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Ellen Barkin may have been in the mood to flip off a photographer but she had ZERO right to tweet the image ... so claims the photographer now suing her.

Steven Hirsch is suing the actress claiming she posted his copyrighted photograph of her flipping the bird on her Twitter account. In docs, obtained by TMZ, Hirsch says he's a professional photog who is in the business of licensing his photographs to online and print media for a fee.

The photo in question is from January when Ellen attended the second day of Harvey Weinstein's criminal trial in NYC. She was there to support her friend and Weinstein accuser, actress Annabella Sciorra.

Hirsch says he licensed the pic to a NY outlet but never gave Ellen permission to use the photo. Ellen then tweeted the photo on January 23 -- it hasn't been taken down -- with the caption "mood" ... and it racked up more than 1,000 retweets and 15,000 likes.

The photographer is now suing her for damages. We've reached out to Ellen for comment, so far no word back.

Of all the crazy storylines on the Netflix docuseries, "Tiger King," none are more captivating than what happened to Carole Baskin's husband ... and law enforcement's asking for help in cracking the case.

Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister says the disappearance of Jack "Don" Lewis -- Baskin's hubby who was last seen on August 18, 1997 -- is still an active cold case ... and he's hoping "Tiger King" fans can help him solve it.

The Tampa-area sheriff says with all the attention surrounding Don's case ... "I figured it was time to use the popularity of the show to see if anyone wanted to come forward with new leads."

For those who don't know ... Lewis was declared legally dead 5 years after his disappearance, but nobody has ever been charged in his death or has any clue of his whereabouts.

People have theories, though ... especially "Tiger King" star and Baskin's #1 enemy, Joe Exotic, who believes she killed her husband and possibly fed him to her tigers. Baskin has denied having anything to do with Don's disappearance or death.

Nevertheless, Sheriff Chronister's asking "Tiger King" enthusiasts to spread the word to see if it leads to any new information that can finally crack the cold case.

Boxing rising star Billy Joe Saunders -- who's supposed to fight Canelo Alvarez in May -- has been hit with a suspension after posting a controversial video on social media where he talks about hitting women.

The 30-year-old WBO super middleweight champ claims the video was meant to be a joke and since apologized for it, but the British Boxing Board of Control quickly decided to hand down the indefinite punishment.

"I just wanted to make a little video for all you dads, husbands, if you’ve got girlfriends etcetera," Saunders said in his video.

"Obviously this COVID-19 is getting very serious and we are isolated away in tight spaces. If your old woman is giving you a little bit of mouth and you try to be patient, you try to be calm, cool, but after the 7th day or 6th day you’re just about to explode."

Yeah, the BBBOC didn't find it funny. At all.

"The British Boxing Board of Control having considered comments made by Billy Joe Saunders on social media have suspended his boxer’s license pending a hearing under the Board’s misconduct regulation, at a time and venue to be confirmed as soon as possible." the org. said in a statement.

The video got the attention of boxing superstar Claressa Shields, who clapped back with her OWN advice video -- explaining how to fight someone who comes at you like Billy Joe suggested.

"Hit them as hard as you can in the nuts," Shields said.

Drake's finally ready to show us what his kid looks like -- and if you had blonde hair and blue-ish eyes in your office Adonis pool ... you're a big winner.

The rapper posted the first-ever photos of his 2-year-old son, Adonis, early Monday morning, including some of him and his boy ... as well as one with his baby mama, Sophie Brussaux, in the mix too -- with all 3 of them posing for a sweet family photo.

As you can see ... Adonis is not short in the hair department!!! We don't know when Drake and fam took these pics, but at the time Adonis had blue-green eyes and a 'fro that might make the Jackson 5 blush.

Seemingly trying to explain the blonde hair ... Drake included a younger shot of his mother -- Adonis' grandma -- who did have a dirty blonde 'do.

Drizzy was certainly in some type of self-help mood when he posted these, writing ... "What is most important for you right now is to connect to your own inner light. This will create the biggest opening of all."

