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Alec Baldwin apparently didn't want to go through the circus of Zooming into New Mexico to face the renewed charges against him -- so, he's skipping it, and entering a plea from an even further distance.

The actor waived his appearance that was set for Thursday morning, where he was due to beam into a courthouse in Santa Fe County and tell the court how he feels about the involuntary manslaughter charge that was re-filed against him in recent weeks.

Instead, he just submitted a not-guilty plea through his attorneys ... opting to pass on a virtual pop-in. Makes sense -- he's already telegraphed his game plan, signaling through lawyers that he wants this all done quickly and out of the spotlight.

Remember, Alec made clear last week that he has the right to a speedy trial ... emphasizing the fact he does NOT want to drag this out any longer than it needs to be. There are some conditions of release he has to abide by too -- no consuming booze, no illegal substances and no firearms and no leaving the U.S. without written permission ... the usual.

Now, that he's pled not guilty ... the case can continue, and he'll eventually have to come to court for the trial itself. Considering Alec has been denying any wrongdoing from the start -- all signs point to him fighting this thing to the very end, in front of a jury.

Alec has gotten some support lately on this front -- specifically, from SAG-AFTRA ... which put out a statement saying it's not an actor's job to check firearms on set.

Remember, the D.A.'s office there already tried prosecuting him once -- but dropped the charges ... only to resurrect them again through a grand jury, presumably on newer evidence they think makes their case solid.

Courtney Stodden has a new man in her life -- one who has connections in Hollywood, making beaucoup bucks as a big-time film and TV producer!

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... Courtney is dating 41-year-old Jared Safier, a driving force behind soap opera "The Bay" and a ton of horror flicks.

We're told the couple's been together for about 6 months now, after meeting last August on a movie set. They've kept their relationship on the DL for a while now, as only a few close friends know they're a thing.

Our sources say there are even limited pics of them together in public ... like the one we obtained of Court and the 4-time Emmy winner at a showbiz event.

It's nice to see CS back in the dating pool 'cause her last relationship didn't end like she thought it would. We broke the story ... she and fiancé Chris Sheng broke things off about a year ago after almost 8 years together.

And, remember that wouldn't have been Courtney's first walk down the aisle ... Courtney married 51-year-old Doug Hutchison in 2011, when she was just 16 years old.

They separated in 2017 and their divorce finalized in 2020.

Donald Trump should be cautious about poking the bear when it comes to attacking Taylor Swift ... so says a well-seasoned political talk show host and media personality.

FOX11 anchor and politico Elex Michaelson joined us on "TMZ Live" Wednesday and we asked him about the ramifications of Trump's inner circle vowing to wage a "holy war" on Taylor and any Democrats she may endorse ... which they're reportedly ready to do.

Given Taylor's massive popularity right now -- coupled with the fact that she's dating a star player on an NFL team, who's about to play in the freaking Super Bowl -- Elex says DT and co. should be careful with how his campaign approaches Swift ... especially if it's to attack.

Elex says he worries Trump may wake up a sleeping giant here, and stir up Swifties en masse to hit the ballot box and vote for his opponent, Joe Biden, who is courting TS' endorsement. That might be a preemptively self-own, especially since she hasn't joined the Biden train yet.

Those same voters are also pretty young, for the most part, and that could hurt Trump too ... Elex explains. Considering Taylor has such influence over the youths in this country -- antagonizing her too early may well backfire if Trump goes in hard right now.

Another layer to this is Trump's potential loss being Biden's gain ... Elex points out Biden's struggled with some key demographics, and TS could help reel those voters back in ... at Trump's expense.

Of course, Elex says folks shouldn't be quick to dismiss Trump or write him off ... saying DT usually has a handle on how best to drum up his base. Fact is, he's run successful campaigns before and gotten tons of votes.

Shaquille O'Neal values education, and now the legendary big man is making college substantially more affordable ... as American students continue to fall deeper into debt.

O'Neal, along with 29-year-old business partner Tade Oyerinde, talked to TMZ Sports this week about their company, Campus, and its goal to revolutionize 2-year degrees.

Think of Campus, which Oyerinde, now the Chancellor, founded in 2022 ... as an affordable, online community college where students have an opportunity to earn an associate's degree.

Unlike the typical community college experience, Campus' professors come from some of the most prestigious universities, such as Princeton.

O'Neal, who attended LSU, is investing in Campus, joining other high-profile investors like OpenAI founder Sam Altman and billionaire Michael Bloomberg ... as the men throw their money and time behind the concept.

We asked Shaq why he decided to get involved.

