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"Captain Marvel" is the badass we've all been waiting for, because on International Women's Day ... who else ya gonna call on to save the universe ... according to famed film critic Leonard Maltin.

We got Leonard Friday at LAX and our photog asked what kind of message Marvel Studios is sending with its perfectly timed release date? He says Hollywood's finally starting to get the point ... with another movie celebrating female empowerment.

As Leonard explains, Brie Larson playing Carol Danvers reminds the audience -- especially young women -- there's a little superhero magic in all of us. Guys too, but let's be honest ... not nearly as much as the women.

Ex-MLB All-Star pitcher Esteban Loaiza just got sentenced to 36 months in prison after officials found him hiding 44 pounds of cocaine ... and he'll surrender next month.

As we previously reported, Loaiza -- who made more than $40 MILLION during his 14-year MLB career -- was arrested last year after cops say he was trying to move more than $500,000 in cocaine from a house located near a school.

Officials say Loaiza was using "sophisticated" smuggling devices to hide the 22 kilos of coke.

On Friday, the 47-year-old appeared in court in San Diego for his sentencing. He was facing life in prison -- but seems to be getting off easy ... with just a 3-year prison sentence.

Officials say he'll be deported to his native Mexico following his release.

The story about how he was caught is crazy.

The San Diego County Sheriff's Dept. says he was busted during a drug-smuggling sting by the Border Crime Suppression Team.

Loaiza was initially stopped by police during a traffic stop for a minor traffic violation -- but a search of his car led to the discovery of a "sophisticated aftermarket compartment used to conceal contraband."

Cops then got a warrant to search a home that Loaiza had been renting since early February -- located "steps away from an area preschool" -- and found roughly 20 kilograms of suspected cocaine.

Estimated street value -- $500,000.

Loaiza was initially booked into San Diego County Jail for 3 felonies -- Possession of Cocaine Over 20 Kilograms, Possession of Cocaine for Sale, and Transportation of Cocaine.

He later pled guilty to felony cocaine possession with intent to distribute.

Loaiza, the second-winningest pitcher from Mexico in MLB history, played for 8 different teams in his career -- earning over $43 million.

Hannah Brown -- a front-runner to be the next 'Bachelorette' -- got a rude homecoming when her sorority denied producers a chance to shoot promos with Hannah at her alma mater.

Sources close to the situation tell TMZ ... 'Bachelorette' producers reached out to the University of Alabama's Alpha Chi Omega chapter about shooting interior and exterior shots at the sorority house where Hannah Brown partied before graduating in 2017.

Quick SPOILER ALERT.

Hannah, who placed 7th on the current 'Bachelor' season with Colton Underwood -- is rumored to be the new 'Bachelorette' ... and the fact she's shooting promos is a big hint the rumors are true. However, there's been no official announcement.

Our sources say ΑΧΩ turned down Hannah due to security concerns. We're told there are hundreds of members on campus, and sorority officials felt the show could bring unwanted publicity and attention.

Hannah -- who, BTW, graduated magna cum laude -- was still able to shoot promos in other campus locations Friday ... including the Crimson Tide's Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Worth noting ... just because Hannah's shooting promos doesn't mean she's a lock to hand out roses. Remember what happened to Caila Quinn? She recorded promos, too, in 2016, but producers ultimately went with Jojo Fletcher.

We reached out to Alpha Chi Omega ... so far, no word back.

5:30 PM PT -- Jussie's attorney, Mark Geragos, just released a scathing response to the indictment, telling us, "The fact of an indictment was not unexpected. We knew that there is no way they would expose their evidence to a public airing and subject their witnesses to cross-examination. What is unexpected, however, is the prosecutorial overkill in charging 16 separate counts against Jussie."

Geragos continues, "This redundant and vindictive indictment is nothing more than a desperate attempt to make headlines in order to distract from the internal investigation launched to investigate the outrageous leaking of false information by the Chicago Police Department and the shameless and illegal invasion of Jussie's privacy in tampering with his medical records. Jussie adamantly maintains his innocence even if law enforcement has robbed him of that presumption."

2:45 PM PT -- We've now read the indictment, and it appears the grand jury hit Jussie with one count for EACH allegedly false statement he made during the 2 interviews with cops.

Jussie Smollett just got slammed by a Cook County grand jury, which has returned a 16-count felony indictment against him for filing a false police report.

Smollett was originally charged by the State Attorney's Office with a felony of disorderly conduct for filing a false police report. The new indictments obviously take the case to another level.

As for why there are so many counts ... the grand jury reportedly handed up 2 sets of charges -- one for Smollett's initial report to Chicago PD, and the other charges are for Jussie's second interview with cops.