He continued, "Trust that you have all of the power within to make this happen, and in order to do that connect to the people and things that bring you a lot of joy. Drake got even more philosophical, telling folks to look within and ... yada, yada, yada ... you get it.

He finished with ... "I love and miss my beautiful family and friends and I can’t wait for the joyful day when we are all able to reunite. Until then please keep your lights on."

Elton John and friends -- including Billie Eilish, Lizzo and Alicia Keys -- successfully put on a concert from the confines of their own homes ... while raising much-needed funding for the coronavirus battle.

The show featured artists performing, pre-recorded, from their homes -- and while it was short on makeup and the usual perfect TV lighting ... the raw performances were pretty awesome.

Alicia Keys kicked it off with a scaled-down version of her new track, "Underdog." The Backstreet Boys followed by beaming in from their own homes with "I Want It That Way." It was interesting seeing all five of them singing individually, but ultimately getting edited together. Pretty seamless.

Other performers included David Grohl -- doing "My Hero," naturally -- and H.E.R.

In between the performances, iHeart weaved in segments featuring first responders -- nurses, doctors, paramedics and truck drivers -- talking about battling the pandemic, and the importance of STAYING HOME.

Other big marquee acts on the show were Mariah Carey, Sam Smith, Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day, Tim McGraw, Camila Cabello and Shawn Mendes.

The show's intent was raising money for Feeding America as well as First Responders Children's Foundation. No word yet on how much was raised, but it was definitely the best sounding telethon in quite some time.

Great causes with great music to deliver the message.

Shaquille O'Neal wants to make it clear -- he does NOT support Joe Exotic or the GW Zoo, despite the way it looked in the Netflix docuseries, "Tiger King."

One of the big moments in the series was when Shaq not only visited the GW Zoo back in the day -- but he then gave Joe Exotic a plug on "Inside the NBA." Shaq says he's visited the zoo several times and even appeared on Joe's reality show in 2014.

People have been critical of Shaq -- since the doc paints Joe as a scumbag who mistreated the animals at his Oklahoma facility. Also, he's accused of trying to put a hit out on a rival tiger sanctuary owner. Bad stuff.

But, Shaq addressed the situation on "The Big Podcast with Shaq" -- and claimed he had NO IDEA things were as bad as they were at the zoo.

"I was just a visitor. I met this guy. Not my friend. Don’t know him. Never had any business dealings with him, and I had no idea any of that stuff was going on," Shaq said.

The NBA legend admits he made donations to the zoo -- claiming he does stuff like that all the time -- but would never support the mistreatment of animals.

"People that know me know that I'm righteous. I don't harm tigers. I love tigers."

"We found out that he’s involved with all the stuff, and then, actually, I stopped going.”

Shaq says he really likes the show -- he's binged watched it -- saying, "It's actually a really good documentary."

Bob Barker's life is not in upheaval under the coronavirus quarantine -- like most of us -- because he's already skilled in the art of self-isolation.

Sources connected to Bob tell us the former 'Price is Right' host is doing okay at home as he quarantines in Los Angeles. Fact is, Bob was already steering clear of others for his own health, so the new normal for most folks is just another day for Barker.

Our sources say Bob's isolation is way more strict due to the outbreak though. His family was already barring people with colds from getting close to him -- his immune system is not what it once was -- and now, no one is allowed over to the house aside from those in quarantine with him.

We're told 96-year-old Bob's family is making sure he eats and tends to all his medical needs, but so far it's pretty much business as usual.

There is one major change ... our sources say Bob would normally watch sports at home, but now he's watching a lot of old movies, especially anything related to the military. Remember, Bob was in the Navy and is really into war flicks.

You'll recall ... Bob slipped and fell at his home last year, and was transported to the hospital twice in 2018 with back issues.

But, so far, Bob's doing just fine in quarantine.

