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Tyre Nichols' family is getting support from the one family that probably best understands their pain ... TMZ has learned George Floyd's loved ones will be at Tyre's funeral for a face-to-face meeting.

Famed civil rights attorney, Ben Crump is representing the Nichols family -- just as he did for George's -- and he tells us, several members of the Floyd family will be at the ceremony Wednesday in Memphis.

We're told the Floyds sent their condolences to Tyre's family after he was so badly beaten by Memphis police, he ended up in a hospital and died -- but the families have yet to meet in person.

That will change when they meet up at the Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church in Memphis for the funeral.

Meanwhile, Crump tells us Tyre's family has been invited to join ongoing efforts to get the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act passed by Congress ... and they're all on board.

We're told President Biden -- who spoke to Tyre's mom, RowVaughn Wells, and stepfather, Rodney Wells, Friday -- is trying to get Congress to turn its focus back on federal police reform legislation. He's invited Tyre's folks to be part of the push to get it signed into law.

A White House official tells TMZ ... the administration is sending 4 dignitaries to the funeral, including senior advisor, and former Atlanta mayor, Keisha Lance Bottoms.

Crump says Tyre's kin will schedule meetings with lawmakers and continue speaking out in favor of police reform -- 2 things the Floyd family's been doing since George was murdered by Minneapolis police.

R. Kelly is no longer facing sex-abuse charges in Chicago, where a prosecutor's decided to drop several pending charges, but that news isn't swinging his mood ... the singer still has plenty of other troubles.

Kelly's attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, tells us she spoke with Kelly after Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx announced she no longer would pursue the case because the disgraced R&B star has already been convicted in 2 federal courts of similar crimes and "is looking at the possibility of never walking out of prison again."

Bonjean tells TMZ, “There is no real sense of relief. He is still fighting for his life. He is facing decades in prison." But, she added that Foxx made "the right move" with her decision.

Foxx held a presser Monday to make the announcement, acknowledging that some of the accusers may be disappointed, but "we believe justice has been served."

As we reported ... Kelly was accused of sexually abusing 4 people, 3 of whom were minors, in the Chicago case. Foxx says she will ask the judge Tuesday to dismiss the charges against Kelly.

Sen. Ted Cruz is standing his ground, refusing to apologize to Paul Pelosi for sharing conspiracy theories about the hammer attack ... even after seeing the shocking police video of what went down.

The Senator was at Reagan National Airport when we got his reaction to the body cam showing David DePape smash Pelosi in the head with a hammer -- he called it the "utterly unacceptable" actions of a "deranged lunatic."

Although he was quick to condemn DePape ... Cruz got much quieter when we asked if he'd apologized to Pelosi for supporting, or at the very least, promoting theories suggesting there was something shady about the details of the attack.

In one instance, he reshared a tweet that shot holes in the idea DePape was "some kind of militant right winger" ... despite reports he actually had been posting on far-right political blogs.

As we reported, DePape attacked Pelosi with a hammer inside his and then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's SF home.

DePape -- who's since been charged with attempted murder -- told the FBI he was planning on shattering the Congresswoman's kneecaps, because he thought she was a liar.

Despite all that information, the body cam and surveillance videos showing DePape smash a back door to enter the Pelosi home ... Sen. Cruz is refusing to even acknowledge an apology might be appropriate.

Tennis superstar Naomi Osaka had a night out with her mom in the Big Apple on Monday ... hitting up a Japanese restaurant three weeks after announcing she's preggo with her first child.

The 25-year-old and Tamaki Osaka arrived at Nippon in Midtown for dinner ... one of the few times the mother-to-be has been spotted out in public since her big reveal.

No baby bump in sight, though -- Osaka rocked a baggy brown and green outfit for the occasion.

As we previously reported, Osaka told her fans about the major life update on Jan. 11 ... and TMZ Sports confirmed rapper Cordae is the father.

