Shakira was NOT the victim of a gutsy ring-stealing fan in Mexico last week ... despite widespread reports to the contrary and a viral video which appeared to capture the crime ... her publicist tells TMZ.

Shakira's publicist, Joseph Carozza, tells us, “There is no truth to this report. A fan grabbed her hand and she looked down. Her ring is still visible on her hand as she continued to walk through the crowd.”
Case closed.
Blonde pop stars
Shakira, 33, and
Ke$ha, 23, both purred for the cameras at the MTV Europe Music Awards in Madrid on Sunday.

Question is ...
Looking
muy caliente in hot pink,
Shakira showed off her, er, flexibility while on
a photo shoot in Ibiza on Thursday.
The 33-year-old is very limber.
The redheaded kid who was fake-executed in the new
M.I.A. music video is paying a dear price for his fake death -- sources say
Shakira's people 86'd his close-ups from her new project over the gruesome scene.

Sources tell TMZ
Ian Hamrick -- the 12-year-old featured in M.I.A.'s "Born Free" -- was slated for a feature role in Shakira's new video for the song "
Waka Waka" -- the official tune of the
2010 World Cup.
We're told Hamrick had already shot several scenes for the Shakira video -- but most of the footage featuring Ian ultimately hit the cutting room floor. As for why he got chopped out -- we're thinking producers don't want World Cup fans thinking about an execution while they're trying to enjoy Shakira.
Sources say Hamrick will still appear in the video .... but only in a crowd shot.
A rep for the production company tells TMZ they're still editing the video and as far as they know, "no extra is featured over another."
Here's
Shakira performing at the NBA All-Star game on Sunday (
left) -- and wannabe
Baby Gaga aka
Ke$ha in concert back in December (
right).

Remember when female pop stars wore pants?
We're just sayin'.
Here's
Tiger Woods' alleged voicemail recorder/lover
Jaimee Grubbs as she appeared on VH1's "
Tool Academy" (
left) -- and pop diva
Shakira at some event in NYC earlier this year (
right).

Only one of them claims their hips don't lie.
We're just sayin'.
Colombian goddesses
Shakira and
Sofia Vergara sizzled at last night's American Music Awards.

Question is ...
Pink and
Shakira just showed up to the VMAs wearing the EXACT same dress. Someone's stylist is getting fired!

The question is ...