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Fat Joe's about to drop his memoir, which is filled with lessons many young rappers could use -- but it's actually an old-school rapper, one Kanye West, who recently sought out Joe's counsel.

The legendary Bronx MC joined us Friday on "TMZ Live," and revealed he, almost literally, ran into Ye while walking out of his L.A. hotel room. Joe says Ye asked him for advice on how to handle all the backlash for his bigoted and antisemitic remarks.

He says he told Ye the truth, as he sees it, reminding him he's got pals from all walks of life and all religions. FJ advised Ye to keep God in mind, and stop using hurtful words.

Joe's got a lot more gems to drop -- especially for hip hop's up-and-comers -- in 'The Book of Jose.' His memoir will be available Tuesday, and reveals his days as a street hustler and his rise to rap superstar. He told us he knew exactly when his life had changed, and he needed to stop hanging with his old crew from the block.

It comes down to 2 words: RICO laws! You gotta see Joe explain the light bulb moment.

BTW, after his Ye run-in ... Joe also had an encounter with Will Smith, who's been laying low since that Oscars slap.

Comedian Gallagher, famously known for smashing watermelons as part of his legendary act, has died ... his longtime manager tells TMZ.

Gallagher died while under hospice care in the Palm Springs area early Friday morning, TMZ has learned. His manager tells TMZ Gallagher died of massive organ failure. He had been in ill health for a while, suffering numerous heart attacks over the years.

The rep tells TMZ, "Gallagher stayed on the road touring America for decades. He was pretty sure he held a record for the most stand-up dates, by attrition alone," adding, "While Gallagher had his detractors, he was an undeniable talent and an American success story."

Gallagher started working as a comedian after college ... getting his big break after appearing on Johnny Carson's 'Tonight Show' back in 1975 ... showing off his prop humor and quickly becoming one of the most popular and recognizable comedians in America.

His trademark bit was the "Sledge-O-Matic," where he'd use a large mallet to destroy a bunch of foods and objects -- always ending with a watermelon. While it started as a parody of the Veg-O-Matic commercials, it would go on to be what millions would remember him for.

Gallagher's since become a pop culture phenomenon, getting parodied and referenced over the years for his act ... most recently being played by fellow comedian Paul F. Tompkins in "Weird: The Al Yankovic Story."

The comedian had 17 specials spanning decades of his work ... with his first special, "An Uncensored Evening," debuting in 1980. He appeared in episodes of "Hollywood Squares," "WTF with Marc Maron," "Tosh.0" and "Celebrity Big Brother."

He had a health scare back in 2011, as we reported, he collapsed onstage during a performance in Minnesota. He also suffered a heart attack the following year in Texas, moments before he was supposed to perform.

We last saw the comedian back in 2014 ... and he offered us some fantastic advice for those looking to get someone a gift while stuck on a budget -- and it's as hilarious as you'd expect.

Gallagher, who was retired, is survived by his daughter, Aimee, and his son, Barnaby.

He was 76.

An Arizona driver sure doesn't seem to give a hoot -- cops say they found an owl in his passenger seat when they pulled him over for a DUI in Arizona ... and that's not even the strangest part of the story!

Payson PD says they found the little copilot early Thursday morning when officers performed the traffic stop. As they approached the vehicle they immediately noticed the bird of prey riding shotgun.

Here's the weirder part ... cops say the driver told them he bought the owl at a local gas station!!! The convenience stores really DO have it all.

Well, now it's not just a bizarre mystery -- it's potentially a crime. Payson police say it's illegal to transport, possess, buy or sell wildlife in the state unless expressly permitted under Arizona law.

The owl was reportedly picked up by the AZ Game and Fish Department after the discovery, but was apparently unable to be released back into the wild -- due to minor injuries.

As for the driver, cops say he was arrested for aggravated DUI, possession of methamphetamine and possession of wildlife.

Kevin Conroy, known as the voice of animated Batman for decades, has died ... TMZ has learned.

Kevin passed away Thursday, according to his rep Gary Miereanu ... following a short battle with cancer.

The actor moved out to California in 1980, first getting cast in the soap opera "Another World" ... before working in theater and television for a number of years.

Many remember Kevin as the titular voice of Batman for decades, first playing the dark knight in "Batman: The Animated Series" from 1992 to 1995.

Since first breaking out as the comic book hero, Kevin's played the character on TV, in movies and even in video games countless times -- including "Batman Beyond," 2001's 'Justice League' series, "Batman: The Killing Joke" and every Batman 'Arkham' series video game.

He took home 7 awards over the years for his voice acting ... including Best Actor for his video game work in 2015.

Kevin wrote a story called "Finding Batman" as part of DC Comics' Pride anthology in 2022 ... going over his experiences in his life as a gay man.