"I realize that life is so short and I don't take any moments for granted, everyday is a new blessing and adventure," Osaka said in her announcement. "I know that I have so much to look forward to in the future, one thing I'm looking forward to is for my kid to watch one of my matches and tell someone, 'that's my mom,' haha."

Real 92.3 radio host J Cruz says he was all set to get married on the Rolling Loud stage -- that is, until Offset made his grand onstage gesture to Cardi B back in 2018 ... stealing Cruz's thunder!!!

Cruz says his plans were set in stone -- he'd flown in family members, including his siblings and his soon-to-be wife was decked out in her wedding dress ... but the one thing he couldn't plan for was Offset’s impromptu move.

He shared the sad, yet funny-in-hindsight, story with GloRilla -- the “FNF” rapper's been mentored in the rap game by Cardi, so Cruz figured this was his best shot to unload his old wedding woes.

Cruz says his relative lack of celebrity prompted Rolling Loud officials to cut his nuptials altogether ... leaving him to face the embarrassment of his family and pile on therapy sessions shortly after.

The silver lining is Cardi and Offset are still going strong more than 5 years later ... welcoming another child since then and are set to star in a McDonald's Super Bowl commercial next month!!!

A Polish tourist in Mexico got a crash course in Mayan history after climbing a sacred pyramid ... locals were waiting for him when he got down, and one beat him with a stick.

The wild scene, which was captured on video, played out over the weekend at the famous Chichén Itzá archaeological site in Mexico's Yucatan.

In the viral footage, you see the tourist coming down the Kukulkan pyramid's steps ... and when he gets to the bottom, he's confronted by an angry mob ... including a shirtless man with a huge stick who bonks the tourist on the head as others show their displeasure.

The issue for locals ... the Mayan temple is considered one of the New Seven Wonders of the World and it's illegal to climb the pyramid.

The tourist is reportedly from Poland, and was arrested Saturday and released after 12 hours in custody.

Adding insult to injury, the tourist was also slapped with a fine of $5,000 pesos ... but the stick to the head's gotta hurt worse.

Jason Derulo is facing a new challenge ahead of his big Super Bowl performance -- no, not a TikTok challenge ... he recently suffered a nasty injury and now he's walking on a cane.

A Source familiar tells TMZ ... the "Wiggle" singer was injured playing basketball 3 weeks ago. Apparently, he was going up for a rebound and wound up landing on someone's foot ... he now has a small break in his foot and a torn ligament to boot.

He was lucky enough to avoid surgery, but he did have stem cells injected, which help speed up recovery time.

As of now ... Jason's going to physical therapy daily and is getting around with the help of a cane.

Of course, this couldn't be worse timing for Jason. ICYMI, he and The Black Keys were announced as this year's headliners of the NFL TikTok Tailgate ... which is supposed to go down prior to the big game.

Our sources say, although he may not be fully recovered for the performance, he will power through it, come hell or high water.

Philly legend, Ricky Watters believes the Eagles have the quarterback edge over an ailing Patrick Mahomes, who's nursing a high ankle sprain. But, it's razor close and the former NFL MVP is still incredibly dangerous!

"I think you can say that [Eagles have QB advantage], but Mahomes, he been playing, even with his ankle sprain, he's still great!" Watters told Babcock on the "TMZ Sports" TV show (airs weeknights on FS1).

"That's what's so crazy about him. He's such a great quarterback and I think he will feel better because he will have some time to heal up and I'm sure they're gonna be working that ankle over and over all the way up to game time."

Of course, the 27-year-old Super Bowl champ was injured during the Divisional round game against the Jaguars ... still managing to throw for 326 yards and 2 touchdowns against the Bengals. Mahomes also ran critical yards in the waning moments of the game, setting up the game-winning field goal.

Speaking of the injury, Ricky says he's beyond impressed with Mahomes' toughness ... but at the end of the day, the 5x Pro Bowler played with the Eagles, so there's no question about who he's rooting for come Super Sunday.