Dallas Cowboys WR Ventell Bryant took at least 3 DUI tests prior to his arrest this month -- and cops say he bombed ALL OF THEM ... and it's all on police video obtained by TMZ Sports.

Bryant was pulled over in Tampa, Fla. at around 2:30 AM on March 11 after cops say he was driving his 2019 Dodge Charger without headlights on.

Officers say during the stop, the 23-year-old NFL player had bloodshot eyes, smelled like booze and admitted to having 3 margaritas before getting behind the wheel.

Cops got Bryant out of the car and onto the street ... and you can see in police footage, the Cowboys wideout went through a litany of tests to determine his sobriety.

Officers made Bryant -- who caught a TD pass from Dak Prescott last season -- walk in a straight line, balance on one leg and touch his fingers to his nose while looking up at the sky.

In the video, it didn't seem like Bryant outwardly bombed the tests ... but cops clearly felt differently, 'cause they slapped the cuffs on him in a hurry.

"Arrested?" Bryant asks one of the officers. "I can't afford this, bruh!"

You can see Bryant's friends were NOT happy to learn of the football player's arrest ... and when one asked which sobriety test Ventell failed, the cop replied, "Every single last one of them!"

Bryant -- a rookie who was signed by the Cowboys just before last season and is expected to compete for a roster spot with Dallas in 2020 -- was charged with misdemeanor DUI.

"Tanked" star Heather King fears her life is in danger if her ex is allowed anywhere near her ... so she wants a judge to order him to stay away.

According to new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Heather beelined it to court and requested a protective order against her estranged husband, Wayde. She claims he's been physically abusive to her for YEARS ... from allegedly slamming her against the wall to damn near knocking her unconscious.

In docs, Heather points to an incident earlier this month when she says Wayde came home and "told me to get the f*** out" before allegedly pushing and hitting her. Heather claims things got so bad their daughter had to yell at Wayde to get him to stop assaulting her.

Heather claims this is just one example of a pattern of abuse ... and she claims to have photos of her alleged injuries to back. Some of the photos show bruises and scratches allegedly suffered at the hands of Wayde, who she is in the middle of divorcing.

She alleges Wayde physically assaulted her on several occasions last year ... like when he allegedly strangled her in November and broke her finger in July. She claims Wayde "threw me against a wall so hard that he almost knocked me out." She says she was scared he was going to kill her.

Before this funny, young man was showing his face around the world as an incredible musician, he was just another cute kid hamming it up for the camera in a bright-orange tank top.

You may not see it right away ... but this British-born singer took a new direction in life and struck out on his one as a solo artist after leaving one of the world's biggest boy bands.

This mini-man has also been making headlines for donating over 300 thousand meals to people who are in need due to the pandemic.

President Trump is finally listening to the doctors and scientists around him -- doing a hard 180 on his Easter deadline to get back to normal and extending that to the end of the month.

DT made the announcement Sunday from the Rose Garden, telling reporters that the White House would, in fact, keep its social distancing guidelines nationwide until at least April 30, for now anyway. This, he says, will soften the blow of spreading coronavirus cases.

Even more sobering ... Trump says the peak of death rates for the country will actually hit in two weeks (right around Easter) and he doesn't want to declare victory prematurely.

A lot of critics believe Trump was never going to open the country back up on April 12, to begin with -- as he boldly suggested days ago. Some think he was simply bluffing and attempting to breathe optimism into the stock market and the economy. Both have been tanking lately.

On a related subject, check out this video. Trump has made it clear ... he demands a loyalty oath, OR ELSE. Everyone who spoke at Sunday's news conference heaped praise on the Prez because he said out loud the other day people needed to show him appreciation. And, maybe worst of all, he told the Veep not to return the calls of the governors of Michigan and Washington State because they weren't grateful enough.

Look, we want the feds to save us, but Trump making this about himself and suggesting citizens from Michigan and Washington won't get the care they need because his ego got bruised ... well, that's just appalling. BTW, think about it ... Trump is telling Pence not even to return a call from the 2 governors ... what if people die as a result?