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It's happening ... huge hitmakers are being wiped from TikTok after the app failed to reach a deal with UMG -- something Rickey Thompson calls a game-changer, and a bummer.

We chatted with the social media star Wednesday in Bev Hills, and he told us the unfortunate development creates a massive dent in TikTok content ... 'cause the platform's best known for turning average folks into overnight stars with viral clips of them dancing to music from Taylor Swift, Drake and more.

As one of the most popular apps in the world, Ricky also acknowledges TikTok's a place many users go to discover their fave artist's new music -- so losing that is disappointing for fans and musicians alike.

The most positive spin on this upheaval is newer artists won't have to compete with established superstars to get their music out there -- but Rickey isn't entirely convinced that'll be the case.

On a positive note, he tells us the decision won't completely ruin the app ... it'll just limit what videos people can create without using music. So, for those who enjoy a little boogie on TikTok, he advises them to just do it on their own time.

For a quick rundown: Universal Music Group is yanking its artists' music off the platform after a tense standoff ... saying TT needed to pay more cash to license the tunes.

For its part, TikTok's accusing UMG of spinning a "false narrative" and says it has healthy 'artist-first' agreements with every other label and publisher.

Matters were clearly never resolved -- but Rickey says the whole thing doesn't actually affect him ... cause he's just there to make people laugh. No music needed!

Grab a pen and paper, Shohei Ohtani -- former Dodgers star Justin Turner has some solid pointers on how the MLB superstar can succeed with his new team ... telling TMZ Sports there's one simple way to win the fanbase over (if he hasn't already).

Turner -- who signed with the Toronto Blue Jays this offseason -- will forever have a special place in the hearts of Dodger Nation ... after all, he was part of the World Series-winning squad in 2020 and also secured the NLCS MVP when they made it to the Fall Classic in 2017.

With Ohtani deciding to join the "real" L.A. team after spending his first six seasons with the Angels, we asked Red what the two-way athlete would have to do to get the diehard fans on his side ... and he pointed out everyone's probably already over the moon about the historic signing.

"I think he's doing a pretty good job with that already," Turner said this week.

When we asked for one thing in particular that could earn the fanbase's trust ... his solution was simple.

"Hit homers."

There's a ton of hype surrounding Ohtani's move to the Dodgers following his record-breaking 10-year, $700 million deal ... but it's clear Turner thinks he'll fit right in.

We also asked for some L.A. recommendations -- considering Anaheim is NOT the same thing -- and Turner thinks Ohtani's got it all figured out by now.

Just one more day before we head into the weekend, and we're finishing strong at TMZ -- especially on the topic of TV coverage ... of which there was plenty on Thursday.

Starting with 'TMZ Live,' we revisited an old feud that got kicked up all over again thanks to Justin Timberlake -- who took a not-so-subtle shot at his ex-girlfriend, Britney Spears.

You might've heard about his sorry-not-sorry moment in NYC this week, and Harvey and Charles have some opinions on whether he was right (or wrong) to be so brash here. Of course, BS fired back ... even though her diss was a little odd, focused on ... basketball?

'TMZ on TV' kept the good times going, and Kanye West helped us get there with a whole new look that screams bloody murder -- from the movies, of course ... of the horror variety.

What we're even talking about here ... well, it's a mask. Just take a look for yourself.

Finally we get to 'TMZ Sports,' where Lewis Hamilton made news by jumping ship at Mercedes and zooming over to Ferrari for the upcoming F1 season. Listen up, gear heads!

Check your local listings for when TMZ is on in your area or catch up on past episodes!

It's been more than 3 decades since the American classic film, "Groundhog Day" hit theaters and became an instant box office hit back in 1993 ... with its repetitive life-loop and wacky love story featuring big Hollywood stars like Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell.

While Bill Murray played the cynical weatherman who couldn't escape reliving the same day over and over again, Phil Connors, there were a bunch of classic key players in the film that are sure to give you deja vu!

American actor Chris Elliott played the Channel 9 cameraman Larry ... who accompanied Phil and Rita to the Groundhog Day ceremony in Punxsutawney.

