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Israel Folau -- a star rugby player -- has been fired from Australia's national team after he said gays will burn in hell in a social media post on Wednesday ... Rugby Australia announced.

30-year-old Folau took to Instagram this week to post a picture that read, "drunks, homosexuals, adulterers, liars, fornicators, thieves, atheists, idolaters," will all, "end up in hell unless [they] repent."

The post immediately went viral ... and caused such a backlash -- Rugby Australia acted swiftly, terminating his $4 million contract just hours after the post went up.

"As a code we have made it clear to Israel formally and repeatedly that any social media posts or commentary that is in any way disrespectful to people because of their sexuality will result in disciplinary action," RA chief executive Raelene Castle said.

“In the absence of compelling mitigating factors, it is our intention to terminate his contract.”

Folau has repeatedly bashed gays in homophobic rants throughout his career ... reportedly writing in a separate social media post last year, "God’s plan for gay people was hell."

For his part, Folau has reportedly insisted he's not homophobic ... saying he's a devout Christian who believes the Bible condemns gays.

On that topic, Castle said, "Whilst Israel is entitled to his religious beliefs, the way in which he has expressed these beliefs is inconsistent with the values of the sport. We want to make it clear that he does not speak for the game with his recent social media posts."

R. Kelly going to a club for an hour and walking away with $22k cash might have lots of people upset -- but his ex-wife sure ain't one of them ... quite the opposite, actually.

A rep for Drea Kelly -- R. Kelly's ex of more than 10 years -- tells TMZ ... she takes no issue with R. Kelly getting out there and making a buck -- but not because she thinks he's innocent ... it's more about what it means for her and their kids.

We broke the story ... R. Kelly showed up to a club in Springfield, Illinois over the weekend, where he sang a bit of "Bump N' Grind," hung out for less than an hour ... and walked away with $22,000. He asked the media to go easy on him, as this was just a means to an end.

We're told Drea sees it this way ... if R. Kelly's working to fulfill his financial obligations, "no one can be mad at him for that." Besides, Drea's rep tells us the man certainly has responsibilities that need tending to with dough ... for the sake of his kids.

As we reported ... R. Kelly went BACK to jail last month because he couldn't pony up his back child support bill ... more than $160k. He got sent to the can but was bailed out when someone covered his tab after spotting him (again).

Not only that ... as far we know, R. Kelly is still on the hook for nearly $21k per month in child support, which he was also unsuccessful in getting a judge to lower at the time.

No word on whether he's paid Drea that $21k -- which he presumably still owes her monthly for their minor child, who's 17.

It's interesting ... R. Kelly told Gayle King during his CBS interview he wasn't able to pay Drea, in part because she's badmouthed him to the media ... and torpedoed his ability to make money.

Magic Johnson has ZERO regrets after leaving the Lakers -- in fact, he's super happy about his decision ... so says his wife Cookie Johnson.

Just 24 hours after Magic shockingly stepped down as the team's President of Basketball Operations, Cookie and E.J. Johnson hit up Mr. Chow on Wednesday -- where they looked pretty relieved.

"Just know that [Magic Johnson] is happy and we're happy for him," Cookie told us on the way out of the restaurant ... "No regrets."

So, what's Magic gonna do with all of the free time he's gonna have? Put more work in with the Dodgers?

7:16 AM PT -- The U.S. Justice Department has accused Assange of conspiring with Chelsea Manning to hack a classified Pentagon computer.

Pam Anderson is enraged with Britain, The United States and President Trump after the arrest of her close friend Julian Assange.

Assange was arrested Thursday at the Ecuadorean Embassy in the UK after the country withdrew his asylum. Anderson went on a tear on Twitter Thursday morning, saying, "How could you Ecuador? (Because he exposed you). How could you UK.? Of course - you are America's bitch and you need a diversion from your idiotic Brexit bulls**t."

Pamela then turned her attention to The United States, tweeting, "And the USA? This toxic coward of a President. He needs to rally his base? You are selfish and cruel. You have taken the entire world backwards. You are devils and liars and thieves. And you will ROTT. And WE WILL RISE."

It was during an August interview with Harvey Levin on OBJECTified when Anderson revealed she and Assange had a very tight relationship.

The two have remained in constant contact while he remained in the Ecuadorean embassy.

The Game is still reeling over the tragic murder of Nipsey Hussle ... and he's calling for peace, respect and love as Nipsey's family, friends and fans say goodbye to the slain rapper.