Fellow voice actor Diane Pershing, known for playing villain Poison Ivy alongside Kevin, shared her pain following Kevin's passing ... writing, "He will be sorely missed not just by the cast of the series but by his legion of fans all over the world."

Kevin is survived by his husband Vaughn C. Williams, sister Trisha Conroy, and brother Tom Conroy.

He was 66.

The tribe has spoken and past "Survivor" winner Nick Wilson is in the house ... Kentucky's House of Representatives, that is!!!

The competition series champ and former public defender took the W in this week's midterm election ... becoming a Kentucky state legislator after announcing last year he would run for the seat.

Nick was running unopposed in his 82nd district, making this one of the easier challenges he's faced in recent years ... and he didn't even have to get dropped in the jungle!

Fans of the show know Nick was voted the winner of the CBS show's 37th season, "David vs. Goliath" -- while many early on saw him as a bit lazy, he quickly proved himself ... making it all the way to the end.

Fun fact: Mike White, the creator of "White Lotus," was also on the "David vs. Goliath" season with Nick.

He returned in 2020 for "Winners at War," pitting him against other champions of the past ... but he didn't take home the gold that time -- instead, he got blindsided and ended up in 7th place.

Cardi B and Offset were spotted for the first time since the death of Takeoff ... heading off to go honor the rapper ahead of Friday's big memorial.

The 2 were dressed in all black Thursday in Atlanta, looking somber as they gather with what appears to be some close friends.

It's the first time we've seen Cardi and Offset since November 1 -- when Takeoff was fatally shot and killed at a bowling alley in Houston.

Fans of Migos know the group wasn't together when Takeoff passed ... Offset was already on the outs, while both Takeoff and Quavo had been doing their own thing -- but it doesn't look like that's gonna stop Offset from honoring his bud.

As we reported, Takeoff's huge memorial is going down at State Farm Arena in ATL. The venue recently lit up its big sign out front, which reads "Celebrating the life of Takeoff."

On the heels of Aaron Carter's death, some of his fans are making life even harder for his fiancée Melanie Martin by harassing her ... and occasionally even spooking her in person.

Sources connected to Melanie tell TMZ ... ever since Aaron died, going online has been a nightmare for Melanie because she's getting so many hateful messages from the singer's supporters.

The constant harassment includes fans wishing death on Melanie, while others accuse her of being responsible for Aaron's death.

She's also come face-to-face with some real-life drama.

Our sources say folks have been showing up at Aaron's Lancaster, CA home ... where he was found dead in a bathtub. We're told they come onto the property and go right up to the windows of the house or vehicles to peer inside, and it's scaring the hell out of Melanie.

TMZ broke the story ... there was a police presence outside Aaron's home earlier this week, while Melanie was moving some of her things out of the house.

We're told Melanie called police to the house to keep the peace. Due to all the harassment directed at her, she wanted to ensure there'd be no issues while she was at Aaron's house.

Our sources say Melanie was retrieving baby items, diapers and clothes for their son, Prince, along with some of her things ... and now Aaron's fans are accusing her of stealing his possessions, which we're told is NOT the case.

It's all getting to Melanie ... we're told she's scared and now understands the issues Aaron was living with for years, because the online harassment turned from him toward her.

C.T. Tamburello, one of the longest-running competitors on MTV's "The Challenge," is pulling the plug on his marriage.

C.T. beelined it to a Florida courthouse Monday and filed for divorce from Lilianet "Lili" Solares after more than 4 years of marriage.

It's unclear what led to the split ... but earlier this year C.T. revealed he was "in the doghouse" with Lili as he shot down rumors of a breakup.

There've been documented marriage issues ... back in 2020, C.T. said on an episode of "The Challenge: Double Agents" that he and Lili had separated the year before ... but they ended up getting back together.

C.T. and Lili tied the knot in 2018 on an MTV special. They have one child together, Christopher Jr., who was born in 2016.

The former couple seemed to be going strong this summer ... C.T. posted a photo of him and Lili at an MTV event, captioning the snap "date night with my babe."

Return to the office or resign!!!

Elon Musk was secretly recorded giving that ultimatum to remote-working Twitter employees while discussing plans for a 40-hour work week during a recent staff meeting. As you may recall ... some employees were clocking 12-hour shifts, 7 days a week to meet Musk's aggressive demands following his $44 billion purchase of the company.

A clip from the fiery recording was released by ABC News Thursday night ... and Musk can clearly be heard laying down the law.

"Let me be crystal clear, if people do not return to the office when they are able to return to the office -- they cannot remain at the company. End of story," Musk pointedly says on the audio.

A Twitter worker pushes back ... "Even if people returned to the office. The offices are separate offices -- we won't be in person anyways."