Stephen Tobolowsky played the annoying and aggressive insurance agent, Ned Ryerson who distracts Phil while he steps into that pesky pothole in the street over and over.

Dig through our gallery of then and now photos to see what all the iconic characters from the one-of-a-kind movie look like now!

President Biden's seemingly trying to win over a key voting block in Michigan ... and a war going on a world away is playing a huge role, including some new policies he's enforcing.

POTUS is making a few stops in Michigan this week -- an important swing state in the 2024 presidential election -- and it looks like he's trying to win over Arab American and Muslim voters who are outraged over the war between Israel and Palestine.

Coincidentally or not, Biden's Michigan trip comes the same time he signed an executive order allowing the United States to sanction Israeli settlers, and potentially Israeli government officials, who are involved in violent attacks against Palestinians in Gaza.

Biden's been under fire in Michigan for his support for Israel ... and there's a huge Arab American population in the state, and they're threatening to pull the support at the ballot box.

There were even protests outside Biden's campaign stops in Michigan ... but it doesn't look like anything was disrupted, although the scenes were tense.

On its face, it looks like Biden might've timed the signing of this EO so he had something tangible to show voters in Michigan who support Palestine ... so he doesn't lose their vote to a third party, or worse, Donald Trump. That's how some are interpreting it, anyway.

At the same time, Biden's said to be running thin on patience with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ... so it seems the winds may be changing when it comes to Gaza.

Biden really needs Michigan to stave off Trump ... and it looks like the political posturing is in full swing as we march toward November.

3:36 PM PT -- Darius Rucker's attorney, Mark Puryear, tells TMZ … "Darius Rucker is fully cooperating with authorities related to misdemeanor charges."

Darius Rucker got busted on a minor drug offense in Tennessee -- and from the sound of the charge he was booked on ... it basically amounts to an alleged handoff.

The country singer -- obviously famous from Hootie & the Blowfish -- was taken into custody Thursday in Williamson County, which is where he lives. He posed for this mug shot for the Sheriff's Dept. there ... and was booked on three separate charges, all misdemeanors.

Darius was arrested for two counts of simple possession/casual exchange of a controlled substance and one count of a violation of the state's vehicle registration law.

In terms of what DMV law cops think Darius broke ... they're saying he let his/tags expire on his car.

DR was brought into the jail around 10 AM PT, and he was released about an hour or so later -- we've confirmed Darius bonded out and is no longer in custody.

Unclear what exactly happened that led up to his arrest -- we're trying to get a hold of police now for further clarification.

We've reached out to Darius' team for comment as well ... so far, no word back.

More legal trouble for Blueface as he sits in a Los Angeles jail cell ... 'cause a judge in Las Vegas wants him arrested and brought to Nevada for an alleged probation violation.

According to new legal docs obtained by TMZ, a Nevada judge issued a bench warrant for Blueface's arrest for violating the terms of his probation. In case you forgot, Blueface is also on probation in NV as part of a plea deal he cut in his Vegas strip club shooting case.

As we reported ... Blueface received a suspended sentence in that case, getting hit with 3 years of probation and no jail time if he kept his nose clean. He also had a 2-5 year underlying sentence, meaning a probation violation could get him locked up for a few years.

Now, in terms of what exactly he allegedly did to violate his probation in Vegas -- besides getting locked up here in Cali, of course, which will usually do the trick -- his attorney spoke on it to local media outlets and cited something else, specifically, prosecutors are eyeing.

Blue's lawyer Kristina Wildeveld told 8 News Now the alleged probation violation relates to cell phone video from a Utah performance last December, with the footage appearing to show Blueface bringing a woman on stage and telling his fiancée to "get her" as she attacked her.

It shouldn’t be too hard for law enforcement to track Blueface down ... like we said, he's currently in custody in Men's Central Jail in L.A., where he's been for weeks now ... the result of a separate probation violation for an assault case here in the Golden State.

Blueface isn't technically scheduled to be released from jail until July, and the warrant out of Vegas could mean he then heads to Nevada to serve some time behind bars there as well.