Game was out in Los Angeles Wednesday afternoon, and he was super emotional while talking about his fallen friend. Game makes it clear, everyone needs to be respectful and peaceful during Thursday's memorial service and the ensuing funeral procession through Los Angeles.

We broke the story ... Nipsey's celebration of life at Staples Center will be a heavily guarded affair -- with muscle from the LAPD and the Nation of Islam -- and it's got a lot to do with the chaos that broke out at Nipsey's vigil outside his Marathon Clothing store last week, which police now say left 2 people shot.

Avicii wanted Aloe Blacc for his next big single, but Aloe didn't know that until AFTER the late superstar DJ died.

Aloe tells TMZ ... he got involved with collaborating for Avicii's "SOS" track, which dropped Wednesday as the new single in Avicii's posthumous album, "TIM." But, get this ... the Grammy-nominated singer tells us Avicii's team found out about the DJ wanting Aloe after reading notes the DJ had left behind.

As we reported ... Avicii was close to completing the new album before his tragic death a year ago this month. He left behind a collection of nearly-finished songs, along with notes, email conversations and text messages about the music.

And that's how Avicii's team learned the DJ wanted Aloe Blacc for "SOS."

Check out the vid ... Aloe -- who had previously collaborated with Avicii for the 2013 hit, "Wake Me Up" -- talks about the song's importance on asking for help when dealing with mental health issues.

John Amos might not work with Eddie Murphy again ... but he's still holding out hope he can reprise his role as Prince Akeem's boss in the upcoming film, "Coming 2 America."

Sources close to John, who played Cleo McDowell in the original film, tell TMZ ... the veteran actor still hasn't been asked to bring the character back, but as he told us a few months ago, he'll jump at the opportunity if it comes his way.

Paramount reached out to his team back in February, but the movie studio has since gone radio silent. Wardrobe fittings for the film are already underway, which signals the storyline and the script could be nearing completion.

Translation ... the tea leaves don't look good.

When we talked with John earlier this year, he told us he was craving the chance to play Mr. McDowell again ... and he had tons of ideas for the new movie.

Akon just told us he hopes Eddie casts real Africans in the sequel -- but John's holding out hope at least one more African-American actor makes the cut.

We are too!!!

Brett Favre says he was surprised Mike McCarthy wasn't more successful as the head coach of the Green Bay Packers ... because his QB, Aaron Rodgers, is "the best player in the game."

"I just feel they should have won more," Favre told us ... "They were that good."

Now, in the wake of a Bleacher Report article that featured quotes from ex-Packers who were critical of Aaron's leadership skills, Brett says he thinks Aaron now understands why Favre was "guarded" back when they first started playing together in 2005.

"He's really at the stage now where I was when he came into Green Bay ... and now he sorta sees why I did the things that I did and was more reclusive than younger players."

"I think as you get older you're a little bit more guarded, maybe a lot more guarded for reasons like this."

Favre says when he left Green Bay back in 2007, "there was a lot of daggers being thrown both ways" -- but now that he's had time to reflect, he knows dagger-throwing isn't the best way to handle tough situations.

And, get this, now that McCarthy is out and Matt LaFleur is the new head coach -- Favre has some advice for the new guy on how to get the BEST out of Aaron.

"Any coach that will attempt to coach him has to tread lightly because you don't want to take away what he does so well -- which is a lot of good things -- and handcuff him."

Master P says the outpouring of love for Nipsey Hussle proves he was approaching the level of respect and adoration Michael Jackson fans had for him -- and he says you'll see that on display at Staples Center.

We got the hip-hop mogul outside Nipsey's Marathon Clothing store in South L.A. where he paid his respects and had glowing things to say about the slain MC. Master P says Nipsey might be gone, but his impact on the community will not be forgotten.

When he brought up Nipsey's Celebration of Life -- set for Thursday morning at Staples -- MP said that event is a testament to how many lives Nip touched. He added ... people who didn't realize Nipsey's importance when he was alive are getting the picture now.

We also got Teyana Taylor at LAX Wednesday and asked her thoughts on Thursday's memorial service ... which scalpers have tried to exploit by charging big money for the free tickets.

You can tell she's still disillusioned by Nipsey's murder, saying it still doesn't feel real. Check out her message to the scumbag scalpers too. She has some choice words for 'em.

Justin Bieber is back in the game ... because we've learned he's recorded a track with Lil Dicky that'll drop next week.

