Chris Brown is NOT getting the hell outta Dodge after cops released him ... instead he's hanging around Paris for one good reason -- money, and lots of it.

TMZ's learned the singer is right in the middle of shooting a music video. He was seen performing Wednesday on a Paris street. We're told he's honoring his commitment to the project before he takes off Thursday.

We're told Chris dropped 6 figures on the music vid -- for an upcoming song called "Back to Love" -- so it's pretty important to make it happen. Our sources say in addition to the video, he's also working on another project with a dance studio.

Earlier in the day, Brown was seen publicly for the first time since his arrest as he left the Mandarin Oriental Hotel -- the same place where the alleged rape went down. He had nothing but love for everybody.

As we reported ... he was arrested Monday night by French police on possible rape and narcotics charges, but got released the same day without conditions. Chris was allowed to keep his passport and return home, but he's clearly not in a hurry to flee.

He's denied any wrongdoing and says he's going to sue his accuser for defamation.

Nathan Phillips doesn't feel the need to sit down and hash things out with Nick Sandmann about their Lincoln Memorial face-off -- instead, he'd prefer a MUCH bigger conversation take place.

Nathan was on "TMZ Live" Wednesday, responding to the Catholic high school student's "Today" interview ... where he said he wanted a sit down with Nathan. Doesn't sound like it's gonna happen though, because Nathan made it clear the issues go beyond them now.

Phillips believes his incident with Sandmann -- which has sparked debate, outrage and lots of hand-wringing -- has elevated to such a level of importance that it should be handled by the 2 major groups represented ... the Catholic church and the indigenous people.

As for President Trump siding with the kids from Covington Catholic, Nathan seems to have mixed feelings and went with the ol' "If you can't say something nice" adage.

As we reported ... Sandmann was interviewed by Savannah Guthrie and claims his infamous smirking wasn't meant to be disrespectful to Phillips -- it was simply his way of containing the situation.

Sandmann also refused to offer an apology for his actions, but did express regret for not walking away from the confrontation ... and said he'd be willing to chat with Phillips about it.

The elder thinks they have bigger fish to fry, though.

1:35 PM PT -- The store owners tell us Chris sent them a check on Monday for the full amount he owed them. And yes, this time they made sure the check cleared before informing prosecutors.

Chris Hansen is off the hook for allegedly bouncing checks -- which got him arrested in Connecticut -- because prosecutors dropped the charges ... TMZ has learned.

The former host of "To Catch a Predator" came up with the nearly $13,000 he owed to a mom-and-pop shop in Stamford, CT ... according to the court. As a result, prosecutors decided to drop the whole matter. 

As we've reported ... Hansen was arrested and booked for larceny after allegedly bouncing 2 checks to the store owners. 

Hansen’s attorney, Philip Russell, tells TMZ … Chris was in court Wednesday for a hearing, but he didn't have to plead to any charges after paying his debt in full.

As for when Hansen settled the tab, we'd assume he paid up after his arrest -- but when we posed that question to the court clerk we got a "no comment." 

Originally Published -- 9:34 AM PST

Chris Brown is stepping out in public for the first time since being arrested for allegedly raping a woman in a Paris hotel -- something he called total BS -- but today he's spreading a message of love. 

Brown was leaving the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Paris Wednesday -- the same place where the alleged rape went down -- and he had just a few simple words to share, "I love everybody."

As we reported ... Chris was arrested Monday night by French police on possible rape and narcotics charges. The alleged victim told Closer Magazine Brown brutally and violently assaulted her for 25-30 minutes in a dressing room after a night of partying. 

Although prosecutors initially told us Chris would have to answer in court and possibly surrender his passport, he was released the same day of the arrest with no conditions. He still has his passport and is free to return to the U.S.

Sources familiar with the Parisian legal system tell us there are signs the case fell apart.

Brown's attorney, Raphael Chiche, vowed Tuesday -- Chris would file a defamation case against the woman.

Photos from inside R. Kelly's alleged "sex cult" recording studio in Chicago have just been released ... showing proof of code violations and plenty of evidence someone may have been living there.

The photos were taken by Chicago officials when they raided the building on suspicion the unit may be used as a permanent residence. Check out the gallery ... it's a completely bizarre scene inside the studio that was heavily featured in "Surviving R. Kelly." 

During one point in the documentary, the family of one of Kelly's alleged victims showed up at the property to try and rescue their daughter. 

As we reported ... the studio was hit with a laundry list of building code violations, and Kelly is being barred from using the space for anything other than a recording studio from 9 AM to 5 PM.

BlocBoy JB is following suit with a lot of other artists by filing his own suit against the creators of Fortnite for allegedly stealing a dance he popularized ... TMZ has learned. 

BB JB just sued Epic Games -- the company behind Fortnite Battle Royale -- for allegedly ripping off his dance the "Shoot" and throwing it into their game with a different name ... the "Hype" dance.

