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Martin Luther King Jr.'s daughter, Dr. Bernice King, is convinced that modern-day policing is structured after brutal slave tactics used for centuries in this country ... and needs to be completely uprooted if there's ever going to be progress.

Dr. King appeared Tuesday on "TMZ Live," and she says the shooting of Jacob Blake yet again proves Black lives don't matter to a majority of police officers in the U.S. If they did, we wouldn't see so much unhinged violence against them.

She says it's clear the systemic racism built into slavery is still alive and well today in how cops and the criminal justice system view African-Americans ... as bodies, as she puts it. It's not an easy thing to change either ... Dr. King makes that clear as well.

She adds it is crucial to keep our eye on the prize -- and part of that means keeping things peaceful. She discourages rioting and looting, just like her dad.

Speaking of him, she drops a quote of his that's just as timely now as ever .... and it basically gets to this point -- the longer we ignore this, the more it'll persist and worsen.

"Ink Master" star Daniel Silva has just been sentenced in his criminal case involving the death of his friend, YouTube star Corey La Barrie, but he won't be spending much longer behind bars.

Silva was sentenced Tuesday to 4 years in state prison but that sentence is suspended. He did, however, get 365 days in county jail with 216 days of credit. He's also getting 5 years of probation and 250 hours of community service.

His attorney, Mike Cavalluzzi, tells TMZ ... Daniel believes the sentence is fair, and in serving the probation there is a chance the charge can be reduced to a misdemeanor in the future. Cavalluzzi added, "It's important to Daniel to work with Corey's family to make sure the memory of his friend is never forgotten."

As we first reported ... Silva pled no contest to vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence last month. As part of the deal, prosecutors agreed to drop the 2nd-degree murder charge ... this according to the L.A. County D.A.'s Office. Cavalluzzi was confident Daniel would beat the murder charge following the fatal crash of a McLaren sports car back in May.

TMZ broke the story ... Daniel was busted and charged with 2nd-degree murder after Corey died from injuries in a car wreck just hours after they left Corey's 25th birthday party. Corey was a passenger in the car. We were told Daniel was seen drinking before getting behind the wheel of the car.

It may be the end of an era with Barcelona, but Lionel Messi is getting serious love from his longtime teammates on Tuesday ... after the international soccer superstar has asked the club to terminate his contract.

The earth-shattering news broke hours ago ... with arguably the greatest player on the planet sending a letter to Barca asking to be released from his contract, citing a clause that could make him available at the end of the season.

It's a HUGE deal -- 33-year-old Messi has been with Barcelona since 2001, winning 10 La Liga titles and 4 Champions League titles.

Messi's also won the Ballon d’Or 6 times with Barca ... the most any player has ever earned in a career.

While Messi is prepped to leave the only pro club he's ever known, his teammates are taking the news in stride ... wishing the forward the best of luck in the future.

"Respect and admiration, Leo," Carles Puyol said on Twitter. "All my support, friend."

Luis Suarez -- Messi's teammate since 2014 -- echoed Puyol's message with a couple clapping emojis.

Messi wanting out isn't all that shocking to some, especially coming off an embarrassing season ... but it's still crazy to think about the guy in a new uniform.

The break-up might be a bit messy, however ... there are reports Messi's clause may have expired back in June ... which would require an $826 MILLION buyout.

Police in America don't hesitate to shoot and kill Black people in a confrontation because they consistently get away with it ... that's what Jacob Blake's family lawyer, Ben Crump, thinks anyway.

The civil rights attorney -- who's also representing the families of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others -- is going to work for Blake now as well, after the 29-year-old father was shot in the back 7 times by a white cop in Kenosha, WI.

Crump tells us the family's been assured by the Governor's office that an independent and unbiased investigation into the shooting will be launched ... but he says Kenosha residents are understandably skeptical.

Crump cites a pattern of cops killing Black people -- not just in Kenosha, but throughout the history of the U.S. -- and facing zero consequences ... to the point where it's become totally normalized.

That's why, according to Crump, we continue to see white officers pulling the trigger on people of color ... even when they know everything is recorded these days.

Crump adds that this isn't just a police issue ... it's a cultural pattern of condoning mistreatment of Black people that starts at the top, and continues to manifest itself in what he refers to as the "intellectual justification of discrimination."

As you know, Blake's story is just the latest example of an unarmed Black person being shot or killed by cops. The alarming trend has finally sparked massive outrage and nationwide protests against police brutality and racism this summer.

Gregg Sulkin's looking pretty hulkin' these days ... and it helps his gym's wherever he parks his shredded bod.

Gregg hit up a local park in L.A. Monday for a socially-distanced workout. The actor brought the essentials with him ... his face mask and these incredible Bowflex adjustable dumbbells that have no doubt helped his arms get absolutely JACKED.

