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Prince William and Kate Middleton are doing just fine despite some bad optics making their relationship seem rocky ... at least that's the story our Royal sources are selling.

Sources directly connected to Will and Kate insist there's been no falling out between the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge ... this after signs of friction in their marriage.

As you know, Kate seemingly denied William's PDA attempt with a super-awkward shoulder shrug this week on TV, bringing comparisons to Donald Trump getting swatted away by Melania.

The sources insist the whole interaction was taken out of context from the rest of the TV special, and what most folks didn't see was Will and Kate being very affectionate and close-knit.

The bad optics didn't end there, because as we reported ... William and Kate showed up to the Royal Family's Christmas lunch in separate cars.

We're told the couple rode separately because Prince George and William needed to be at Buckingham Palace 30 minutes earlier for a special event -- which sources say will soon be made public, and explain the whole car situation.

The family certainly looks happy in their annual Christmas card. Still ... that's just a moment in time. Remember ... Princess Diana looked happy in her family Xmas card pics, and she was anything but.

Lil Pump is spreading holiday cheer for the people who need it most ... one corn dog at a time.

The rapper was out in Los Angeles Wednesday, hooking up the homeless with hot meals, cold drinks and warm clothes for the winter.

Lil Pump hit the streets of Skid Row, serving up corn dogs, turkey dogs, cheese dogs, french fries and lemonade ... and passing out jackets, pants and socks to 600 people.

Pump teamed up with a couple of companies for the good deed ... joining forces with My Friends House Foundation, Hot Dog on a Stick and his buddy, RD Whittington, the owner of luxury celeb car company Wires Only, who dropped $7,000 on the charity event.

If the carnival fare sounds different as far as givebacks go ... that's because we're told Lil Pump and RD wanted to pass out food that was nontraditional, so mission accomplished there.

This was no Mayweather vs. McGregor ...

UFC superstar Derrick Lewis told a boxer to PUT UP OR SHUT UP during an argument about MMA vs. boxing ... and the results did not go well for DL's opponent.

The 34-year-old heavyweight says he was working out in the gym on Wednesday, when the other man said, "He will knock me out because I’m a MMA fighter."

Lewis, not one for boring debates, told the guy to strap on the gloves and get in the ring ... and the rest -- well, just watch.

Lewis beats the guy up so badly, he almost punched him THROUGH THE ROPES!

Of course, Lewis -- aka "The Black Beast" -- is known as one of the toughest dudes in all of combat sports ... beating guys like Francis Ngannou, Alexander Volkov, Travis Browne and Roy Nelson.

British singer and songwriter Katie White gained fame a little over a decade ago while fronting the rock group The Ting Tings who released the hit-filled "We Started Nothing" album that included smashing singles like "Shut Up and Let Me Go," "Great DJ" and the uber-catchy anthem, "That's Not My Name."

Katie White started the onomatopoeia pop group with fellow musician Jules De Martino who was mostly seen on the drums during live performances while White focused on guitar and vocals.

After their freshman debut, The Ting Tings released a hand full of other groovy albums but none were as well-received as their first.

Joe Burrow says he's absolutely floored by the nearly $500,000 worth of donations to his hometown food bank ... but tells TMZ Sports he's already thinking of other ways to help.

23-year-old Burrow delivered a powerful speech after winning the Heisman Trophy on Saturday ... bringing national attention to some very serious issues.

“Coming from Southeast Ohio it’s a very impoverished area and the poverty rate is almost two times the national average," Burrow said.

"There’s so many people there that don’t have a lot and I’m up here for all those kids in Athens and Athens County that go home to not a lot of food on the table, hungry after school. You guys can be up here too."

America was so inspired by Joe's words ... thousands of people donated more than $458k to the Athens County Food Pantry.

Fresh off winning the most desired award in college football, Burrow joined the guys on the "TMZ Sports" TV show (airs nightly on FS1) ... where he says he was shocked his words kick-started a half-million-dollar campaign.

"It's been crazy. I didn't expect that at all," Burrow said. "I was just speaking from the heart and just trying to bring attention to an area that kinda gets lost in the mud."

Matt Barnes asked Dwyane Wade straight-up what it's like raising a gay son coming from a hyper-masculine NBA background ... and what D-Wade says is powerful stuff.

Dwyane and his wife, Gabrielle Union, have been publicly supportive of 12-year-old Zion (Wade's son from a previous relationship) over the past year ... even taking him to a Gay Pride Festival in Miami Beach last April.