"That's the worst ankle sprain you can have is a high ankle sprain so for [Mahomes] to do what he's doing, he's a warrior and I love him as well. I really do, so it's really hard to go against him because I love him so much, I love watching him play but you know, I gotta go with my Eagles. You know I gotta see the Eagles fly, baby."

As for Jalen Hurts, Watters is blown away by how well he's played this season.

"[Jalen] does not look like a 24-year-old, that's for sure. He looks like a well-seasoned veteran," Ricky told us ... before explaining why Hurts is so damn hard to contain.

Watters won a Super Bowl in 1995 ... so he knows what it takes to win the big game. We asked him what advice he'd give to the Philly players.

American actress Heather Matarazzo was 18 years old when she first played the role of Lilly Moscovitz -- the jealous and insecure private school girl who is besties with a princess -- in "Princess Diaries" back in 2001.

Heather shared the big screen with Anne Hathaway as the responsible, nice and at times under-the-radar princess, Mia Thermopolis, the legendary Julie Andrews as the loving yet strict Queen and Mia's grandmother, Queen Clarisse.

In 2004, Matarazoo reprised her role in "Princess Diaries 2." You might also recall seeing her as Martha Meeks In "Scream 3" back in 2000, which she brought back just last year for "Scream 5."

Cindy Williams, made famous for her portrayal of Shirley on the hugely popular "Laverne & Shirley" has died.

A family statement Monday announced her death, "The passing of our kind, hilarious mother, Cindy Williams, has brought us insurmountable sadness that could never truly be expressed.” It continues, “Knowing and loving her has been our joy and privilege. She was one of a kind, beautiful, generous and possessed a brilliant sense of humor and a glittering spirit that everyone loved.”

Williams played alongside Penny Marshall on the popular sitcom for it's 8 seasons from 1976 to 1983. "Laverne & Shirley" was a spin-off of "Happy Days."

The show had a ton of success, at one point becoming the most-watched sitcom in The United States and netting 6 Golden Globes nominations and one Emmy nomination.

Williams left "Laverne & Shirley" during the 8th season when she became pregnant. However, her career saw her take on projects on Broadway, make guest appearances on shows like "8 Simple Rules" and even reunite with Penny Marshall on an episode of "Sam & Cat" in 2013.

We got Cindy out in NYC in 2015 talking about "Laverne & Shirley" memories.

Cindy was 75.

More first responders have now been fired in the wake of Tyre Nichols' death ... and this time it's a fire lieutenant and two EMTs who responded to the scene.

The Memphis Fire Department announced Monday it fired three members of Engine 55 ... Lieutenant Michelle Whitaker and EMTs Robert Long and JaMicheal Sandridge for violating numerous policies and protocols during Tyre's arrest.

The department says Engine 55 was dispatched to the scene, and when they got there Tyre was on the ground in handcuffs leaning against a police car.

MFD says their investigation concluded the EMTs, who were called for a person being pepper sprayed, failed to conduct an adequate patient assessment on Tyre ... and after their initial interaction with him, they requested an ambulance, which got there about 15 minutes after EMTs arrived.

All the while, the Fire Department says Lt. Whitaker remained in the fire engine with the driver.

MFD says both EMTs and Lt. Whitaker "violated numerous MFD policies and protocols" and they've all been fired.

As you know, Memphis police brutally beat Tyre and he complained of shortness of breath while being arrested ... he was taken to a hospital where 3 days later, he died. The 5 cops involved in the arrest have been fired and charged with murder.

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy will be sidelined at least six months after tearing his UCL in the NFC Championship game on Sunday ... this according to multiple reports.

Purdy -- the 49ers' final pick (262nd overall) in the 2022 NFL Draft -- suffered the elbow injury as the Niners were down 7-0 in the first quarter of the game ... when he was hit by Eagles linebacker Haason Reddick while trying to make a pass.

Reddick hit Purdy in his throwing arm ... causing the football to come out.

