chainz and TeeFLii straight-up jacked Robin S.'s club banger to make their sexed up track, "24 Hours" ... according to her songwriters.

The 3 songwriters to Robin's "Back It Up" are going after the L.A. singer and ATL rapper, claiming "24 Hours" -- TeeFLii's 2014 debut song, featuring 2 Chainz -- is practically the exact same song with very few differences.

In docs, obtained by TMZ, the songwriters claim "Back It Up" is an uptempo song while "24 Hours" is the same music with slight modifications and a slowed down beat. Take a listen and judge for yourself.

"Back It Up" is on Robin S.'s 1993 album "Show Me Love." "24 Hours" came out 21 years later on TeeFLii's album "Starr" and it's enjoyed astronomical success on various platforms ... including YouTube and Spotify -- with over 25 million views and 26 million streams.

Translation: It's made a lot of money, and the "Back It Up" writers want their cut.

They're not only suing Chainz and TeeFLii -- they're also going after "24 Hours" producers DJ Mustard and DJ Ketchup. Yes, Ketchup AND Mustard together on that track!

T.I. is doubling down on his hatred of President Trump, but it's not personal ... instead, Tip's concerned the "madman" is turning the U.S.A. into an international laughingstock.

T.I. sat down with our Raquel Harper for Tuesday's episode of "Raq Rants" on BET, and she asked what his biggest issues are with America under Trump's administration. T.I. ran through his list of grievances so smoothly, it was almost like a freestyle.

Bottom line for the Atlanta emcee ... America will no longer be the greatest nation on Earth if we don't start making some changes.

We probably shoulda put a graphic warning on this ... but yeah, that's Ramona Singer heading down the well-beaten 'Housewives' path to Big Apple bachelor Harry Dubin's lips.

We got these shots of Ramona and Harry devouring each other's faces in NYC. We're told the booze-fueled makeout sesh went down around midnight Friday at Pomona restaurant in Midtown.

The 'RHONY' star -- clearly single and ready to mingle -- hooked up with Harry in a lounge area of the hot spot, locking lips most of the night ... according to witnesses.

We're told Tinsley Mortimer was also there, but wasn't engaging in any softcore PDA like this.

Ya gotta hand it to Harry ... the dude must have something going on, having now hooked up with nearly a handful of 'Housewives' -- from his ex-wife Aviva Drescher to former flames Sonja Morgan and Luann de Lesseps.

Might be time to expand your dating pool, bro.

If Nikki Bella's date with Peter Kraus had been filmed for "The Bachelorette," it would have ended with him strolling into an SUV without a rose. She just wasn't feeling it ... TMZ has learned.

Our production sources tell us ... while her date looked every bit like an episode of 'Bachelorette' -- which included a ride on a gondola and sipping wine -- fact is, there just weren't any sparks for her to wanna lock down a second date.

The big tell ... we're told Nikki couldn't muster the strength to pucker up and kiss Peter when he made his move. Yup, she left him hanging. We're told she freaked out and screamed "NO!!!" before pulling away.

Bottom line ... Nikki's just not ready to start dating again following her on-again, off-again relationship with John Cena.

As for why she went on the date at all? We're told Nikki's mom is a HUGE 'Bachelor' fan and suggested she give Peter a shot. The date will play out on the new season of "Total Bellas" next year.

For now, we're told Nikki will be laying low on the dating scene, and focusing on her career. Back to the drawing board, Peter.

There's no reason Kareem Hunt shouldn't be arrested and charged with battery for attacking that woman back in February ... so says famed prosecutor Christopher Darden.

"I would have filed battery charges against him," Darden tells TMZ Sports ... saying the video evidence would essentially make it an "open-and-shut case."

Darden is most famous for his work in the O.J. Simpson trial, but also prosecuted tons of cases during his 15-year run as a part of the L.A. County District Attorney's office.

In fact, Darden tells us exactly what he would do to get the conviction -- even if the victim refuses to cooperate.

Darden also says prosecutors in Ohio still have time to make things right and arrest Hunt -- telling TMZ Sports he thinks the NFL star would benefit from a court-ordered sentence like a diversion program, therapy or anger management.

Worth noting ... the victim has 18 months from the day of the incident (Feb. 10, 2018) to go to prosecutors and seek criminal charges before the statute of limitations expires.

'Love & Hip Hop' star Lyrica Anderson tells us her health got so bad after giving birth to her son, she felt like she was about to die.