So, when Wade appeared on Stephen Jackson and Barnes' "All The Smoke" podcast this week ... Matt asked Dwyane about his approach to parenting a gay son.

That's when Dwyane delivered a powerful message ... saying Zion essentially forced him to learn about accepting people for who they are.

"I had to look myself in the mirror when my son at the time was 3 years old and me and my wife started having conversations about us noticing that he wasn't on the boy vibe that Zaire [Wade's other son] was on," Wade said.

"And, I had to look myself in the mirror and say, 'What if your son come home and tell you he's gay? What are you going to do? How are you going to be? How are you going to act? It ain't about him. He knows who he is. It's about you. Who are you?'"

Wade says that conversation with himself wasn't easy ... the 37-year-old told Barnes and Jackson he grew up "ignorant" and had to lean on his wife to open his eyes.

"I grew up with the same perspective as a lot of these people out here that's a little ignorant. I grew up with a similar perspective," Wade says. "And, you meet people along the way that help you take those glasses off and put on some different ones. Look through life through a different lens. That's what my wife has been able to do. So, it's been cool."

Wade has been very vocal in defending his son and his family from critics ... and he tells Barnes and Jackson he feels a duty to be a voice for others who can't speak up the way he can.

"Everybody get used to it, man," Wade says. "This is the new normal. So if anybody different, we looked at as different. You know what I'm saying? The ones that don't understand it. The ones that don't get it. The ones that are stuck in a box. You're different. Not the people that are out here living their lives, man."

As for how his son is handling it all ... Wade said, "You want to talk about strength and courage? My 12-year-old has way more than I have."

The family of "The Walking Dead" stuntman John Bernecker scored millions in a wrongful death lawsuit but it was significantly short of what they wanted.

A jury on Thursday awarded the estate $8.6 million after 2 days of deliberations ... this according to a report. AMC Networks was found NOT to be negligent, but the show and its production company, Stalwart Films, were found liable. Stalwart was found 40% responsible and the show is 25% responsible.

The jury ruled the victim -- Bernecker -- was 6% liable for his own negligence. There were others found liable as well, but it appears none will have to pay out of pocket. Insurance will cover the judgment.

Andrew Yang is riding high after getting a big thumbs-up from Donald Glover, using the celeb endorsement to push merchandise and raise funds for his presidential campaign.

This is America as the decade comes to an end.

We got the 2020 candidate Thursday at his Donald Glover X Andrew Yang pop-up merch shop in Hollywood, where Andrew was busy getting mobbed by a huge throng of supporters chanting his name.

The Yang Gang was out in full force, and Andrew says his collab with Glover is doing wonders for his campaign's bottom line and helping spread his message to voters. Ya gotta hear how much Andrew says he's pulling in thanks to his most famous fan.

Donald was there too, hanging out in the back while Andrew schmoozed with shoppers on the store's floor. Yang seems like he's having the most fun of any White House hopeful.

A$AP Rocky's addressing a leaked sex tape clip allegedly featuring him with another woman in the best way possible -- by being really funny ... and a little cocky.

The naughty clip began making the rounds Thursday and going viral for obvious reasons, but also because folks seem to be a little disappointed in Rocky's ... uh, performance.

Well, the rapper responded in a big way, saying he and his penis woke up to the "alarming disturbance" of the leaked sex vid ... then went to bat for Lil' Rocky.

He says as the defense attorney for his dong, "WE’RE PREPARED 2 DENY ANY SLOW STROKES OR LACK OF KILLIN THE P***Y." A$AP adds there's a long list of satisfied women who'll back him up.

He also seems to find it funny that there's a lot of judgmental folks out there who've never had sex with him rating his sex skills based on a minute and a half clip.

Mel B's ex-husband just got an early Christmas present ... compliments of a judge who's blocking the Spice Girl from taking their daughter to the UK for the holidays.

Stephen Belafonte filed docs asking the court to allow their 8-year-old, Madison, to stay put in L.A. as opposed to traveling with her mom, and court records show the judge signed off on that.

As for why -- Belafonte reportedly claims Madison is afraid Mel B will hurt her. According to Daily Mail, Madison was allegedly "traumatized" during their last mother-daughter trip to England.

It's unclear what allegedly happened between Mel and Madison -- but Belafonte claims Mel asks their daughter for dirt on him.

The L.A. Superior Court judge ruled in Belafonte's favor, reportedly saying he wouldn't put the child in harm's way. Mel B's lawyer says the singer's set to arrive in L.A. soon to pick up Madison and their other daughter to take them back to the UK. Clearly, those plans will have to change.