His lawyer told the same outlet Blueface is cooperating with law enforcement and plans to turn himself into Nevada authorities after he serves his time in California.

Blueface already got a warning from the Las Vegas judge ... she reportedly told him she wouldn't hesitate to throw him in prison on any kind of probation violation, and now he's being accused of having one.

Mike Tyson's joined forces with another famous fighter to help kids get an education ... opening a first-of-its-kind school.

Mike is working with MMA star Daniel Puder on a new education model ... and the joined us on "TMZ Live" Thursday to break it down for us.

Iron Mike and Daniel just opened a school in Arizona called Tyson's Transformational Technologies Academy ... it's an extension of Daniel's prep schools, the first emotional and belief intelligence-based school system in the nation.

As the fighters explain ... the school is all about teaching life skills like financial literacy and resume building ... topics that don't fall into traditional curriculum.

Daniel says Mike's star power is what makes this whole thing run ... he says students who attend a Tyson school are going to make a serious impression when it's time for college admissions.

Mike and Daniel have four schools so far ... two in Florida and another in West Virginia ... but Mike's already talking expansion, telling us ... "We're gonna educate the world, baby!!!"

Affion Crockett is taking his impression game to a new level as he gears up to roll out his feature film "A Hip Hop Story" ... where he's spoofing your fave rappers, and their faves too!!!

TMZ Hip Hop quizzed the veteran comedian about the number of impersonations he tackled in the movie, and he admits he's lost count ... suffice to say there's a lot.

The film is based on hip hop's 50-year timeline, and the official trailer finds Affion hilariously assuming the identity of everyone from DJ Kool Herc to Russell Simmons, Snoop Dogg and Jay-Z.

Affion's been honing his craft by imitating the best rappers for years -- dating back to his days on "Wild 'n Out" and "Def Comedy Jam" -- and tells us he's a hip hop head at heart and all his jokes come from a place of love and fandom.

Cedric The Entertainer also joins in the fun as a faux Biggie Smalls as do Eminem and Salt-N-Pepa, but there's a good chance that the "Kanway West" character will steal the show.

We know better than most how unpredictable Kanye can be ... his 'HHS' character goes off the rails much like he did when he snatched our photog's phone earlier this week.

Affion isn't worried about Ye's reaction to his film -- he's in the business of managing laughter, not sensitive artists -- but says, quite frankly, he doesn't know how the megastar will react. Who could, really???

Preparations for Clive Davis' famed pre-Grammy party came to a grinding halt Thursday morning as cops busted an armed man at the Waldorf Astoria ... TMZ has learned.

The Waldorf is right next door to the Beverly Hilton -- where Clive's event is held -- and cops swarmed the area after getting a call shortly after 9:30 AM for a disturbance at the hotel. We're told a drone was deployed over the Waldorf, and spotted the gunman standing on a hotel room balcony.

Cops immediately shut down one of all traffic around the intersection of Wilshire and Santa Monica Boulevard -- one of L.A.'s busiest intersections -- and deployed SWAT officers around the hotels.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... cops made contact with the guy in his hotel room and convinced him to surrender peacefully -- but once inside, they discovered he had already shot up the room.

The man was actually firing the gun while police were outside the room ... according to witnesses at the hotel.

Once he was in custody, we're told the gunman was booked for felony possession of a firearm and negligent discharge of the firearm.

Our sources say the weapons was a handgun with an extended magazine.

Luckily, no one was injured at the hotel.

The area will be heavily trafficked by media and celebs leading up to Clive's party Saturday night -- attendees have to pick up credentials ahead of the event.

Tiffany Haddish has one less DUI case to worry about -- 'cause the legal sitch here on the West Coast is resolved, and she was able to work a sweet little deal ... TMZ can confirm.

The comedian popped into court Thursday in L.A., where she and prosecutors came to an agreement on the charges against her. Sources with direct knowledge tell us Tiff took a plea deal that's pretty solid ... the 2 misdemeanor DUI charges against her were dropped.

Instead, she ended up accepting a conviction of reckless driving ... pleading no contest to the traffic violation, not even close to being in the same ballpark as what she was up against.