The play was initially ruled an incomplete pass, but the referees reviewed it and determined Purdy fumbled the football, which was recovered by Eagles defensive lineman Linval Joseph.

ESPN's Adam Schefter confirmed the seriousness of the injury minutes ago ... saying Purdy will be out until at least July ... and he's currently getting a second opinion to figure out if he needs surgery.

The injury was devastating for Purdy ... who officially took over under center for the Niners in Week 14 after both Trey Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo went down with injuries earlier in the season.

Brock's backup, Josh Johnson, entered the game on Sunday -- but JJ was removed after suffering a concussion, which forced Kyle Shanahan to go back to an injured Purdy.

Purdy could barely throw -- he finished the game with only four passing attempts and 23 passing yards, and the Eagles won 31-7, advancing to Super Bowl LVII in Arizona.

Kanye West's presidential aspirations don't come cheap -- just ask his campaign, which paid Milo Yiannopoulos tens of thousands last year ... while reimbursing Nick Fuentes for a few expenses, as well.

According to FEC filings obtained and viewed by TMZ, Kanye 2020 -- his official presidential committee that appears to still be active -- shelled out a whopping $40,000 to the alt-right media personality ... with whom Ye recently cut ties amid his anti-Semitic spiral.

The docs show that Milo was paid this amount for "Campaign Wrap Up Services" ... with the cash getting dispersed about a week or so before Christmas 2022. That would seem to line up with what we were seeing at the time publicly ... Milo tagging along with Ye throughout much of the fall.

That's not the end of Milo's payday, though ... the filings also show a separate $9,955 that was paid to him by the Kanye's campaign in November for what they describe as "Domain Transfer."

Keep in mind ... Milo was claiming in early December that Ye actually owed him $116k for campaign consulting -- but our Ye sources said nothing was ever in writing.

On top of this, the FEC docs also show that Nick Fuentes was paid back by the campaign for some travel costs ... totaling $14,719.87. You'll recall -- NF was on Ye's national press tour for a while too, going city to city with Kanye for months on end.

ABC is wasting no time in moving on from T.J. Holmes and Amy Robach ... dropping their names from the show they anchored together before their romance sparked their exit.

'GMA3' had a noticeably different intro for Monday's episode, with the announcer saying ... "Now from Times Square, here's what you need to know."

When T.J. and Amy were anchoring the daily news program, before their romantic relationship changed the game, the show intro used to go like this ... "Now from Times Square, Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes with what you need to know."

TMZ broke the story ... T.J. and Amy officially left ABC Friday, signing exit agreements with the network following an "extremely contentious" mediation. Both leave with compensation packages.

T.J. and Amy had been off the air since Dec. 2, sidelined while ABC investigated their relationship, but their names remained part of the 'GMA3' intro, even as recently as Friday.

DeMarco Morgan and Rhiannon Ally anchored the show again today, as they've been doing for weeks, but ABC hasn't added their names to the intro ... at least not yet.

Two primates at the Dallas Zoo have allegedly been ape-napped -- at least that's what the zoo is saying ... just the latest in a string of bizarre animal-related disappearances.

Zoo officials notified Dallas PD Monday that a couple of their emperor tamarin monkeys were missing from their habitats ... and worse, they claim there's evidence of tampering in the restricted areas that house the creatures -- so they believe monkeys were taken.

The cops are already looking into it, and because it's an open investigation ... not many other details are available.

You'll recall ... this is the same zoo where a clouded leopard somehow escaped its own enclosure just earlier this month, prompting a shutdown of the place and a massive search.

The leopard ended up being found on the grounds soon after, but zoo officials claimed afterward that its habitat had been cut through ... suggesting someone let the big cat out intentionally.

There are two other strange animal incidents that have occurred at the Dallas Zoo of late -- including another alleged breach in an enclosure housing langur monkeys ... as well as an endangered vulture being found dead at the facility, which cops called suspicious.