Lyrica says after welcoming her and A1's baby boy, Ocean Zion Bentley, into the world Friday ... her health quickly deteriorated. She says things got so bad, doctors had to give her toothbrushes to itch her skin. Yikes!

Check out the clip ... Lyrica compares herself to one of the main characters from "Friday." Hints: PCP and Debo's pigeon coop.

Lyrica was still in her hospital bed as she updated us on all the scary things that started happening to her after the birth. The list is long and, honestly, might act as birth control for the squeamish.

The good news ... Ocean is doing well and Lyrica is on the mend.

7:29 PM PT -- Kanye clearly got the message, replying on Twitter, "The dynamics of Cher and Sonny’s relationship made Kim and I grab each other’s hand and sing 'I got you babe' please pardon my lack of etiquette. We have so much appreciation for the energy you guys put into making this master piece."

A source close to Kanye tells us ... Kanye loved the production and was taking notes on his phone. He thought the show was so beautiful that, even though he and Kim were scheduled to leave during intermission, they pushed their flight back so they could catch the end of the show.

Kanye West and Kim Kardashian had a date night Monday in NYC to see the new show about Cher's life on Broadway ... but it ain't going so well, according to one cast member.

"The Cher Show" is currently in the middle of its opening night ... and tons of celebs including Kim, Kanye and Cher herself are in attendance. However, cast member Jarrod Spector -- who plays Sonny in the show -- wasn't too pleased with Kanye's audience etiquette.

Spector just tweeted, "Hey @kanyewest so cool that you're here! If you look up from your cell phone you'll see we're doing a show up here. It's opening night. Kind of a big deal for us. Thanks so much."

Kim and Kanye clearly have prime seats in the theater for Spector to be able to call him out like that ... unclear if Ye's got the message yet ... but his mentions are definitely blowing up.

5:52 PM PT -- President Trump and Melania have arrived to pay their respects.

George H.W. Bush is being honored by Washington, D.C.'s biggest power players -- past and present -- as a week-long memorial gets underway.

The State Funeral for our 41st President was held Monday in the Capitol Rotunda and the attendees included H.W.'s veep Dan Quayle, Dick Cheney, Colin Powell and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan.

His son, 43rd Prez George W. Bush was there and seemed to be choking back his emotions at times.

Current VP Mike Pence, Supreme Court Justices Elena Kagan, Brett Kavanaugh, Clarence Thomas and Chief Justice John Roberts also paid their respects.

Monday's ceremony is the start of a week of remembrances for the former Prez, whose body will lie in state until Wednesday -- so there's sure to be a steady stream of dignitaries coming to salute him.

No wonder Cardi B couldn't make it to her court hearing Monday in NYC ... she's hosting a WILD-ASS twerk fest down in Miami.

Okay, it's not a party, she's working ... it just doesn't look like work. The rapper was covered head-to-toe in tiger body paint while shooting a music video. She put in some serious twerk on a floating stripper pole, and when we say twerking ... we mean LOTS OF TWERKING.

Cardi's shooting with the Miami duo, City Girls ... one of whom rocked zebra body paint.

They kept the party going on a yacht with more than a dozen bikini-clad chicks who were also letting their asses do the talking. You've gotta see what happened when Cardi started poppin' bottles. We'll just say ... bubbly flows just fine where the sun don't shine.

As we first reported, prosecutors in NYC were frustrated Cardi didn't show up to a Monday hearing in her strip club beatdown case.

We can hear the excuse now: Your Honor, I was busy earning my stripes.

The thousands of people who lost everything in the flames of the wildfire in Malibu are about to get six figures worth of relief, courtesy of the One Love Malibu concert.

A spokesperson for the concert tells TMZ … between donations, ticket sales and the live auction, the tally from the weekend event is approaching $1 million. We're told it will be a few more days before they have an exact number.

Sunday's sold-out concert in Calabasas featured performances from Robin Thicke, Katy Perry and Gwen Stefani ... and the auction included a motorcycle ride with Orlando Bloom.

We're told 100 percent of the proceeds are going to MalibuFoundation.org ... and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Malibu will assist with distribution of funds to victims of the Woolsey Fire.

The Woolsey Fire scorched nearly 100k acres and destroyed more than 1,500 structures over 2 weeks. Three people died and nearly 300k people were evacuated.

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West were among the evacuees as the fire came right up to their Hidden Hills property. A private firefighting crew they'd hired was able to hold back the flames.

While Liam Hemsworth, Camille Grammer, Gerard Butler and Robin lost all or parts of their homes ... there were thousands of non-celebs affected. The concert funds will, at the very least, help start the recovery process.