"I like to invest in things that are gonna change people's lives, and this will definitely change a person's life. Everyone to be able to have access to world-class education is very important. When I first met Tade he told me 'DFD. I was like, 'What does that mean? Debt-free degrees,'" O'Neal told Babcock.

Of course, student loan debt is a huge problem ... with U.S. students/graduates owing lenders to the tune of $1.7 TRILLION. Campus says they want to stem the bleeding by providing affordable schooling.

Tuition at Campus clocks in at just over $7k for the year ... which pales in comparison to the average cost for a college education.

The man who hosted the ill-fated Kansas City Chiefs watch party that ended with three deaths is reportedly seeking addiction help in rehab -- and TMZ has learned more info about the deceased that could provide clues about what might've happened.

Jordan Willis -- who invited several friends to his K.C.-area home to watch the Chiefs play in early January -- is now seeking treatment for substance abuse -- with his attorney saying he "recognized that he had a problem with addiction" ... this in the aftermath of his three friends turning up dead in his backyard after a night of watching football ... according to Fox News.

Remember ... families of the three men raised the alarm after they hadn't heard from their loved ones for several days. Police showed up at Willis' house on January 9 and placed JW in handcuffs while he was just in his underwear -- though he was not arrested.

They found David Harrington, Ricky Johnson, and Clayton McGeeney dead at his home. A fifth man, Alex Waemer-Lee, attended the event but reportedly left the party early.

Now, it's interesting that Willis is heading to rehab -- because TMZ has done some digging that jibes with the notion that this tragedy may, perhaps, be drug-related after all.

For instance, we've learned that one of the men, Clayton, had a connection to pharmaceuticals which might shed some light. We've uncovered that McGeeney had an active pharmacist license which was issued last year and set to expire at the end of May 2024.

While we don't know if he was working at any pharmacy in particular or practicing pharmacology in any way at the time of his death ... we do know the license would allow him to work as a pharmacy technician if he so desired.

Another interesting fact ... David Harrington -- another one of the men who died -- was arrested back in Colorado in 2011 for possession of a Schedule II controlled substance ... although it seems he ended up with just a year of probation and paying some fines.

We don't know for certain what the substance was that resulted in Harrington's arrest, but Schedule II drugs in Colorado include opiates such as oxycodone and fentanyl, and other similar narcotics.

On the face of things, some of these facts appear to line up with what police have maintained since the beginning ... namely, that there's no evidence of foul play, and that for now, they don't suspect homicide either -- though, the investigation remains ongoing.

Alex Caprariello, a NewsNation reporter who's been chasing the story since the beginning, reported the families of the victims are meeting with the Platte County prosecutor to "discuss the ongoing investigation and possibility of criminal prosecution."

Blueface's mom is tired of Chrisean Rock's antics -- she has her fingers crossed the new face tat she got of Blue is fake, and that she finally leaves her son alone. Spoiler ... at least one of those wishes won't come true.

TMZ got Karlissa Saffold outside L.A's Men's Central Jail on Wednesday, following a failed attempt to see her son, and she tells us Chrisean's enormous tattoo of Blueface's mug on her cheek is "absolutely f***ng crazy" ... and she thinks it's a shady ploy to make Blue feel obligated to deal with her once he gets out of jail.

She also has a very simple, passionate reaction to CR moving back into Blue's pad -- "Hell motherf***ing no!" Karlissa says, again, the move will give Blue zero chance of escaping Chrisean's shenanigans ... when he should be focusing on getting his mind right.

What's more, she believes the face ink stems from mental issues ... and her son isn't trained to unpack Chrisean's baggage for her.

For her part, Karlissa's tried to support Chrisean for the sake of her grandbaby ... but is now taking a step back after seeing her on IG live saying she wants Karlissa to die.

But of course, as any doting grandma ... she's still willing to take care of the baby if it comes to that point.

For now, Karissa tells us she's devastated Blue's in jail for a probation violation -- in fact, it's her worst nightmare, especially cause her eldest son served 13 years behind bars, too ... and now history's repeating itself.

Basically, she's got a lot on her plate, and says CR needs to go find someone else's family to play "Fatal Attraction."

Boeing's 737 planes are being given the green light to get back up into the sky -- but a guy who used to do quality assurance for them says ... it might be too soon, not safe enough.

We talked to former Boeing quality manager John Barnett -- who came on "TMZ Live" Wednesday to discuss the fact that his old company has said their 737 Max 9 aircrafts are ready to hit the runway again ... this just a few weeks after the Alaska Airlines incident.

The speed at which this has all unfolded has alarmed many, and John here is right there with them in the concerned department ... and his reasoning lies in his personal experience.