According to the docs, obtained by TMZ, BlocBoy claims he's the creator of the dance, and that Epic Games didn't get permission to use it in Fortnite. Once again, he claims that while he hadn't registered a copyright on the dance when Fortnite used it ... he says he's in the process of locking it down now.

He's being repped by David L. Hecht and Sandy Lal.

Lots of other rappers and social media figures have filed similar suits -- including one Alfonso Ribeiro, who's got beef with the "Carlton" dance being used in the game, as well as Backpack Kid, who claims the game creators stole his move, "The Floss" -- and they all seem to have the same claim ... we popularized a dance, and therefore its ours. 

Good luck, fellas.

Busta Rhymes' New Year got off to a heated start -- he came pretty close to blows with a guy who was not down with Busta hitting on his wife ... so we're told.

Witnesses at the scuffle tell TMZ ... the rapper was sitting in his car in Times Square in the wee hours of New Year's Day when a man and his wife walked by. We're told the wife said "hi" to Busta, but the husband didn't like Busta's response -- he allegedly invited her to hang with him in his ride.

We're told the man had words for Busta, who got out of his car and began arguing with him ... which is where the video picks up. Things escalated pretty quickly, and the guys got face-to-face and grabbed each other before Busta's security broke it up.

Everyone eventually walked away, but we're told cops showed up and talked to the man who got into it with Busta. There are no signs any arrests were made during the incident.

We've reached out to Busta's rep, but no word back yet.

Confrontations like this are nothing new for Busta. We broke the story ... he snapped on a dude in Miami in October 2017 and looked ready to brawl before his crew stopped him.

There's also his infamous gym freakout in 2015 ... where he threw a protein shake at an employee.

New year ... similar Busta.

Anthony Scaramucci's time on "Celebrity Big Brother" ended up being even shorter than his White House tenure but still ... he says it still helped him feel like an Average Joe. 

President Trump's ex-White House Communications Director -- for a now infamous 11 days -- made a surprise appearance in Switzerland Wednesday after mysteriously exiting the 'BB' house. The Mooch appeared on Tuesday night's episode ... but it was clear from the online live feed he had left sometime on Monday.

We know from the episode he wasn't voted out by housemates, but Mooch is keeping tight-lipped about his exit after just 6 days. In true reality star fashion ... he dropped a "make sure you tune-in" line.

There's a silver lining though -- Scaramucci says signing up for 'Big Brother' brought him down from his ivory tower of snobbishness and elitism ... and got him back in touch with his blue-collar roots.

He's not great at keeping a job, but at least he's entertaining about it! 

Kendra Wilkinson and Chad Johnson have moved on from their exes ... and are hooking up with each other.

Hugh Hefner's former famous GF and the "Ex on the Beach" star -- best known for being the villain on JoJo's season of "The Bachelorette" -- were spotted together leaving Rocco's Tavern in L.A. Monday night ... hand-in-hand with big smiles on their faces.

We're told they were inside for about an hour on what looked like a date night, and it appeared to go pretty well.

We broke the story ... Kendra's having a difficult time getting officially divorced from her estranged husband, Hank Baskett. The court rejected the judgment docs early this month because there was an error ... for a second time.

As for Chad, he's doing the reality show thing again on the MTV series ... which also features his ex, Maddie Sullivan.

Looks like Chad and Kendra are both down with a fresh start.

United Airlines pilots had to deal with a shattered windshield at 40,000 feet, and although the airline said bird strike caused the emergency ... one passenger claims there was a massive cover-up.

United's flight 931 left Chicago bound for London on Oct. 27, 2018, and about 3 hours into the trip the pilot announced the windshield was splintered and they had to land immediately ... according to a passenger named Theodore Liaw.

In his lawsuit against United, Theodore says he and the other passengers aboard the damaged 767 had to "white knuckle" it for 30 minutes ... while the pilot and co-pilot rapidly went from cruising altitude to Goose Bay Airport in Newfoundland, Canada.

Theodore claims United's customer support agents told them a "bird hit the windshield," but he calls that a big fat lie, and claims he got the truth straight from the pilot during 8 hours on the ground. According to the suit, he asked the pilot and co-pilot if they'd hit something, and they "chuckled" and said that was impossible because "there's nothing alive at 40,000 feet."

In docs, obtained by TMZ, Theodore says the pilots openly confessed it was most likely caused by a mechanic over-tightening windshield bolts. They also admitted 2 of 3 layers of the glass were destroyed and they were nearly sucked out of the cockpit ... according to the suit. 

Theodore is suing United for negligence. He says he hurt his back in the emergency landing and he's suffered horrible plane crash nightmares ever since the flight.

United tells us, "Safety is our top priority and we diverted the aircraft due to an issue with the cockpit window. The aircraft landed safely, and we are continuing to investigate this matter. Due to the pending litigation, we’re unable to comment further.”