Her lawyer also claims Belafonte had already approved the Christmas trip, and only recently changed his mind.

R. Kelly absolutely knew Aaliyah was a minor when he married her in 1994 ... that's according to his former tour manager who now says he unwittingly and regretfully helped it happen.

Demetrius Smith has admitted he helped get the fake ID for Aaliyah the day before her wedding to Kelly -- but on "TMZ Live" Thursday he told us the marriage was the last thing he wanted to see go down.

On the heels of Kelly pleading not guilty to the fake ID allegation, Smith told us he actually wanted to delay the singer from walking down the aisle with Aaliyah ... who was only 15 at the time. Smith claims his intent was to "buy time" until he came up with a better plan to convince Kelly NOT to marry her.

Smith says both he and Kelly knew she was underage. Interestingly, he says the ID he had made for Aaliyah did NOT have an age on it. He would not elaborate on what kind of ID it was.

Jason Derulo's got his claws out, pushing back against critics who ain't feline fine about his new movie, "Cats" ... saying they don't know crap about making movies.

We got Jason in New York City and asked how the "Cats" cast is handling all the negative reactions to the movie adaptation. Ya might have heard -- it's been widely hailed ... an epic stinker.

Jason says critics' opinions don't carry weight ... because the folks giving the reviews have never made movies in their lives -- a classic defense.

Derulo tries to find a positive spin ... saying the Broadway production also opened to terrible reviews way back in the day, and look how that turned out! If you're not up on your theater stats ... "Cats" ran for 18 straight years in the U.S. ... a record at the time.

Jason says the visuals are so stunning -- hello, it's humans mixed with cats for goodness sake -- there's bound to be push back, and it's all part of the game when art defies norms.

Jason's got no problem ripping his critics, but the cat's got his tongue when it comes to his CGI penis, which is much smaller than the real deal.

Jake Paul is a conniving music thief ... so claim a team of music producers alleging in a new lawsuit the YouTube star jacked their work.

Producers Erik Belz, Jonathan Pakfar and Shane Abrahams are suing Jake claiming the entire backing music in Jake's popular "Litmas" track was stolen right from under them.

In docs, the producers claim they produced a track dubbed "Bad Santa" back in 2015. They claim they were in the same studio as Jake on multiple occasions and alleged Jake heard the track. The producers say lo and behold ... 2 years later, Jake released "Litmas."

Specifically, the producers claim their work is original, unique and specific in terms of pitch, register and overall use, which they claim can be entirely heard in Jake's track.

The group says Jake never asked for permission to use the music and has never compensated them ... even after his track racked up nearly 17 million views on YouTube.

NFL rookie Devin White is doubling up as Santa off the field in Tampa Bay ... meeting up with kids for a night filled with pizza, bowling and toys at an awesome holiday party!!!

The 5th overall pick in the 2019 draft hosted 50 children from the local Boys & Girls Club for his first-ever Christmas Toy Giveaway with Strikes for Kids this week ... hanging out and showing off his bowling skills.

We're told the kids loved every second of it and were stoked to chill with the 21-year-old stud for an hour and a half.

The best part of the night came when White personally helped each kid pick out their own toy to take home ... and everyone in attendance was thrilled for something fun for the holidays.

White has been a beast when he's on the field this season ... and this makes it all even sweeter.

Nick Cannon's feud with Eminem just got intensely racial -- he's dropped a new diss track in which he calls Em the "KKK of his generation!!!"

Nick's latest dig is dubbed "Canceled: Invitation" ... and Nick pulls old lyrics he claims are from an unreleased Em track from before he made it big. If it's really Eminem ... they're pretty indefensible -- he rapped, "Black girls are bitches, black girls are dumb."

Nick loops that line in his diss track.

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard is doubling down on her defiant decision to merely vote "present" to impeach President Trump ... because she firmly believes it was the right call for America.

The Congresswoman from Hawaii tells us she was making a stand by not voting yes or no ... in order to appeal to folks in the center. She says her goal is to bring unity to the country.

Gabbard elaborated though, saying she DOES want Trump out of office and, in her mind, there's a better step Congress can take to rebuke his conduct. As for getting him out of office ... she believes it should be done more conventionally ... by voting him out in 2020.

Keep in mind, Tulsi's still one of the Democratic candidates gunning for the nomination to run against Trump ... so she's taking a big gamble that her stand will pay off.