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James Corden might've been a POS at one restaurant in NYC -- according to the owner, anyway -- but another famous chef is giving a different story ... saying the dude's a dear.

Curtis Stone is coming to JC's defense -- telling us at LAX this week that he's been nothing but great in his own establishments ... although it's unclear which ones. Curtis owns a few well-known spots around the globe, Maude in Bev Hills perhaps being the crown jewel.

In any case, CS says his experiences with Corden are very different than the ones described by Keith McNally -- who owns Balthazar, and who put the 'Late Late Show' host on blast.

Speaking of that, we asked Curtis if KMN broke an unwritten rule among those in the service industry -- namely, protecting the privacy of patrons, especially celebrity ones, even if they are a bit rude.

Check out his response ... he says these should be safe spaces. 👀

McNally's motives have been questioned throughout the debacle -- frankly, he's been flip-flopping like a fish, taking back his ban and even showing sympathy toward Corden and extending an olive branch by offering free food if the guy properly apologizes to the servers.

Zuri Craig -- who's worked with the likes of Tyler Perry, and once wowed on 'America's Got Talent' -- has died.

His family confirmed his passing Sunday, throwing up a tribute post on Zuri's official ZoReMi Entertainment page and writing ... "It is with profound sadness that we announce the transition of our beloved son, brother and friend, Zuri Craig."

They continued ... "We thank you in advance for your prayers. Please honor our privacy at this unimaginable time of mourning." They note he died on Friday -- a cause of death has yet to be released, but more info seems to be forthcoming.

Craig might best be known for his time on 'AGT' back in 2015, when he and his singing partner, Jeffrey Lewis, cleaned up that season by impressing the judges and audiences alike.

They first knocked it out of the park by crooning to James Brown's 'This Is a Man's World,' and later got a gold buzzer from Michael Buble after tackling Mary J. Blige's "I'm Goin' Down." They went pretty far, but in the end ... placed 5th overall, despite a helluva run.

Even before that, though, Craig was already rubbing shoulders with some Hollywood heavyweights -- including TP, who noticed him and Lewis from YouTube covers they were doing as early as '09. This landed Craig a job on some of Tyler's 'Madea' plays.

Craig has starred in/worked on a few ... "Madea's Big Happy Family," "Madea Gets a Job" and "A Madea Christmas." He and Lewis even appeared on 'Oprah' in the early 2010s.

He's also worked on podcasts and other shows over the years -- and was even set to produce a live production in Atlanta, 'Soul Food Live,' starting next month ... with ads already being made and the cast already chosen. Zuri was 44.

Food slinging is all the rage among European protesters -- just ask these 2 Germans who ruined a Monet painting with a Thanksgiving dish ... all in the name of climate change.

Check out the latest demonstration of its kind here on video ... a guy and girl made their way into the Barberini Museum in Potsdam, Germany, and hurled a couple buckets of mashed potatoes onto Claude's famed 'Les Meules' painting -- valued at about $109 million.

The alarm starts to go off and onlookers are rightly startled by the scene. The protesters take a knee and the gal starts to go on a spiel about climate change and societal priorities.

She says they're doing this to continue to bring attention to the fact that fossil fuel use is destroying the planet, and that there are people starving in the world -- and that, soon, the two things will be joined at the hip as society fights for food. Eventually, security swoops in.

This is exactly what happened in London last week when another pair of climate activists threw tomato soup onto a Van Gogh painting that was valued at $85 million ... and they, too, were arrested.

It's a trend we're seeing more and more of late -- people somehow sneaking in items to vandalize priceless works of art, and kinda ruining them forever.

Even the Mona Lisa has been subjected to unwanted calories -- something that's obviously traversing the globe.

Travis Scott is shrugging off a rumor he was hanging out with a rumored ex-GF last week -- calling the allegation and a blurry on-set video clip of himself ... "a lot of weird s**t."

Travis is referring to a video recently posted on IG by a woman named Rojean Kar, who he allegedly hooked up with way back before he and Kylie Jenner met and started dating.

The clip, in her IG stories, shows Travis on the set of a music video he's directing ... and it makes it seem like Rojean is just a few feet away from him. She joked in her caption, "I'm directing obvi."

