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Presidential candidate Julian Castro says the NBA should seize the opportunity to push America's constitutional principles in China, even if it ends up costing the league millions.

The Democratic hopeful came on "TMZ Live" Wednesday to discuss the international feud between the league and the Republic, over Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey's comment supporting Hong Kong protesters.

Julian firmly believes the NBA -- and other American companies doing biz in China -- have to draw an ethical line in the sand ... even if that means pressuring a foreign country to adopt America's ideals about freedom of speech and the right to protest.

Post Malone is making good on his $20,000 bet with YG ... finally paying up 9 months after his beloved Dallas Cowboys lost to the L.A. Rams in the NFL playoffs.

Posty had his manager, Dre London, personally deliver the cash to YG in a manila envelope Monday in Los Angeles. The handoff went down on the set of Tyla Yaweh's music video shoot for his collab with YG, "I Think I Luv Her."

As you know ... Post Malone is a huge Cowboys fan, and he put a ton of action on their playoff game, back in January, against the Rams. YG's a big supporter -- the Compton rapper sits in an endzone suite at pretty much all of the Rams' home games -- and loves talking trash to his opponents.

President Trump is BLASTING Steve Kerr ... calling him a hypocrite who acted like a scared little boy when asked to comment on the relationship between the NBA and China.

If you missed it, Rockets GM Daryl Morey sparked an international crap show when he Tweeted support for protesters in Hong Kong ... infuriating China.

Since Morey fired off the Tweet, the NBA has done virtually everything to get back in China's good graces ... with team owners, the commish and even James Harden apologizing.

Fast-forward to earlier this week ... Warriors head coach Steve Kerr -- who's extremely outspoken when it comes to American politics -- was asked if he had a comment on the China/NBA situation ... and he didn't exactly take a hard stance.

"Um, actually, I don't, I mean, it's a really, it's a really bizarre international story, and a lot of us don't know what to make of it, so um, it's something I'm reading about, just like everybody is. But, I'm not gonna comment further."

Rihanna is opening up on her decision to turn down the NFL's invitation to perform at the Super Bowl last year ... saying she "couldn't dare do that" to Colin Kaepernick.

It was widely reported RiRi rejected an offer to perform on Feb. 3 2019 for the SB 53 halftime show -- the biggest entertainment event in the world -- because she believed the controversial NFL QB was being blackballed.

In her cover story with Vogue, the singer confirmed she was taking a stand against the league.

"I couldn’t dare do that. For what? Who gains from that? Not my people," Rihanna says ... "I just couldn’t be a sellout. I couldn’t be an enabler."

"There’s things within that organization that I do not agree with at all, and I was not about to go and be of service to them in any way.”

City Girls member JT is one step closer to freedom ... we've learned the rapper is out of prison, and finishing out her sentence in a halfway house.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... JT was just transferred from FCI Tallahassee to a halfway house in the Atlanta area as she awaits her March 7 release.

It's a huge change of scenery for JT after more than a year behind bars ... inmates in halfway houses get tons of extra benefits, like being able to leave the house during the day to work, and visit family and friends.

The 76ers are explaining why 2 fans with "Free Hong Kong" signs were kicked out of Tuesday's game against a Chinese basketball team ... saying the couple was a "disruption of the fan experience."

A man and woman -- holding signs and wearing pro-Hong Kong protester shirts -- were escorted out of the Wells Fargo Center in Philly during the first half of the Sixers' game against the Guangzhou Loong Lions.

The Sixers released a statement Wednesday breaking down the Wells Fargo Center staff's decision to eject the fans ... claiming they were warned several times to keep the peace.

"At last evening’s game, following multiple complaints from guests and verbal confrontations with others in attendance, two individuals were warned by Wells Fargo Center staff about their continuing disruption of the fan experience," the team said in a statement.

“Ultimately, the decision was made by Wells Fargo Center personnel to remove the guests from the premises, which was accomplished without incident.”

Wells Fargo Center officials say they warned the couple 3 separate times before kicking them out.

On the way out of the arena, one of the ejected fans reportedly told a local news outlet that security said, "no foul language, no politics."

Kim Kardashian has another presidential notch in her belt, but she brought some backup this time -- her sis, Kourtney Kardashian -- for a tete-a-tete with Armenia's big cheese.

The eldest Kardashians met President Armen Sarkissian Tuesday night ... breaking bread with him, and a small group, at the presidential palace.

Kim was business chic for the meeting -- a stylish suede-looking suit and diamond necklace ... while Kourt went with a black suit and a white blouse. Translation: Classy.

Matt Lauer is firing back against a bombshell claim of rape against him by an ex-NBC employee, saying all the sexual encounters they had were consensual and mutual.

The disgraced "Today" show outcast penned a letter Wednesday in response to a salacious claim made in Ronan Farrow's new book -- in which a woman named Brooke Nevils says Matt anally raped her in his hotel room at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

Nevils -- a former NBC producer -- claims she and Matt had several drinks together one night, and that on two separate occasions ... she went up to his hotel room. During that second visit, Nevils alleges Matt pounced on her, put her on the bed and penetrated her.

In the book, Ronan says Nevils told him she repeatedly said "no" during the alleged rape.

Matt says that account is "categorically false" though, going on to explain that the episode was completely wanted and reciprocated on both sides ... which carried over into what he describes as an "extramarital affair" back in New York.