We're told Ola and Abel Osundairo told grand jurors Jussie hired them to stage the so-called "attack." The brothers were caught on camera buying a bunch of supplies before the incident ... including ski masks, gloves, bandanas, sunglasses and red hats.

Chicago PD has come out strong against Jussie ... making it clear they had a lot of issues with his version of events -- including the fact he took them to the scene and immediately pointed to a camera which he said captured the incident. Turns out, the camera was pointed in the wrong direction.

Abel and Ola told police they drove with Jussie in the days prior to the incident scouting a location and even rehearsed the "attack."

As for the hate mail sent to Jussie at Fox Studios in Chicago ... police say they believe the "Empire" star is behind that too. However, we know the FBI hadn't confirmed that when Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson blasted Jussie in his news conference.

We also know the brothers told police they had nothing to do with the letter, and only saw it in a photo on Jussie's phone.

Originally published -- 2:11 PM PT

What does Chris Pratt give his friends on their birthday? STOMACH PUNCHES!!

That's how he celebrated with his pal Adel "Kyokushin" Altamimi -- the pro-MMA fighter who Pratt walked to the cage at Bellator 214 back in January.

Pratt and Adel are close friends -- and to celebrate Adel's big 30th birthday, his training partners at Jay Glazer's Unbreakable Gym in L.A. handed out a flurry of body blows!

It's a birthday tradition at the gym -- hold the cage, flex your abs and everybody gets a shot!

Among the gift-givers ... Chris, Jay and ex-NFL player Nate Boyer.

As for the birthday boy, he's got a pretty amazing story -- he was born and raised in Iraq and was contracted as a convoy driver for the U.S. Marine Corps.

During his service, Altamimi was captured by Al Qaeda and was threatened with death -- until he was saved by a group of U.S. Marines.

After the rescue, Altamimi moved to the U.S. and began his MMA training -- where he became close with guys like Jay Glazer and Chris Pratt.

Kid Cudi turned 35 a little over a month ago but dude's still turning up in style ... with this INSANE custom diamond chain.

We're told the rapper commissioned celebrity jeweler Ben Baller to get it done as a birthday gift to himself. It cost Cudi a whopping $275k!!! The BAPE camo diamond chain carries a sick colorful pendant ... including black diamonds to make out Cudi's hair and white diamonds for Cudi's t-shirt.

The pendant's also littered with Cognac diamonds for Cudi's face, canary diamonds for Cudi's rings and blue diamonds for the pants. The "stoner" eyeballs are made up of rubies. The piece was designed by Japanese fashion designer Nigo, who used to own the popular BAPE clothing line. Kid Cudi has been featured in some of their collections over the years.

Solid way to celebrate turning 35. Remember ... Cudi broke bread with Kanye West, Pete Davidson and Oscar-nominated actor Timothee Chalamet back in January in Malibu to ring in 35.

Now, he can keep celebrating in style.

San Francisco Giants CEO Larry Baer and his wife have both met with law enforcement as a part of the investigation into their physical altercation that was caught on video, TMZ Sports has learned.

The SFPD launched a probe into the March 1 incident -- in which Baer was seen trying to wrestle a cell phone away from his wife, Pam, knocking her to the ground in the process.

TMZ Sports obtained footage of the altercation -- which took place in a public park area in San Francisco -- and you can hear Pam scream for help.

Cops responded on the day of the incident and spoke with witnesses. Now, we've learned investigators reached out to both Larry and Pam ... who also agreed to speak with authorities.

Larry's attorney, Cris Arguedas, tells us Baer and Pam had separate meetings with law enforcement, but fully cooperated ... and they're confident no charges will be filed.

The case has been kicked over to the San Francisco District Attorney's Office -- which will review the evidence and decide whether or not to bring charges against Larry.

Arguedas tells TMZ Sports she's "never been more confident" Larry will not be prosecuted.

Pam has already commented publicly about the case -- chalking the incident up to a marital spat ... and stating that she still loves her husband.

Larry has stepped away from the Giants while cops and the MLB investigate the situation -- but he's also expressed remorse.

Baer has been involved with the Giants organization for decades. He was named chief operating officer in May 1996, team president in October 2008 and CEO on January 1, 2012.

Adnan Syed -- whose murder conviction was the subject of the "Serial" podcast and will be examined on an upcoming HBO documentary series -- will NOT get a new trial after all ... so says the Maryland Court of Appeals.

The court reinstated Syed's conviction Friday for the 1999 murder of his ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee, ruling that his defense attorney -- while admitting she was deficient -- "did not prejudice" the case.

The 4 judges wrote in their conclusion, "We agree with the conclusion of the Court of Special Appeals that Mr. Syed's trial counsel's performance was deficient ... in failing to investigate the alibi witness," but added ... "We disagree, however with that court's conclusion that Mr. Syed was prejudiced by his trial counsel's deficiency."