But early Sunday morning Travis denied any knowledge of her being on the set -- if she actually was -- and even further, seems to be denying they were ever a thing.

His response says, "An uninvited person was sneaking photos on what was supposed to be a closed set while I was directing a video. I am saying this for the last time. I don't know this person. I've never been with this person."

For her part, Rojean claimed, in The Shade Room comments, she didn't even know Travis was going to be on the music video set, and said she was absolutely invited to be there. She doesn't say who invited her, though.

Travis' denial seems to have pissed her off ... she posted a video saying the rapper is full of BS, and claimed to have receipts proving they once dated.

What we do know for sure is Travis never publicly declared they were dating when they were first linked in 2013 -- but, they had posted pics and videos together. There were rumors she was at the center of Trav and Kylie's 2019 split, but even Rojean denied that.

In her video, she does claim to have been with Travis on Valentine's Day ... another claim he's shooting down by posting a photo with a very dismissive caption.

Madonna apparently wanted credit for "paving the way" for a ton of modern-day artists to embrace their sexuality -- but the way she said left a very bad taste in Cardi B's mouth.

Madge pissed off Cardi this weekend with a passive-aggressive note she posted on her IG Stories -- one in which she celebrates the 30-year anniversary of her infamous "S.E.X." book, but in the same breath ... seems to take some shots at a select few ladies by name.

She describes the boundaries she pushed back then and how influential her book turned out to be in pop culture despite the backlash she endured, going on to say ... "Now Cardi B can sing about her WAP, Kim Kardashian can grace the cover of any magazine with her naked ass and Miley Cyrus can come in like a wrecking ball," adding, "You're welcome bitches 🤡"

That last part is what's pissing off CB -- 'cause she's on Twitter right now absolutely s****ing on Madonna for it. In one tweet, she says ... "These icons really become disappointments once u make it in the industry that’s why I keep to myself."

There are other tweets where Cardi expresses her anger over the fact Madonna felt the need to both ask for a pat on the back while also hurling what Cardi perceives as an insult.

It seems Cardi's catching a little bit of heat for being so vocal about her criticism of Madonna ... with some folks telling her to chillax -- but she's doing the exact opposite, digging her heels in and insisting on defending herself against anyone ... icon status or not.

For Cardi, it comes down to tone and she simply feels Madonna could've made her point without being rude. And as most people know, CB's not afraid to square up (digitally) against anyone these days. She's in constant feuds on Twitter, and now Madonna's on the list too.

Madonna versus Cardi B ... what a world!

If there was any doubt Kanye West is sowing seeds of hate with his bigoted and antisemitic remarks ... a Los Angeles rally should erase all of it.

These banners were draped on an overpass of the infamous 405 freeway, and the organizers implored drivers to "Honk if you know Kanye is right about the Jews." The fiercely hateful words and rally appear to be the work of a group called the Goyim Defense League.

The Anti-Defamation League describes the group as a loose network of virulently antisemitic conspiracy theorists -- and that very well may be, but Saturday's impromptu rally suggests the group is suddenly emboldened ... clearly by Kanye's words.

Members of the group were also throwing up the Nazi salute at passing drivers.

The menacing sight -- imagine being a Jewish person seeing that on your drive home -- comes, not coincidentally, on the heels of Kanye repeatedly spewing tropes about Jewish people controlling everyone in Hollywood and in banking.

Two weeks ago, he tweeted he was "going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE" after Instagram restricted his account.

During his Piers Morgan interview, Ye said he only had one regret about his antisemitic comments ... but he stood by his most dangerously bigoted remarks.

As we reported, Kanye told photogs Friday night the backlash against him only proves his point about Jewish people controlling the narrative -- however, Saturday's rally shows Ye is also driving his own narrative ... a pretty hate-filled one.

Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck's newlywed bliss is showing again -- this time on a family shopping trip that's gonna leave the city slickers looking real country and western.

The couple hit the Sunset Strip Saturday, laser-focused on one item ... cowboy boots.