Sources familiar with the collab tell us .... he'll be featured on the single. The song with Dicky will be the Justin's first since "No Brainer," which was released last July with DJ Khaled, Quavo and Chance the Rapper.

Justin retweeted Dicky's post Tuesday which said, "New song and video next week," but didn't hint he'd be any part of the project, although we know he's on it.

Bieber hasn't released a solo of his own for more than 3 years -- his "Purpose" album dropped way back in November of 2015 -- and a massive tour followed.

Presidential hopeful Andrew Yang is standing by his plan to cut every citizen a monthly check -- just for being over 18 -- and says it's a necessity to help American workers who keep losing jobs to robots.

The NY entrepreneur broke down his "freedom dividend" plan Wednesday on "TMZ Live" ... telling us the $1,000 monthly stipend to all adults won't make people lazy -- in fact, he says it's the exact opposite.

Watch ... Andrew says there's cold hard proof his proposed plan will make people want to work, get an education and improve the economy -- and you don't have to look beyond our borders to find it.

The candidate also addressed any comparisons to Donald Trump -- a businessman with no previous political experience. His bottom line -- the current POTUS doesn't represent every entrepreneur, and Yang's sure he can do better.

Akon has some words of encouragement and advice for Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall as they dive into the "Coming to America" sequel -- get some real Africans on the set!!!

The Senegal-raised singer got into it with us Wednesday at LAX, where he said he was stoked Eddie and Arsenio are running it back for a sequel all these years later. That said, he says he'd like it if they share the screen with talent from the Motherland (he can say that).

It's a perfect time for them to hear him out, 'cause the two leads just started getting fitted by "Black Panther" Oscar-winning costume designer, Ruth Carter.

According to Akon, Eddie and co. would be wise to cast someone like, say, Michael Blackson -- who's from Ghana -- or any number of African comedians or actors who would make the film feel authentic.

More than that though ... Akon says such a move would pay off big time at the box office.

Cops say they've found the guy who trained a laser pointer on Tom Brady's face during the AFC Championship game ... and shocker, the guy's a hardcore Chiefs fan.

Bonus shocker ... sources connected to the suspect tell us the guy had been boozing before he broke out the laser.

Remember, TB12 was hit with a green light during the wild 4th quarter of the Jan. 20 game at Arrowhead Stadium -- which the Chiefs eventually lost in overtime.

Cops investigated the situation and eventually cited 64-year-old Dwyan Morgan -- who we're told is a MASSIVE Chiefs fan.

Unclear how authorities were able to track Morgan down -- but we know there were a TON of cameras at the game both for the TV coverage AND for security purposes ... so that probably helped.

Morgan has now been hit with a disturbing the peace citation and faces up to ONE YEAR in jail plus a $1,000 fine if the judge decides to throw the book at him.

Sources connected to Morgan tell us ... his intention was never to hurt anyone, he was just trying to have fun and didn't expect things to blow up the way they did.

We're also told Morgan was drinking before the laser incident -- and we all know beer and lasers don't mix.

So, how does Morgan feel about the situation now? One source close to the Chiefs fan says he feels bad for embarrassing Chiefs Nation, but has no plans to apologize to the Patriots.

In fact, we're told he still hates the Pats and Tom Brady ... passionately and will continue to root against them -- just not from Arrowhead, because he's been banned.

We reached out to Morgan for comment -- but he ain't talkin'.

Netflix is deeming its new series, "Our Planet," too graphic for some animal lovers, and warning them to shield their eyes during some disturbing scenes.

Netflix issued a dire warning Wednesday, alerting folks to several scenes it feels might be too much for the faint of heart ... because seeing animals eat, prey, or die, is too much for some people.

Netflix's warning involves scenes in 5 segments of the multi-episode docuseries, which covers the effects of climate change on wildlife around the planet. Netflix only gave time codes for the scenes to skip, but we did the leg work and figured out what the hell they're actually talking about.

Hit the fast forward button if these images will make you cringe:

- Baby flamingo's legs encased in solidified salt ("One Planet")

- Killer whales eating a penguin, polar bear making a meal of a baby seal, walrus falling off a cliff ("Frozen World")

- Jaguar killing an alligator ("Fresh Water")

-Cheetahs killing a wildebeest ("Deserts and Grassland")

Not all of the potentially disturbing scenes are gory. One of the red-flagged time codes corresponds to a scene showing ... fish getting caught in fishing nets!!!