But, Musk isn't having it ... "You can still maximize the amount of in-person activity."

He then compares Twitter to his other company, Tesla, to drive home his point, "Tesla is not one place either, but you know, it's basically if you can, if you can show up at an office and you do not show up at the office, resignation accepted!"

Musk goes on to say plenty of Tesla employees work remotely, but they are "exceptions" and "exceptional people." He ends with ... "I totally understand if that doesn't work for some people. But that's the new philosophy for Twitter."

The world's richest man recently cleaned house at Twitter, slashing half the workforce. The fired employees sued Musk for violating federal and California laws by not giving them proper notice before they were canned and offering them unfair severance packages.

Shannon Liss-Riordan, an attorney for the laid-off workers, told ABC News she will use the audio clip as evidence to show Musk is eliminating remote work to avoid paying employees without giving them proper notice -- a violation of the WARN Act.

Meanwhile, Musk also announced Twitter may fall into bankruptcy if more people don’t sign up for his $7.99 monthly subscription service to offset slumping ad sales.

Following a meeting between Adam Silver and Kyrie Irving this week ... the NBA commissioner now says he has "no doubt" that the Nets star is not antisemitic.

The Association's honcho and the controversial Brooklyn point guard caught up on Tuesday ... and while Silver declined to get into the specifics of their chat during an interview with the New York Times on Thursday ... he did say he came away from the meeting sure that Irving was not full of hate.

"He's someone I've known for a decade," Silver told the outlet, "and I've never heard an antisemitic word from him or, frankly, hate directed at any group."

Silver requested the meeting with Irving after the basketball player had tweeted out a link to "Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America!" -- a film filled with antisemitic tropes.

The commish had called Irving's decision to press send "reckless" ... while blasting him for his refusal to immediately apologize. Irving was eventually hit with an indefinite ban from the Nets -- and ultimately said he was sorry.

Silver admitted the league and the Nets should have acted sooner regarding a suspension for Irving over it all ... telling the NYT, "We may have been able to get there faster. I accept that criticism."

But, he did say he believed both the Nets and the league got the suspension right in the end.

Irving is eligible to come off the ban later this week -- though it's unclear if that will actually happen ... as Brooklyn has imposed a myriad of conditions the 30-year-old must meet in order to return to the floor.

Silver also took aim at Amazon during his talk with the NY Times ... clearly believing the film Irving tweeted out shouldn't have a place in the org.'s marketplace.

For its part, Amazon has not yet removed the film ... and has not commented on the situation.

Uvalde voters turning out in droves to reelect Texas Governor Greg Abbott -- despite the town's recent school massacre -- is not sitting well with some of the families whose children were murdered.

Kimberly Mata Rubio, whose 10-year-old daughter Lexi was among the 21 victims in May's deadly school shooting, tells TMZ ... she's disturbed more than 60% of the vote in Uvalde County went to Abbott.

The way Kimberly sees it ... Abbott hasn't done anything to curb gun violence or prevent another school shooting from happening in Texas in the 6 months since the Uvalde elementary school shooting ... so she's not sure why folks there keep supporting Abbott at the ballot box.

While Kimberly says she's not surprised Abbott won reelection in Texas, a traditionally red state, she's disgusted to see so much support for Abbott in a community mourning 19 children killed by guns.

Abbott was running against Beto O'Rourke, who confronted Abbott after the Uvalde shooting, telling the governor his apathy towards gun control made the attack "totally predictable." Texas voters didn't buy O'Rourke's message ... he got trounced in a landslide.

Alfred Garza III, whose daughter Amerie died in the Uvalde shooting, echoed some of Kimberly's feelings about the election, telling TMZ ... he's outraged to see so many people voting for a gun advocate.

Tommy Fury, returning to the squared circle this weekend in Dubai, has a message for rival Jake Paul -- who is expected to be ringside -- you better not step foot in the ring, or else.

23-year-old Fury, a perfect 8-0 as a pro boxer, is the co-main event on the Floyd Mayweather vs. Deji card ... going down Saturday from Dubai (DAZN PPV). Tommy's taking on Paul Bamba, an American fighter from NYC, who enters the ring with a 5-2 record.

Speaking of entering the ring ... that's something Fury warns Jake he should NOT do.

"I'm not bothered if [Jake's] at ringside, anyone's at ringside. KSI, Jake Paul, whoever's there, I'm not interested cause my full focus is on Paul Bamba and when I beat Paul Bamba and I come through him, then I'll revert my attention to them at ringside. But until then, it's Paul Bamba, he's got my full attention on Sunday night."

"But, if they are there, better not get into the ring after the fight 'cause I'll be nice and warmed up, put it that way," Fury cautioned.