Jen's kiddo Emme was with Bennifer when they strolled into Boot Star -- pretty obvious what they sell -- and she was first in the group to get fitted for a red pair o' s**t kickers and matching shirt.

Ben was trying on a few different cowboy hats, which has us thinking a group costume might be in the works for the Afflecks' new blended family.

It is their first Halloween as Mr. and Mrs., so we wouldn't be surprised.

J Lo and Ben are a little more than 3 months into their marriage, and it shows -- the shopping spree included plenty of smiles and PDA.

Kim Kardashian knows how to roll with the punches ... even if the punch is dangerously high winds forcing your private jet to get outta Las Vegas, thereby derailing your birthday party plans!

Yeah, Kim's 42nd birthday was dealt a blow from Mother Nature Saturday night, but the story has a happy ending ... in the form of the most bougee late-night burger run you'll ever see.

But, the night started with Kim, Khloe Kardashian, Kris Jenner and a bunch of Kim's friends boarding Kylie's private jet -- Kim's must be in the shop -- for a quick flight to Las Vegas where the gang planned to take in Usher's residency.

But when they got close to Vegas, air traffic control said it was unsafe to land due to extremely high winds -- gusts up to 60 MPH -- so, the pilot had to bang a U-turn and land back in Los Angeles.

Kim's party didn't stop though ... after hopping on a party bus, someone busted out the jello shots again -- looks like Kim had plenty -- and they ended up at an In-N-Out, naturally, for burgers.

And, wow, what a scene inside! Kim in a bikini top, and Khloe in a nude catsuit ... with the whole glammed-up crew standing at the counter ordering, just like normies. As everyone knows ... there's no VIP in the late-night fast food game!

The birthday girl looked, and sounded, very pleased with a burger to cap off her night -- blame it on the shots. It wasn't Usher in Sin City, but Kim seemed alright with the change of plans.

The Mississippi day care workers who put on horror masks to scare children deserve hard time for the pranks ... so says one of the children's mother.

Katelyn Johnson's 2-year-old son is one of the kids in the viral video showing day care workers scare the living crap out of toddlers, and she tells TMZ her boy and his classmates are all traumatized.

The parent says her son's too young to be able to communicate what he's feeling, but he's showing trauma by his actions ... Katelyn says the little guy's having a hard time going to bed at night and is regressing in potty training, which she blames on his strong reaction to the horror mask.

As we reported ... upset parents pushed hard for the day care workers to be hit with felony child abuse charges, and Katelyn tells us she agrees the charges are appropriate.

Katelyn says she wants the 4 women hit with felonies to serve between 6 and 12 months ... saying the video is just a tiny peek into what she says was a regular occurrence.

Katelyn says she's not considering filing a lawsuit, because she thinks the women won't ever be rehired and won't be able to pay a damage award. But, she says other parents want to wait and see what happens with the criminal case before deciding on legal action.

Katelyn says she's trying to help her son heal through positive reinforcement. She says she's using a sound machine and night light to try and help him sleep, reassuring him their home and their family are a safe place.

Katelyn says they're back to square one with potty training ... telling us her boy almost had it down before the trauma set him back.

Stacey Abrams is leaning into her celeb connections to rally support ahead of election day -- which landed her on stage with Latto to deliver a message about abortion rights in Georgia.

The candidate for Governor came out during Latto's Saturday night gig in ATL, and not coincidentally, she came out as the rapper performed "Pussy" ... the anthem she wrote after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

Abrams was kicking it with backup dancers as Latto did her thing -- and carried a "my body, my choice" sign over her head the whole time.

When the song was over she got on a mic and told the crowd ... "I just want to remind you that if you believe in my body, my choice, I need your vote," Abrams said.

Playing to the crowd, Abrams referenced Latto's mega-hit as she yelled, "I need your big energy. Let’s get it!"

Last week Abrams debated her opponent, Georgia's current Governor Brian Kemp, and early voting has already opened in that state.

Robbie Coltrane, who played Hagrid in the 'Harry Potter' films, died from several health issues ... the most dire dealing with infections, heart issues and his weight.

Robbie reportedly died after multiple organ failure ... according to his death certificate. The document also says he'd been battling sepsis, a lower respiratory infection as well as blockages in his heart.