Watch what he has to say for yourself -- John explains how things ran when he was in the field and how they've allegedly changed. Based on what he's claiming here, it's troubling, 'cause he suggests cutting corners is something the industry at large has leaned into.

John claims that inspection operators and experts have been getting slashed from assembly lines in recent years -- an awful trend that he suspects has only continued since he left.

With this in mind, he questions whether the 737s are, in fact, as good to go as Boeing insists ... because in his mind, he thinks more due diligence is warranted -- just in case, of course.

Margot Robbie is finally speaking on the Oscar snubs heard 'round the world over "Barbie" -- and while she's taking the high road for herself ... she's going to bat for her director.

The actress shared new remarks on the issue Tuesday night during a SAG-AFTRA panel where she was present and given the floor to air out her thoughts. It's interesting ... MR doesn't address her own snub for Best Actress, but she does explicitly defend Greta Gerwig.

Margot says, "Obviously, I think Greta should be nominated as a director, because what she did is a once-in-a-career, once-in-a-lifetime thing, what she pulled off, it really is. But it’s been an incredible year for all the films."

She went on to say that she's "beyond ecstatic" that 'Barbie' racked up as many nominations as it did (8) -- but in the same breath, noted she understood the disappointment from fans.

Margot finished by saying ... "I just suspect it’s bigger than us. It’s bigger than this movie, it’s bigger than our industry." Unclear what exactly she means by that ... sounds like she's referring to politics within the Academy, though.

Last thing Margot mentioned on this topic ... "We set out to do something that would shift culture, affect culture, just make some sort of impact. And it’s already done that, and some, way more than we ever dreamed it would. And that is truly the biggest reward that could come out of all of this."

Remember, there was widespread outrage over the fact Margot and Greta had been left off the nominations list -- even though Ryan Gosling and America Ferrera got Oscar nods.

Many felt if Ryan was nominated, it was a no-brainer to get Margot in there too ... seeing how she literally carries the film, and is the heart and soul of the whole thing.

Mark Zuckerberg is being roasted at a Senate hearing on the online child sexual exploitation crisis ... getting up from his hot seat to apologize to victims' families.

The Meta CEO was in the middle of his testimony Wednesday on Capital Hill when he started getting grilled by Sen. Josh Hawley, who bombarded Zuck with questions.

Zuckerberg can barely get a word in as Hawley badgers him on Meta's response, or alleged lack thereof, to kids being sexually exploited online ... and he's pretty much forced to turn around and apologize.

Standing up from his chair, Zuck does a 180 and faces the audience ... which is filled with parents holding up photos of their kids who fell victim to predators using social media.

Zuckerberg indicates it's the first time he's apologized for these sorts of issues happening on Facebook and Instagram ... and he says Meta is taking steps to protect kids.

Other social media executives are testifying too ... including Snapchat's Evan Spiegel, TikTok's Shou Zi Chew, X's Linda Yaccarino and Discord's Jason Citron ... but the most interesting moments have been reserved for Zuck.

Morgan Wade's Instagram page was scrubbed clean of almost all of her posts, including snaps of her and Kyle Richards, but despite speculation ... we've learned they're all good.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ everything's totally fine between the pals ... and the country star archived all but two posts on her page including Kyle pics because she's gearing up to release new music.

In case you didn't know, singers/actors have made it a trend to wipe their social media accounts clean when getting ready to promote a new project -- and that's exactly what's happening here with MW.

Fans clearly missed Morgan's memo ... raising particular concern her music video featuring Kyle was removed from Kyle's page as well, making people think Kyle removed the music video from her own page but that's not the case ... we're told because Morgan archived the video that pulled it down from Kyle's profile.

We should point out, Kyle still has all of her Morgan posts still up -- all 10 of them, in fact ... they're just tucked away in her picture carousels ... so unless fans are going through each and every one of her snaps, they may miss them.

We can safely say there's no brewing rift between them ... and they're still good friends!

BTW, this ain't the first time their friendship status has come under the microscope -- they've also long been subjected to dating rumors.

Kyle also told us last week she was willing to talk about her relationship with Morgan -- as well as her estranged one with husband Mauricio Umansky during the 'RHOBH' reunion.

Courtney Clenney's parents already had a suspicion prosecutors in her daughter's murder case had their antennas up on their communications ... this before they were even charged.

Here's the deal ... TMZ actually interviewed Kim and Deborah Clenney recently for a new documentary we have airing in 2 weeks -- which does a deep dive into the case, and features never-before-seen footage/insights into CC's relationship with Christian Obumseli.