Gregg spent about an hour working out ... busting out some bicep curls, bodyweight squats and some push-ups. Unlike some people, dude's been making the best out of a terrible situation here, working out in makeshift gyms ... and the park usually seems to be his place of choice.

A little girl got swept away by the ocean's current off the coast of Greece while floating on top of an inflatable unicorn -- but, thankfully, she was rescued before going full Wilson.

Check out this wild video of what's said to be a 5-year-old being rescued by a ferry in the town of Antirrio as she drifted out about half a mile or so in the Gulf of Corinth. At first, one of the guys on the boat captures what appears to be just a tiny speck in the distance.

As the ferry gets closer, however, you can clearly make out the figure of a small child calmly sitting on top of the blow-up beach toy. Eventually, they get close enough to reel her in.

It's unclear how the kid got so far away from shore without someone noticing, but reports say her parents panicked when they realized how far out she was and got in touch with port authorities for the rescue. Luckily, this ferry was willing to kick into gear and save her.

This scary moment went down just a day or so after another freak drifting sitch out in North Wales ... where a little boy had floated out a couple hundred meters on a giant plastic swan and was initially found unconscious, no less, before he was resuscitated back to life.

Beware the waves, y'all ... they might look like they're coming at us, but they'll apparently suck you in before you know it.

Ben Simmons has a new team -- no he hasn't been traded (yet) ... the NBA superstar has joined the world-famous FaZe Clan!

Simmons -- a hardcore gamer -- is the newest celebrity investor and even got a new FaZe nickname to go along with it ... FAZE SIMMO!

The Philadelphia 76ers big man will serve as an "ambassador to the organization for content as well as an advocate for gaming and esports and the expansion of FaZe Clan globally," the company says.

FaZe Clan also notes it will not disclose the amount of Ben's investment, though it's probably fair to assume it's a sizable number.

Simmons first started gaming with FaZe talent in 2018 -- mostly playing Call of Duty with FaZe Temperrr.

The two recently participated in a COD celebrity pro-am which raised nearly $125,000 to help people affected by COVID-19.

"Gaming is an important part of my life, and so it was a natural progression to personally invest in this industry,” Simmons said.

"FaZe Clan represents the pinnacle of the gaming culture, and I am really looking forward to connecting with new fans around the globe."

FaZe is one of the largest and most influential companies in gaming -- recently passing the 1 BILLION view mark on its YouTube channel.

Wisconsin looks like a war zone, or Tiananmen Square ... Black Lives Matter protesters defiantly blocked an armored truck in the streets, until cops unleashed tear gas.

The showdown went down Sunday night in Kenosha, where people were protesting the police shooting of Jacob Blake -- the unarmed Black man who was shot 7 times in the back by a white cop in an incident captured on video.

Some BLM protesters in this face-off are armed with assault rifles, and others are unarmed as they block the truck's path with a human chain ... but the real firepower rests in the hands of the sheriffs. The police have the armor, and the gas.

Protesters make their stand and send their message, but they know what's about to hit them ... tear gas, and a lot of it.

BTW ... tear gas has been banned in war since 1925, but it's often unleashed on American citizens for riot control. Go figure.

A woman decked out in Trump 2020 gear unleashed a hateful, xenophobic attack at a counter-protester, but her efforts were blunted by some loose dentures.

It seems this all went down at some sort of Trump rally. The woman who says her name is Carla ... tells an Asian woman to go back to where her ancestors came from.

Problem is ... Carla's dentures keep falling out. She struggles in her verbal attack ... it's hard to keep a stiff upper lip when your chompers aren't secure.

Boy ... this tirade was so bad even her dentures wanted a quick escape.

A group of Black activists were shot at -- and apparently hit at least once -- by a gun-toting Pennsylvania home-owner with a long-range rifle.

Activist Frank Nitty documented the incident on social media live Monday night, when he and several other protesters were marching/caravanning from Milwaukee to D.C. ... and stopped through a town in PA along the way, where things got deathly scary in a flash.

In Frank's video, you see he and other fellow marchers making their way through what appears to be an open residential street ... when, all of a sudden, you hear a loud shot ring out somewhere from a relatively close distance. It sounds almost like a sniper rifle round.

The video is a bit jumbled, but for a brief moment ... you can see the camera aimed at a house across the road with at least two to three men staring down the group. One of the men appears to be holding a long object in his arms, perhaps a firearm.

You hear one other gunshot and then you hear screaming and chaos. One of the marches can be heard telling the men they're leaving and that there's no need to get violent.

Frank and the rest of his group jump into vehicles that were accompanying them and race to the hospital. In a separate video, you can see him holding somebody in the car who appears to have a bloodied shirt. They arrive to the hospital and end up talking to cops about it.