In his letter, Matt writes ... "In a new book, it is alleged that an extramarital, but consensual, sexual encounter I have previously admitted having, was in fact an assault. It is categorically false, ignores the facts, and defies common sense."

Antonio Brown says the Patriots are gonna have to cough up the money he believes they owe him ... and he wouldn't mind catching some TDs for them in the process.

The controversial NFL superstar has made it clear that he wants back in the league after getting cut by New England last month ... and on Wednesday, he told his followers to "tell [the Patriots] to call me" during a mid-workout live stream on IG.

"They still gotta pay me, might as well let me earn it," Brown said.

Of course, Brown filed grievances against the Patriots earlier this month in an attempt to get his $9 million signing bonus and remaining guaranteed salary from New England.

The late great Grumpy Cat still has one of her 9 lives left ... to fire off a lawsuit at Internet stores allegedly selling counterfeit merchandise.

The late feline's company -- Grumpy Cat Limited -- is suing to stop corporations and all other entities from producing and selling rip-off gear featuring GC's famous name and furry mug.

According to the legal docs ... the official site for Grumpy Cat t-shirts, hats, coffee mugs and more is grumpycats.com, so it wants the court to help shut down all other Internet shops hawking copycat items.

A banner promoting the Lakers-Nets preseason game in China -- featuring LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis -- was torn down Wednesday ... in the wake of the international crap storm sparked by the Rockets GM's support of protesters in Hong Kong.

The teams were scheduled to play a preseason game Thursday in Shanghai ... but that was before general manager Daryl Morey tweeted, "Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong" ... igniting an international incident that led to China basically cutting ties with the Rockets and the NBA.

The Lakers-Nets game hasn't officially been canned ... but for those Chinese fans hoping to peep Bron, AD and Kyrie on the court ... the gigantic banner being ripped down ain't a good sign.

Kim Kardashian's had the clemency golden touch, but her support for the early release of "Making a Murderer" convict Brendan Dassey won't make any difference ... so says the governor who's making the call.

Dassey has been locked up for more than 13 years for the 2005 murder of photographer Teresa Halbach ... he was 16 at the time of the killing. Dassey's uncle, Steven Avery, was also charged with Halbach's murder.

Last week, Dassey's legal team issued a plea for clemency -- and Kim got behind the motion -- retweeting a handwritten letter from Dassey and saying, "Please @GovEvers Read this letter."

However, no matter how many followers Kim has -- about 62 million -- or how many other prisoners she's helped free ... Governor Evers won't treat Dassey any differently.

Justin Trudeau's mea culpa over his blackface scandal continues, but this time he's saying sorry face-to-face ... to a much younger audience.

The Canadian Prime Minister was a guest on a Facebook Watch show called "New Mom, Who Dis?" where he was asked questions by a small group of school children ... including a couple uncomfortable questions from black twin girls.

One of the twins first asks Trudeau why he painted his face brown, and he responds by admitting it was the wrong thing to do because it hurt people ... and he's learned that now.

But, then the other twin asks a follow-up -- "But, did you paint your nose and your hands brown?"

Trudeau says "yes" and repeats it was wrong and hurtful, and apologizes to all the kids and people he hurt. He also says he's used this as a teaching moment for his own kids ... urging them to be respectful toward each other and not tease or discriminate.

YouTube personality Trisha Paytas says his controversial coming out video is actually leading to something good ... scoring dates with hot guys!!!

We got the internet personality shopping on Melrose Monday and Trisha told us the backlash he's getting for saying he's "1,000 percent" transgender ain't stopping horny dudes from sliding into his DMs ... and he's already got a sex romp on his schedule!!!

In case you missed it ... Trisha started a firestorm this week when he came out as a transgender male in a YouTube video, with some folks taking issue with some of his wording and reasoning.

Trisha, who has already apologized for offending anyone in a lengthy and tear-filled video, took a ton of heat from fans who felt his coming out video was disrespectful to the transgender community. Many felt he didn't truly understand what it meant to be transgender.

If you're unfamiliar with Trisha's story ... he was born with female genitalia and has lived with female genitalia, but has always personally identified as a male.

As for Trisha ... he seems totally ready to take on the dating world as his true self.

Lil Peep's own decisions to use drugs and follow down a "destructive path" are to blame for his OD ... so says the tour company being sued by Peep's mom for the rapper's death.

A rep for First Access Entertainment tells TMZ ... Peep's accidental drug overdose was a terrible tragedy, but the company "consistently encouraged Peep to stop abusing drugs and to distance himself from the negative influence of the drug users and enablers."

At the end of the day, First Access says, "He was an adult who made his own decisions and opted to follow a different, more destructive path."

Charlie Brown isn't about to let Dolly Parton's theme park get away with using his famous Christmas tune -- at least not on the watch of the song's cowriter.

Lee Mendelson's production company is suing Dollywood for using the song "Christmas Time Is Here" in a play the amusement park puts on each year. Lee cowrote the song -- famously featured in "A Charlie Brown Christmas" -- and his production studio owns the copyright.

According to the docs, obtained by TMZ, Mendelson's company says it recently became aware Dollywood weaves the track into its stage play, "Twas the Night Before Christmas," which LM's team claims has been happening, without permission, since '07.

The use of the song is no secret ... you can find clips of the performance online, in which the cast sings the track. The iconic piano melody shows up as background music too.