In light of Kim and Deborah's arrest this week -- with law enforcement accusing them of computer crimes for allegedly accessing Christian's laptop after he was killed -- we went through our footage and found a fascinating nugget ... namely, they knew they were being monitored!

Check out this exclusive snippet of our sit-down with them ... you can see they feel the prosecution in Courtney's case not only has it out for their daughter -- but for them as well.

As Deborah explained to us, she says law enforcement had actually been keeping tabs on their texts and conversations with Courtney -- noting, quite clearly, that she knows they're being recorded. Deborah also says she believes the prosecution would be willing to do and use anything they say to each other against them in the case ... and that came to pass.

FWIW, the Clenneys didn't acknowledge anything about the laptop to us, specifically, but they were already telegraphing the fact that they knew prosecutors allegedly had it out for them -- which makes the fact they ended up getting busted anyway all the more stunning.

Of course, we already know the Clenneys don't believe they've done anything wrong in this case -- we've been told by sources with direct knowledge that they think the computer charges are bogus ... even though the authorities are accusing them of illegally accessing something that didn't belong to them. That much was made clear in the charging docs.

The Clenneys are still currently in custody, and they're supposed to be getting arraigned today out in Texas too ... with law enforcement in Florida wanting to extradite them ASAP.

We've been told attorneys for Courtney will attempt to bond them out of jail -- but the whole thing is pretty fluid at this point. It's unclear if/when everything is going down, but we're keeping a watchful eye over the proceedings as they unfold.

Anyway, more will be revealed in the coming days -- and when our doc hits the airwaves on Feb. 12 ... we'll have more answers by then as well. The documentary is called 'Killer OnlyFans Model: Deadly Love Story' ... and it airs in 2 weeks on FOX at 9/8c.

Chrisean Rock isn't the only one of Blueface's baddies dedicating their bodies to his mug shot while he's locked up -- there's another gal doing the same ... only lower.

On Wednesday, his admitted side chick, Bonnie, debuted a HUMONGOUS tattoo of her own -- which was being done on her ass. Indeed, she posted pics and video of herself lying down with her pants dropped and her booty with BF's mug stenciled onto her left cheek.

Bonnie's an OG cast member of Blue's "Blue Girls Club" -- his short-lived reality show -- but her cheeky ink seems to have even surprised her close friend group ... 'cause they're saying she's a fool. Nevertheless, she's been doubling down all day, professing her 💙 for Blue.

We should note ... Bonnie has beef with Blue's other girlfriends/baby mamas -- including Chrisean and Jaidyn Alexis -- and basically all the other women in BF's life. That seems to be why she's doing this ... almost as a way to "stick it to them."

With this move, Bonnie appears to be trying to plant her flag on Blue -- with the message being ... he's all mine, once he's released from jail in a few months, of course.

Probably worth noting ... Bonnie just released a new track titled "That's My Daddy" ... and it's a diss to all her competition with Blueface -- and just further confirmation that he has her on lock, just like all the other ladies in his orbit, it seems.

TMZ Hip Hop just confirmed with Chrisean's tattoo shop that her newly planted "Blueface" is indeed permanent ... but like Bonnie, her own family thinks she needs to step aside.

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West seem to be putting their rocky past aside for the sake of the kids ... doing dinner with North and her friends, who wore merch promoting Ye's new album.

The famous exes pulled up separately Tuesday night at Nobu in Malibu, keeping their outfits in line with their recent style trends ... Kim wore a barely-there crop top and long black coat and Kanye covered his face in one of his patented black masks -- no surprises there.

We should note ... Kim arrived with North and a bunch of her friends in tow -- and it appears Kanye showed up separately later, heading in to join them, sans his new wifey Bianca Censori.

We're told they all hung out inside the restaurant for about an hour and a half together before Ye headed to his car flanked by security ... and minutes later, Kim left with North and her pals -- with all of the kids wearing matching "Vultures" merch.

North's clearly the most excited ... pulling the shirt up to give photogs a good look at the logo on the front and the album's title written in script at the top. We gotta say ... she's the spitting image of her father. Also -- no word on whether the group went in with these shirts.

This is eye-popping for a couple reasons. One, it's surprising to see Kim and Kanye get together like this, we don't see them breaking bread together ... even for their children.

More importantly ... interesting to see Kim let North wear the 'Vultures' stuff, y'know -- considering there's some antisemitic content on the album, from what we've heard so far.

Remember ... "Vultures" is Kanye's upcoming collaborative album with Ty Dolla $ign, and the title track's caught quite a bit of heat for controversial lyrics like, "How I'm antisemitic? I just f***ed a Jewish bitch."