You'll recall ... Tiffany got arrested in Beverly Hills in November, when cops claimed at the time that she was found asleep at the wheel and parked awkwardly on a street, with her car partially jutting out.

They ended up throwing her in handcuffs and hauling her to jail -- but she was out in record time and back to doing stand-up shortly thereafter ... where she joked about the incident.

While Tiffany did vow to change in the aftermath of this ... she never really acknowledged one way or another what exactly led to her getting busted -- but it doesn't matter now, 'cause she's done with this matter entirely.

This isn't to say she's totally out of the woods ... her Georgia DUI case is still ongoing -- and Tiffany has signaled of late that she plans to fight it in court.

It makes sense that she'd want one of these DUI cases to be resolved the way the L.A. one was today ... 'cause if she ended up getting convicted for both, it would've potentially meant some jail time. Now, however, there's no chance of that happening.

On the Bev Hills thing, though ... her attorney, Alex Spiro, tell us, "Ms. Haddish has agreed to a simple vehicle code violation – not driving under the influence, which has been dismissed -- and looks forward to this being behind her."

Brad Pitt and Quentin Tarantino are back at it ... the duo will be reuniting for the director's tenth and final film, "The Movie Critic."

Pitt walked away with the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his last collab with Q in 2019's "Once Upon A Time In Hollywood" ... and their first collab in 2009's "Inglorious Basterds" also generated tons of praise -- so signing up for another round of acclaim was clearly a no-brainer for the actor, 'cause he's coming back for thirds with QT.

Deadline reports the new movie's eyeing up a 2025 release & producer Stacey Sher, who worked on QT's 1994 hit "Pulp Fiction," has hopped on board as producer ... so it'll clearly be in good hands. Sony's also supposedly picked up the film's distribution rights.

Quentin has not delved too deep into the movie's premise -- but we know it's based on the life of a movie critic in the late 1970s, as per the title.

Filming will be taking place in his L.A ... Quentin said in a previous statement he started directing movies in Cali ... so it was only fitting he'd shoot his final motion picture in his hometown and cinema capital of the world.

QT's long made it clear he would only direct 10 movies ... telling Playboy back in 2022 that he didn't believe directors got better with age -- in fact, he noticed they got out of touch with what audiences wanted, making their last 4 films their worst.

Bruce Springsteen's mother Adele has died ... this according to Springsteen himself.

The 74-year-old singer-songwriter announced the news Thursday in a heartfelt Instagram post ... saying his mother passed away Wednesday and sharing some lyrics from his song "The Wish."

The lyrics talk about Mother's Day and the memory of listening to his mother get ready for work in the morning ... perfectly complimenting a short video of the pair dancing to big band music on the porch of a large estate.

The pair twist and dance around before Mama Springsteen plants a sweet kiss on her son's cheek in the clip, bopping to Glenn Miller's "In The Mood."

Dancing was the main reason so many Springsteen fans knew Adele ... fans spotted her dancing at her son's shows constantly -- a fun pastime she engaged in since the early '90s according to reports.

While Bruce didn't reveal his mother's cause of death, The Boss did talk a lot about Adele's battle with Alzheimer's during 2018's "Springsteen on Broadway" ... saying she was diagnosed around 2011 but dancing still meant a ton to her, calling it "more powerful than memory."

Adele was 98.

2:24 PM PT -- Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... early toxicology results from this investigation suggest traces of cocaine and fentanyl were found in the deceased's systems. A full toxicology report has yet to be released -- but for now, we're told these are substances that cops have detected early on, and there may be others that surface when the official results come out.

The mysterious deaths of 3 Chiefs fans might soon be cleared up -- and early signs point to it being drug-related ... so says an attorney repping one of the families of the deceased.

We talked to Tony Kagay -- a lawyer who's been hired by the mother of Clayton McGeeney, who was one of the three who were found dead in Jordan Willis' backyard -- who joined us on "TMZ Live" Thursday to tell us what he knows about the investigation thus far.