As if that wasn't bad enough -- the actor's death certificate indicates he'd previously been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes and obesity.

As we reported, Robbie died earlier this month at the age of 72 ... he was in a hospital at the time, near his home in Scotland.

Gavin DeGraw was forced to pull the plug at the last minute on a show for the Boys & Girls Club -- his team says he was sick as a dog, but he's already planning to make good.

Sources connected to the fundraiser tell TMZ ... Gavin was booked to perform last weekend at the 2022 "Enchanted Masquerade" Chrysalis Ball for the Boys & Girls Clubs in Collin County, TX.

The club serves upwards of 5,000 kids, and Gavin's performance was the first big in-person event they'd planned since COVID shutdowns. So, that's why organizers were so bummed when Gavin had to cancel on the very day of the event.

Our sources tell us the singer's team notified the Boys & Girls Club that Gavin had fallen so ill, he had to be hospitalized ... and wouldn't be able to make it to the event.

We're told event organizers had already spent $20k in production costs, and they ended up using the band originally booked for their after-party to replace Gavin.

It is unclear what Gavin's illness was -- our sources say his appearance fee will be returned, but the Club won't get the production and rider costs back.

Understandably, there were some disappointed folks at the fundraiser.

DeGraw's team says he's since made a full recovery, and while he regrets having to cancel ... he hopes to come back and support the organization soon.

Jake Paul is giving those picking Anderson Silva to win on Oct. 29 enough time to reconsider ... telling TMZ Sports they're going to lose all their money!!

We spoke with the Problem Child -- who's currently the betting underdog against the former UFC champion -- about his highly anticipated upcoming bout ... and despite having a ton of respect for his opponent, Paul tells us he's out for blood once they hit the ring.

"I'm knocking this guy out," Jakey P says ... adding the fight won't last past five rounds. "I'm promising everyone that."

"Come back to this interview, everyone, after the fight, and they'll say, 'Wow, he predicted the future,'" he added. "I have a crystal ball in my room and I can see it."

Jake says he's excited to prove people wrong on Saturday night ... and has a message for those putting their hard-earned money on Spider.

"You shouldn't have done it. You should've invested into something else."

"And everyone who bet on me?? Good stuff, man. You're gonna have some dough, maybe a new car, maybe your rent paid."

Jake also dishes on those downplaying the fight considering Silva is 47 years old ... and he explains why it's actually an advantage for Anderson.

Robert Englund's looks over the years are like a dream!

Here is a 44-year-old version of the long-time scary moviemaker looking quite supernatural during the "Horror Hall of Fame" Gala at Universal Studios back in 1991 (left). This was just a few years before he reprised his role of Freddy Krueger in "Wes Craven's New Nightmare."

And, 31 years later the iconic thrill-seeker recently brought his scariest pose to a film festival in Spain (right). He may not be in his signature striped sweater, fedora and razor-claw glove ... but he still cuts up the competition with one glance.

"One, two, Freddy's coming for you!"

The question is ...

"Love Island USA" star Timmy Pandolfi is still reelin' from his reality show win ... and says his relationship with Zeta Morrison is still going strong long after the season ended ... and he says keeping things real was a key to their success.

We got the personal trainer leaving Equinox in L.A. Friday ... telling us he's got no complaints from his time on the dating competition series ... and filling us in on how things are goin' with his boo, Zeta.

As for their big W, TP says it's all about being who they really are on camera ... noting the growth of their "pure relationship" had a lot to do with the absence of social media and dating apps.

Fans of the show know Timmy and Zeta were Day 1's on the latest season ... with the cast often referring to them as the "mom and dad" of the group. The 2 stayed strong and went home with $100K in the end -- and, of course, each other.

Underneath this screaming and weeping caricature is a long-time actor who could definitely slaughter you in a round of wrestling, and when he's not playing the role of deputy sheriff, you can personally find him on Insta always committing and showing his love for horror.

Even though this buffy guy is most known for his thrilling film roles, he took a jab at the romance genre with Drew Barrymore in the late 90's. It's probably safe to say that this spooky figure has never been kissed.