Needless to say, the song's not sitting well with Jewish orgs, which have blasted the song.

Like we said, it's unclear how the t-shirt promo parade came together -- it's possible Kim was blindsided by it at the last minute.

As we reported ... North rapped a verse that might appear on her dad's new album during a listening party last month -- so, it makes sense she and her friends would be jazzed about the album's release and want to wear shirts bumping it.

Notably, and unsurprisingly, Kim did not wear one of the shirts. We've spotted her and Kanye at multiple basketball games for Saint over the last month and they've had some pretty frosty interactions -- if you can even call them that.

Talk about a great conundrum -- Paige VanZant just revealed she could make a TON of money by chopping off her locks ... but there's one key detail to the proposal that has her sitting on the fence.

The MMA star and OnlyFans model discussed the eye-popping request on the latest episode of her "A Kickass Love Story" podcast with her hubby, Bellator fighter Austin Vanderford ... saying one fan on the subscription-based platform slid into her DMs and asked if she would switch to a bob hairstyle in exchange for $50k.

While PVZ acknowledged it's a big payday for a little work, she explained the one thing that left her hesitant was that the follower wanted her hair scraps shipped to him once the deed was done.

Paige explained her reservations ... saying after watching a Gypsy Rose Blanchard doc, she started to worry about what the supporter could do with her tresses -- and she isn't trying to get some evil spell put on her.

Austin backed his wife ... pointing out if it were just a normal haircut, there's really no debate -- but mailing someone the locks makes it a pretty hairy situation.

Erin Moriarty is getting back out there after quitting Instagram over some harsh criticism from Megyn Kelly ... surfacing for the first time since their nasty back and forth.

The actress -- famous from "The Boys" -- went makeup-free Tuesday as she walked her two dogs in West Hollywood ... seemingly sending a message after Megyn savagely accused her of botched plastic surgeries. This is the first time we're seeing her since she left social media.

Erin first responded to Megyn's bullying by announcing she was stepping away from being online, saying in part ... "I've been in a hole and I've been consumed by this" ... and now she's back in public, though it looks like she's still glued to her phone.

Now, here she is emerging from that "hole" ... and she had some 4-legged friends tagging along. As you can see, Erin kinda had her hands full here -- trying to juggle her pups, as well as her phone.

Looks like the pooches were trying to get away from her at one point ... and Erin's reaction is basically every dog mom trying to wrangle their rambunctious pets in public.

It's interesting to see her reemerge since calling out Megyn. Remember ... the whole drama started last week when Megyn went on a rant against Erin's appearance and cosmetic procedures in general, going after her on her radio show.

Megyn said ... "It's not about an objection to plastic surgery, it’s about an obsession with turning yourself into this fake version of yourself. I find it, like, a sign of mental illness. It's extremely upsetting."

Erin fired back in a lengthy statement ... where she detailed that not only has she not had plastic surgery -- as Megyn suggested -- but that she'd been getting bullied because of the unfounded claim.

EM ripped Megyn for "exhibitionist feminism" and said she would be leaving social media as a result ... going dark online thereafter. With that said, she is looking quite confident here ... albeit, very preoccupied.

"Wheel of Fortune" fans were left bewildered after a contestant on the show seemingly gave the correct answer ... and they took to social media to voice their grievances.

Here's the deal ... Megan, a high school choir director from California, won the episode of 'WOF' that aired Tuesday, pocketing just over $14k and launching herself into the bonus puzzle round.

Her category ... "Living Thing" -- didn't exactly narrow it down for her. And, the given letters "RSTLNE" didn't really clear things up with the puzzle reading "_ _N_  _R_ _ _ _."

Megan did well, adding three letters to the puzzle before the final round began ... so she was working off "P_N_  _RC_ _ D" for the final, two-word puzzle.

Now, this is where things got dicey ... at the beginning of guessing, Megan definitely says "Orchid" -- ultimately the second word of the puzzle -- though it sounds like she says "Something" or, as some fans speculated, "Pink" before it, which would've given her the right answer, "Pink Orchid."

The judges didn't award her the money -- which turned out to be $40,000 -- and host Pat Sajak said he thought she focused too much on trying to find a certain kind of orchid ... Megan said "Pony Orchid" at one point.

Well, fans of the show lost their damn minds on social media ... basically arguing they felt she clearly said it at the beginning and demanding 'Wheel' hand over the bag.

It's certainly hard to tell exactly what she said to begin her guessing ... but it sounds like "Something" to us -- and Megan reacts unsurprised when she's not awarded the cash -- so maybe everything's above board here.