Translation -- his lawyer sucked ... but she's not the reason why Syed was found guilty.

It should be noted the other 3 judges on the panel disagreed, and believe the deficiency was prejudicial against him and his defense.

As we reported ... Adnan was granted a new trial in June 2016 by a Maryland judge because his original lawyer failed to cross-examine an expert witness. An appeal by the state was expected, though ... and it didn't go Syed's way.

The murder was the subject of the first season of "Serial" and garnered massive attention to the case, and HBO will begin airing a 4-part docuseries Sunday night -- picking up where the true-crime podcast left off -- called "The Case Against Adnan Syed."

After the court's ruling, Syed's attorney Justin Brown tweeted, "We will not give up. #FreeAdnan."

R. Kelly says he's short on cash and running out of options, so he's going to try a new tactic -- beg the court to cut him a financial break.

According to new legal docs, obtained by TMZ ... the singer planned to file a motion Monday to reduce the amount of money he owes his ex-wife, Drea Kelly, in back child support. Once filed, the judge would review the case and issue a ruling, but that could take several days. There's also no guarantee the judge would grant a reduction.

That was Kelly's initial plan. Plan B, we're told, is trying to scrape together the $161k through the assistance of others -- not unlike the woman who paid the $100k to bail him out last month.

If he can make that happen, there's a chance he could get out of Cook County jail on Friday.

As we reported ... Kelly was arrested Wednesday for failing to come up with the child support money. He's stuck in a jail cell until he can pay the ordered amount -- $161,633.

Kelly publicly blamed his ex for his failure to pay child support during his CBS interview, claiming her "lies" about his abuse are the reason he can't make any dough.

He also claims he's trying to reconnect with his kids, but sources close to the situation say that's BS ... he hasn't even reached out to his family in well over a year.

21 Savage could be on the hook for $1 million after a promoter says he bailed on a gig back in 2016.

If the incident sounds familiar -- it should -- it's the same case that was recently rejected by the D.A.'s Office after the office claimed it was a civil matter ... so the promoter is doing just that.

According to new legal docs obtained by TMZ ... Sadaetirs Kent Smith, a club promoter, is now suing the rapper alleging he bailed on a performance back in September 2016 and never returned the amount he had been paid ... $16,500.

We broke the story ... the promoter went to cops in October 2016 and filed paperwork to get a felony warrant against 21 Savage for theft by deception, claiming he walked off with $17k for a show that never went down.

As for the $1 million figure ... Smith says the breach of contract caused severe emotional distress.

Jan-Michael Vincent -- the '80s heartthrob best known for his role on TV's "Airwolf" -- has died ... TMZ has learned.

Jan-Michael actually died back on February 10 after suffering cardiac arrest while a patient at a North Carolina hospital ... according to the death certificate. We're told no autopsy was performed and he was later cremated.

Jan-Michael was most recently in the 2002 movie, "White Boy" ... but he had a long, successful career in TV and film.

His CBS hit, "Airwolf," made him into a huge star. At the time, he was reportedly the highest-paid actor at $200k per episode. Jan-Michael played helicopter pilot Stringfellow Hawke on the show, but the series lasted only a couple seasons largely in part to the star's cocaine abuse. His acting career would ultimately suffer from it.

Jan-Michael nearly died in 2012 from an infection that required his right leg to be amputated.

Jan-Michael also starred opposite Burt Reynolds in the 1978 film, "Hooper" -- and co-starred with Kim Basinger in the 1981 film, "Hard Country." He was a steady working actor in Hollywood for 3 decades, and appeared in tons of the old classics like, "Lassie," "Bonanza," and "Gunsmoke."

Jan-Michael was 73. RIP.

12:02 PM PT -- We've now learned Gloria Allred will represent the woman who made claims Kelly sexually abused her at just 13 years old in Detroit ... police are looking into the accusations.

The victim tells us, "Listening to R. Kelly's denials about what he did to underage girls like me was very hurtful. He needs to tell the truth and he needs to stop playing the victim. He was the adult and I was the child. He has no right to take advantage of me when I was only a 13-year-old child."

R. Kelly's ex-wife claims his abusive ways didn't end when they got divorced ... she says he tried to control her by cutting her off from child support.

A rep for Drea Kelly tells TMZ ... the embattled singer knew EXACTLY where to hit Drea where it hurt her most after she spoke out in June 2018 -- on a show called "Sister Circle Live" -- and alleged he'd been physically and mentally abusive during their marriage.

We're told the singer -- who has 3 kids with Drea -- had sporadically been paying child support, but lo and behold ... the payments completely stopped after her interview aired on TV.

Drea's team says her career took a hard hit after she had her first kid -- Kelly wanted her to be a stay-at-home mom, set strict rules for her and insisted she only work for him. When the marriage hit rock bottom ... she was a single mother without a job.