To paraphrase George W. Bush after hearing Donald Trump's Inauguration speech, Kimberly Guilfoyle's speech at the RNC was some crazy s***!

Guilfoyle's delivery was all fire and brimstone, which might have worked well if there were 5,000 people in the audience, but she was speaking in an empty hall. It sounded like something out of 'GOT' or WW2.

The former FOX News Anchor and current GF of Donald Trump Jr. laid out her vision if Trump gets elected, as well as if Biden gets elected.

She warned, "They [Democrats] want to steal your liberty ... and control how you live." She claimed Democrats would send jobs back to China while those Dems got rich. She said Biden/Harris and co. would destroy law enforcement with their "socialist agenda."

Jacob Blake was shot 7 times by a white cop for the "crime" of being black ... so says Jacob's uncle, who's deeply distraught over what went down in Kenosha, WI.

Justin Blake tells TMZ ... the police officer who shot his nephew has absolutely no justification for what he did, and he should be charged with attempted murder.

Jacob's uncle says Jacob's 3 kids -- who were in the car when their dad was shot -- are severely traumatized and in the care of relatives. They don't really understand what happened, but they know their dad was hurt badly.

Justin says he's been at the hospital with Jacob's mother, sister and close relatives, but they were not able to see him because he underwent surgery and was recovering.

Justin says cops were called to the scene for an altercation between 2 women, and Jacob was trying to break it up ... which is how he got mixed up with the police.

Island Express, the company that operated the helicopter that killed Kobe Bryant and 8 others, is suing the 2 air traffic controllers who they claim caused the crash.

The helicopter company claims the 2 air traffic controllers who were guiding the pilot to the Mamba Academy, The controllers were asked by the pilot for radar guidance, presumably because of the heavy fog. According to the lawsuit, one of the controllers responded by saying, "I'm going to lose radar and comms [communications] probably pretty shortly so you can just squawk V-F-R [visual flight rules] and when you get closer go to Camarillo tower."

The company claims the controller denied the pilot the use of what it believes is life-saving radar, despite the fact that radar guidance had not yet been lost.

Another controller then relieved the first and according to the suit, less than 2 minutes later the pilot radioed in, but the new controller was unhelpful and uninformed.

According to the suit, the pilot believed he was still operating on radar because the tower operators did not clearly say it was being terminated. Nevertheless, the company claims the helicopter did suddenly lose radio and radar contact in the fog.

The suit claims at some point -- presumably when the pilot was in the fog -- radio contact came back, and the controller tried reaching the pilot repeatedly, and that caused the pilot additional stress. What's unclear ... it would seem the controller was calling to guide the pilot.

The results are in ... and Usain Bolt has COVID-19, officials say.

Jamaica's minister of health -- Dr. Chistopher Tufton -- confirmed Bolt's test results with the media late Monday, according to multiple outlets.

Bolt had been self-isolating since taking his test on Saturday -- and will continue to do so until he tests negative.

Earlier in the day, the 34-year-old Olympic legend had posted a video responding to a premature report he had COVID ... saying he had been tested but was awaiting results.

Bolt says he had chosen to quarantine himself out of an abundance of caution ... and now, it seems that was the right move.

There is still major concern about Bolt's massive 34th birthday party, thrown by his girlfriend Kasi Bennett in Jamaica on Friday.

The event was MASSIVE -- with tons guests, including a bunch of Jamaican celebrities.

The concern ... video purportedly taken at the event appears to show a bunch of people dancing close without wearing masks or taking any real precautions to avoid spreading the virus.

Usain's girlfriend just gave birth to their daughter, Olympia Lightning Bolt (greatest name ever), back in May.

Jamaica hasn't exactly been a hotbed for COVID so far -- with only 1,413 reported cases and 16 reported deaths since the pandemic began.

Joey Fatone says it's game if 'NSYNC and Backstreet Boys ever square off in a battle of the boy bands ... and he thinks it wouldn't even be close!!!

We got Joey out at LAX Monday and our camera guy asked him about the possibility of 'NSYNC and Backstreet battling it out on Verzuz, the Instagram Live pandemic phenomenon usually reserved for rappers. So far, it's seen showdowns between Timbaland and Swizz Beatz, Lil Jon and T-Pain, and Snoop Dogg and DMX.

Joey tells us how he really feels ... he says 'NSYNC would win in a landslide no matter what!!!

A potential Verzuz showdown would be a huge hit, but Joey says there are some huge hurdles before the two bands ever go toe-to-toe.

Joey's giving 'NYSNC the edge, but he tells us why Backstreet could give them a run for their money, depending on the ground rules.