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Beto O'Rourke believes we have a gun problem in the U.S. -- it's as simple as that -- and deflecting blame onto movies, video games and mental health is part of the crisis.

The presidential hopeful and major proponent for gun control is in L.A. Friday as concern and controversy swirls around the release of "Joker" ... so we asked him about it.

Beto tells TMZ he hasn't seen the film yet to speak on whether he thinks it's dangerous, but he's met with families of victims of the 2012 Aurora, CO mass shooting ... and supports and understands their issues with it.

The Texas politician says we all have a responsibility to address gun violence, but people keep trying to go about it the wrong way ... when the problem is clear as day.

Beto says bluntly ... Americans have too many guns and it's too easy to buy "weapons of war" and use them against one another -- even without a background check.

He says that problem has nothing to do with violent movies or TV shows, or mental healthcare access challenges, because as he points out ... other countries have those too.

The L.A. Sparks have fired General Manager Penny Toler after she admitted using the n-word in a post-game rant following a playoff loss.

"Toler was relieved of her duties and will no longer be with the organization, effective immediately," the Sparks said in a statement.

"A national search will begin immediately to identify the next general manager of the Sparks. Managing Partner and Governor Eric Holoman will assume the duties in the interim."

As we previously reported, Toler entered the locker room following a Sept. 19th loss to the Connecticut Sun and unleashed in an emotional tirade.

Toler later spoke to ESPN and acknowledged using the word -- but insists it was not directed as a slur toward one of her players.

"It's unfortunate I used that word," Toler said ... "I shouldn't. Nobody should. ... But you know, like I said, I'm not here to defend word by word by word what I said. I know some of the words that I'm being accused of are embellished."

"Did I give a speech that I hoped would get our team going? Yes."

Despite the controversy, the Sparks are praising Toler for what she accomplished during her 20 seasons with the franchise.

"Penny is a foundational figure in the growth of the WNBA and helped lead our franchise to perennial playoff success and multiple titles."

"We wish her nothing but the best moving forward."

Ronnie Ortiz-Magro from "Jersey Shore" is in police custody after allegedly striking Jen Harley, chasing her with a knife and, eventually, forcing cops to tase him ... TMZ has learned.

Ronnie and his GF, Jen -- who've been on and off due to several violent incidents -- got into another heated argument early Friday morning, shortly after 2:30 AM, at an Airbnb they're renting in L.A. ... according to our law enforcement sources.

Bam Margera won't be sentenced to a single day in jail for his hotel trespassing case ... if he successfully completes drug treatment, but he's not getting off scot-free.

The troubled "Jackass" star cut a deal with L.A. prosecutors ... allowing him to dodge time behind bars. Bam pled no contest to 1-count of trespassing for his August arrest ... when he refused to leave the Luxe Hotel.

However, there are a couple of conditions to the deal. The judge sentenced Margera to a 90-day controlled substance treatment program, and he's been ordered to stay away from the hotel during his probation period.

As for that probation ... the judge ruled Bam's trespassing arrest violated his probation from his DUI case last year, and as a result, hit the reset button. That means he's staring down a fresh 3 years of probation.

Diahann Carroll -- the iconic, pioneering actress for African-Americans -- and star of the groundbreaking sitcom, "Julia," died Friday from cancer at her home in Los Angeles.

Diahann -- who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1997 -- was a native New Yorker, born in the Bronx, who first made it big on Broadway. She won a Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical in 1962 for her role in "No Strings."

Her huge break in Hollywood came as the star of NBC's "Julia" ... the first network series to have a black actress as the lead character. Diahann played a widowed nurse who was raising a son. The show premiered in 1968 and ran for 3 seasons -- and Diahann earned an Emmy nomination and won a Golden Globe for the role.

Tyga's idea of a cozy date? Don't ask Kylie Jenner, ask the mystery brunette he was hanging with Thursday night as they most likely got the crap scared outta them.

The "Rack City" rapper hit up Universal Studio's Halloween Horror Nights -- arriving Thursday night with bodyguards and his lady friend. They got there around 9 PM and stayed through midnight. Tyga and the woman were pretty tight throughout the night.

Hey, ya gotta grab someone when the ghouls and monsters pop up outta nowhere.

We're told Tyga and his date went through ALL the mazes -- pretty impressive in a 3-hour span. Despite the scary setting, he kept her laughing plenty too.

By the look of things ... Tyga's paying no attention to reports he and Kylie were rekindling an old flame on the heels of her split with Travis Scott. She immediately tried to squash that rumor. He doubled down on that by posting a blue cap, insinuating media outlets were lying about Kylie and him.

AOC was taken aback when a Trump supporter showed up at her town hall meeting, trolling the congresswoman by suggesting the solution to climate change was eating babies.

The woman, who wore a shirt emblazoned with the words, "Save the Planet, Eat the Children," seemed mentally disturbed at first, but as she ranted her message it became apparent she was a climate change denier.

The meeting in Queens, covered by C-SPAN, came to a grinding halt as the woman groused, "Even if we were to bomb Russia, we still have too many people, too much pollution. So we have to get rid of the babies. That's a big problem. Just stopping having babies is not enough. We need to eat the babies."

The woman was escorted out, AOC kept her cool ... and the town hall meeting continued. An extreme right wing group that's endorsed Trump claims the woman is one of their operatives and they planned the whole confrontation with AOC.