That control didn't stop after they split -- Drea says Kelly's unwillingness to take care of his kids was a form of control because he knew damn well she needed his financial support.

She says sometimes he would pay in full, sometimes late and sometimes nothing at all. Bottom line ... she never knew how much, if any, money they'd have to live on.

As for Kelly dumping all his problems on Drea -- she says that's a load of crap.

Although he ranted to CBS that he can't make money because of her abuse allegations, Drea points out the #MuteRKelly movement started well over a year before she spoke out.

Whoopi Goldberg just revealed her bout with pneumonia was so severe she nearly died.

Whoopi appeared on "The View" Friday via a video update and said she'd been battling a bad case of pneumonia. She said, "Yes, I came very, very close to leaving the Earth. Good news, I didn't."

The comedian/co-host has not appeared on the panel since February 6 and, on Thursday, Whoopi reportedly skipped a benefit concert in NYC she was scheduled to co-host with Martin Short.

She said the illness was bad ... with pneumonia in both lungs. Whoopi says she's okay and moving around, and she thanked her fans for wishing her well.

The U.S. Women's National Soccer team is suing the U.S. Soccer Federation -- claiming they're sick of being paid less than the men's team ... despite being WAY better than their male counterparts.

Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, Carli Lloyd, Julie Ertz and others all joined in on the suit ... which blasts the USSF for the pay disparity.

"Despite the fact that these female and male players are all called upon to perform the same job responsibilities on their teams ... the female players have been consistently paid less money than their male counterparts," the women say in their suit.

"This is true even though their performance has been superior to that of male players -- with the female players, in contrast to male players, becoming world champions."

They're right -- the USWNT are not only champs but perennial contenders while the U.S. Men's National Team sucks so bad, they didn't even make the World Cup in 2018.

Oh, and the timing of the lawsuit is interesting -- filed on International Women's Day, which happens to be 3 months before the Women's World Cup begins in France.

In the suit, the women allege gender discrimination. They're seeking to end "the USSF's discriminatory practices."

Michael Jackson's guest spot on "The Simpsons" is getting yanked out of circulation ... a decision made by the show's honchos in the wake of "Leaving Neverland."

'Simpsons' executive producer James L. Brooks says he made the call after watching the 2-part HBO documentary about Jackson's alleged molestation of Wade Robson and James Safechuck.

The 1991 episode features Jackson voicing the character, Leon Kompowsky.

Creator Matt Groening and producer Al Jean were in agreement with Brooks to pull it, with Brooks telling the Wall Street Journal ... "There are a lot of great memories we have wrapped up in that one, and this certainly doesn’t allow them to remain."

Jackson's guest role came on the first episode of Season 3, "Stark Raving Dad," but was uncredited for contractual reasons and unconfirmed until years later. In the ep., Homer goes to a mental institution and shares a room with Leon ... who claims to be the King of Pop.

It features the song, "Happy Birthday Lisa," which Jackson wrote for the show.

Ronda Rousey just went scorched earth on the WWE, its fans and the City of L.A. -- issuing a big "F**k you" to all of 'em ... while insisting none of this stuff is scripted.

"I’m not going out there and doing their f*cking act anymore," Ronda said during a heated moment on her video blog posted Thursday.

"I’m going out there and doing whatever the hell I want. And, they can explain it however they want -- but f*ck em. Everybody. WWE Universe included."

We know what you're thinking -- is her declaration of being non-scripted actually scripted? Probably, but it's still really entertaining.

So, why's Ronda so mad? She's been beefing with WWE rival Becky Lynch -- who's been taking personal shots at Rousey ... including insulting her husband and UFC fighting career.

Most recently, Becky (real name Rebecca Quin) referred to Ronda's husband, Travis Browne, as a "d*ck" -- which pissed Ronda off.

"Rebecca Quin, I don’t care what the script says, I’m beating the living shit out of you the next time I see you," Ronda had said on Twitter.

Now, in her new video ... Ronda continued to attack Becky and others.

"Wrestling is scripted. It’s made up. It’s not real. None of those bitches can f*cking touch me. The end.”

Ronda also went off on the City of Los Angeles -- blasting L.A. fans for booing her at Staples Center.

"Los Angeles, they don't have any pride in their own city at all," she said ... while ripping Los Angelinos for being bandwagon Lakers, Dodgers and Rams fans.

"That whole city is just a bunch of people who are f*cking transplants who are trying to escape sh*tty ass Ohio or wherever the f*ck that they’re from and they have no pride in L.A. and they come to our f*cking games and sh*t on our teams and say ‘I’m from Los Angeles, I’ve been living here for 10 years’ -- No you’re f*cking not!”