As for the fight ... Tommy says Bamba isn't much of a threat to him.

"Paul Bamba presents a challenge in he's southpaw. But apart from that, that's pretty much it."

"I mean he's knocked a few people out at super middleweight. He's not the biggest light heavyweight that's out there. At the end of the day I've been sparring southpaws this whole camp. I been sparring the best southpaw in the world in Tyson, so there's not a lot that I'm not prepared for."

Of course, Tommy's brother is Tyson Fury ... the best heavyweight fighter in the world, and one of the greatest ever.

"I been sparring Tyson, I been sparring heavyweights, middleweights for speed, I've covered every box, so on fight night, there's no good building it up in the head about something it's not. It's another day in the gym because I've sparred better people than this man."

And, Fury tells us he's pumped to fight on the same card as 50-0 Mayweather ... who's boxing KSI's brother in an exhibition.

Before this mini model was walking the runways at Paris Fashion Week and became the face of some of the most pristine jewelry in the world, she was growing up in Hawaii before making the move with her famous father to sunny Los Angeles.

When she's not strutting her stuff, she's either mastering her yoga poses, indulging in acupuncture or sharing her interest in holistic medicine with her millions of followers. When she doesn't go by her everyday name, you may call her "Bear."

Need one more hint ... She's the daughter of a celebrated actor from 'The Fast And The Furious' franchise.

Comedian Matt Rife is literally a stone's throw away from 'SNL' just in case its writers boycott upcoming host Dave Chappelle ... and says he'd be honored to take the gig.

Matt was standing outside 30 Rock in NYC Thursday with his friend and fellow comedian Alex "Fonzi" Cureau -- they were holding up signs reading "Will Write For Dave."

Dave's set to host 'SNL' this weekend for the first time since his controversial 2021 Netflix special "The Closer" ... which his critics have ripped as transphobic.

While all 'SNL' cast members are working with Dave, some of the writers are boycotting ... according to Page Six. As we reported, Chappelle's camp says they've seen no evidence of that all week.

But, just in case, Matt and Alex are at the ready ... and say they're not trying to make any statements about transphobia. Their message is much more simple -- "If you don't want your job I will take it."

Of course, not everyone sees it that way ... Matt and Alex were actually confronted by at least one person who had a problem with their public plea to work with Dave.

Bottom line for Matt -- who famously dated Kate Beckinsale back in 2017 -- Dave's the comedy G.O.A.T., so he's not missing out if there's a shot at writing his 'SNL' sketches.

A disturbing discovery at the site of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago has put construction on pause ... because someone left a noose in the area.

The group overseeing construction, Lakeside Alliance, says operations were halted after "an act of hate was discovered at the project site."

Chicago police are on the case ... a CPD officer was photographed leaving the construction site Thursday afternoon with what appears to be plastic bag containing the rope.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot says "Racism and racist symbols have no place in Chicago."

Meanwhile, recently reelected Governor J.B. Pritzker condemned the incident, saying he'll make sure Illinois "will make all needed resources available to help catch the perpetrators."

The Obama Foundation called the incident "shameless" and an "act of cowardice and hate ... designed to get attention and divide us."

The Obama President Center is supposed to open in 3 years ... and plans include a library, activity center, plaza, forum and a museum.

Marc Lamont Hill is standing with Megan Thee Stallion against Drake's bars -- and others in hip hop -- and he's getting flak for it online ... something that doesn't surprise the author and activist.

On Thursday, Marc -- along with Congresswoman Maxine Waters, MeToo founder Tarana Burke, Planned Parenthood CEO Alexis McGill Johnson, Tamika Mallory and several other influential leaders -- joined the Southern Black Girls & Women’s Consortium in signing an open letter in support of Meg.

The letter denounces violence against women, in general, but also strongly proclaims the culture "failed" Megan after she was shot in the foot ... allegedly by Tory Lanez.

Marc tells TMZ Hip Hop he was approached by Tarana about the letter ... and immediately decided to join the cause.

He says it was a bit mind-boggling seeing so many dudes angry that he spoke out against Drake's "Circo Loco" lyrics -- the ones about the "stallion lying about being shot" -- but ultimately wasn't totally surprised.

According to Marc, hip hop has allowed misogyny to run rampant in otherwise good music for years ... and when Drake is your favorite artist, you're bound to get a little defensive.

Following the track's release, Megan ripped into Drake and social media trolls as a whole ... vowing they would regret making a mockery of the alleged situation.

Her attorney Alex Spiro told us the same thing and then some ... proclaiming all the artists who publicly flipped on Megan will have a stain on their character when all the facts come out in Tory's trial.

Marc says his job as a journalist is to challenge the dominant mind from subscribing to the norm, so he's aware of the uphill battle ahead.