AOC later tweeted, "Turns out the woman yelling was a Trump supporter," and then added, "Doesn't rule out potential mental issue."

Christina Aguilera got emotional talking about her experience with domestic violence ... and hailed a women's shelter as heroic for the work it does to help survivors like her.

The singer was accepting a "Community Hero" award Thursday in Las Vegas at a gala for The Shade Tree Shelter, but she paid tribute right back to the organization ... as she shared her personal account of escaping domestic abuse growing up.

Christina told the audience if it wasn't for her loving grandmother, she would have ended up needing a place and a resource like The Shade Tree -- which provides safe shelter to homeless and abused women and children in crisis.

Justin Bieber's not playing with PETA -- he's firing back hard at the animal rights org after it slammed him for dropping $35k on 2 exotic cats ... telling them to suck it.

JB adopted a pair of Savannah kittens a little more than a month ago -- which he named Sushi and Tuna -- and revealed the brother and sister felines on Instagram as "my children" ... much to the dismay of PETA.

It released a statement chastising his exotic pets purchase, grousing he should have adopted cats from a local shelter. Justin caught wind of the criticism ... and went off.

In a series of IG Stories, Bieber first posted a screenshot of an article about the backlash but added his own caption -- "PETA can suck it."

Stacey Dash will NOT be prosecuted in her domestic violence case ... cause TMZ's learned her case has been dropped.

Prosecutors tell TMZ they dropped the case because the injury -- a single scratch -- was minor and there's no way of knowing if Stacey caused it. Prosecutors also say if Stacey had any physical contact with her husband it was "incidental" on her part.

TMZ broke the story ... Stacy was busted last weekend in Florida for domestic violence after getting into a squabble with her new husband, Jeffrey Marty. We obtained the 911 call in which you hear Stacey tell the operator she's being assaulted by her husband.

Ric Flair has touched down in Los Angeles ... and there's one thing on his mind -- BEATING UP HULK HOGAN!!!

The Nature Boy tells us he's not only healthy and ready to get back in the ring (in fact, he says he's been by cleared by doctors) ... but he's also back on great terms with WWE.

Remember, Ric  told us in September he had some problems with WWE superstar Becky Lynch using the nickname, "The Man" ... because Rick says he owns the rights to that term and thinks the WWE should pay him for it.

But, when we saw Ric at LAX on Thursday with his wife, Wendy Barlow, Flair said things are definitely cool now ... and he chalks it all up to a case of "agree to disagree."

Stan Lee's high-rise condo in San Francisco has just hit the market ... no super-spidey powers required to get up there.

The estate belonging to the late comic book god is unloading his pied-à-terre inside the luxurious Four Seasons. The 1-bedroom, 1-bathroom pad is a cozy 792 square feet ... call it your weekend getaway place, assuming you can plunk down the $1.35 million asking price.

The east-facing unit features expansive windows so you can really enjoy picturesque, unobstructed views of downtown. The condo may be cozy ... but it feels massive, thanks to high ceilings and opulent finishes.

Gennady Golovkin says Canelo Alvarez should change his name to Amarillo Alvarez ... because the dude is straight-up SCARED to fight him a 3rd time.

(Note for all of our non-Spanish speaking friends, "amarillo" means yellow.)

GGG is set to fight Sergiy Derevyanchenko on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden ... but a lot of people are wondering why he's not gearing up to complete the trilogy with Canelo instead.

So, we asked Gennady ... and he essentially told us his team tried like hell to come to terms for a 3rd fight, but Canelo was ducking the smoke like he was Floyd Mayweather.

"Last time he said 'No,'" Golovkin tells TMZ Sports ... "Everybody push him, he said 'No.' I can't bring him!"

This adorable young girl is the daughter of Kenyan parents but was actually born in Mexico. After being raised in Kenya, she moved to the U.S. for college ... before starting a career in showbiz.

Her early gigs included working on production crews for several movies, including "The Constant Gardener," and she credits the film's star, Ralph Fiennes, as someone who inspired her to pursue acting.

Pursue she did, by first starring in a short film titled "East River" before moving back to Kenya and appearing on the country's TV series "Shuga." Then, she moved back to the states and enrolled in a master's degree program in acting at Yale.

Right after graduating, she scored her breakthrough role in the 2014 Oscars' Best Picture winner ... for which she also won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Since then, she's been in 'Star Wars' movies, "Black Panther," and a film by Jordan Peele.

Ronnie Ortiz-Magro is back with Jen Harley ... again.

We got the on-again, off-again couple Thursday afternoon after dining out at IL Pastaio in Bev Hills ... and the 'Jersey Shore' star told our photog he's patched things up with Jen after their latest breakup.

As we reported ... Jen moved out of Ronnie's Vegas crib last month after accusing him of cheating, a claim people close to Ron strongly denied.

Here's something you've never seen before ... Tim Tebow got dominated in a push-up battle -- all while he was spending time with inmates at a Texas prison!!!

Tim -- who's been preaching religion to people behind bars for YEARS -- visited the Alfred D. Hughes Unit in Gatesville, TX on Thursday to talk with the guys.

But, at some point ... Tim put down the mic and put his arms to the test -- 'cause the ex-NFL QB went one-on-one with an inmate in a push-up contest ... and got DESTROYED!!!

The former Heisman Trophy winner actually threw up some amazing numbers ... in about a minute, he got his body up and down 71 times.