Kagay was certainly trying to keep his cards close to the vest here -- but based on a meeting he says his client, Nancy Bossert (Clayton's mom), had with authorities Wednesday ... it sounds like what people have suspected will soon be confirmed.

Namely, he seems to be suggesting that the autopsies are complete and early toxicology tests have been run ... and while he doesn't reveal the exact results, he does say he's privy to the fact that there may (or may not) be substances that were discovered in their bodies.

We pushed Kagay to tell us what he knew -- but he was being careful with what he said, and how he said it ... but you can read between the lines here and figure out what's what.

Basically, Kagay acknowledges that drugs may have played a part in the 3 men's deaths -- but there are still questions that need to be answered ... including how any substances may have gotten into their system, and what exactly played out over the course of 2 days.

Cops so far have reiterated that there's no evidence of foul play, and that they're not investigating this as a homicide --- something Kagay confirmed with us as well.

Like we said, there's still a lot to uncover ... but Kagay tells us he believes the autopsy/toxicology results will be released soon (even as early as Thursday) -- which will hopefully shed some light on this tragedy. In the meantime, his client has asked for privacy.

Nancy did say this about her son ... "Clayton was a beloved son ... Clayton was a caring father. Clayton was a loving partner to his fiancée, April Mahoney. His death under any circumstances would have been painful to everyone his life had touched. Under these unusual and confusing circumstances, it is even more difficult for the family to deal with."

We reached out to Kansas City PD and they told us they weren't aware of toxicology results coming anytime soon -- and simply said the case remains under investigation.

Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra say they aren't able to live in their luxurious mansion due to a bunch of construction defects and mold ... this according to litigation that's been dragging on since last May.

According to the lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, the singer-songwriter and actress/model purchased the Encino house through a trust in 2019 ... but now claim the place is riddled with problems that have forced them to get the hell out.

The biggest problems, they claim, are mostly with the waterproofing around the deck and spa area, not to mention alleged mold issues that they say have rendered the crib "virtually unlivable in parts."

The lawsuit -- which was filed by a trustee of Nick and Priyanka's trust -- says the house is not only "dangerous from a health perspective to occupy" ... but will also cost the couple a ton of time and money to fix. We're talking millions of dollars here.

The exact amount of alleged damages is unknown, but they're saying the damages are north of at least $2.5 million ... and the suit includes some photos to back up their claims. We have some of those shots here -- but it's hard to tell what exactly is depicted here.

The photos are in black and white, and seem to be scanned ... so the detail isn't great.

Anyway, as for why the lawsuit's dragging on for so long ... the trustee's lawyer Fred Fenster told Page Six, "It’s like everybody who put a pick or a shovel in the property is going to be involved, and it’s going to be up to the builder to decide and prove who was responsible for the defects." We should note ... other lawsuits have been filed over this situation -- with a lot of different parties involved suing each other, but no one is suing Nick or Priyanka, specifically. In other words ... there's big confusion over who's to blame.

Now, a source with direct knowledge tells us Nick and Priyanka are very disappointed with the building issues, and with the house still currently under repair ... so nobody is living in the house at this time. Obviously, they've made other living arrangements in the meantime.

If you're one of the NFL fans who thinks Taylor Swift is ruining football, Charles Barkley has a message for you: "You’re just a loser or a jackass!"

That was the NBA legend's message Thursday, dunking on T.S. critics from the desk of his "King Charles" show on CNN ... blasting fans who have come for Swift, accusing her of screwing up football.

"I'm gonna look right in that camera," Barkley said, "If you're screaming at T-Swift saying she ruined [football], you're just a loser."

Chuck continued ... "You're just a loser or a jackass. You can be A or B. One of the two."

Legendary sportscaster Bob Costas -- a guest of Barkley and Gayle King's -- also spoke on the Traylor frenzy ... and it's clear he doesn't believe the negativity will have an impact on the hundred-plus million fans who will watch Super Bowl LVIII.

"When it comes to the Super Bowl, where a lot of people who don't watch football all year long, double the audience," Costas said.

"Like 90 of the top 100 rated television shows in a given year are football games -- almost all of them NFL games."