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The Justice Department could get to the bottom of the Taylor Swift ticket fiasco ... because the feds are reportedly already investigating the parent company of Ticketmaster for possible antitrust violations.

The department is taking a close look at Live Nation Entertainment, according to the New York Times ... trying to see if the company's abusing its massive market power to screw millions of music fans over.

While the Swift madness certainly adds to the drama, it seems like the investigation has already been going on for months -- with NYT's sources saying the department's antitrust division has already been contacting venues in the industry about Live Nation's past practices and the overall dynamics of the ticket industry.

As you know, all hell broke loose as fans flocked to Ticketmaster to try and get their hands on a ticket to "The Eras Tour" this week during the presale.

The company even canceled the public sale on Friday, which is ordinarily how it sells any remaining tickets after presales -- and now the resale market is seeing sky-high prices.

Nicki Minaj has no time for any 2022 World Cup controversies ... the Barbz rapper has been enlisted for "Tukoh Taka" the official FIFA Fan Festival anthem!!!

The song is a collaboration between Nicki, Colombian singer Maluma and Lebanese singer Myriam Fares and delivers lyrics in 3 different languages -- English, Spanish and Arabic to cater to the global soccer audience.

"Tukoh Taka" translates to "click clack" in Yankee talk and the 3 megastars all display their presence in the video.

Edgar Esteves and Juan Felipe Zuleta direct the high-octane visual ... which splices between cut scenes of fútbol highlights, Nicki gyrating on a school bus and Maluma and Myriam Fares performing in a green-screened desert.

World Cup action kicks off starting Sunday from Qatar ... but this year's event has many pundits raising eyebrows as festivities are underway.

Unlike Nicki, artists such as Dua Lipa and Shakira have refused to participate in Cup performances ... citing various alleged human rights infractions in the country.

FIFA also announced it's banning all alcohol sales in World Cup stadiums ahead of the opening games ... leaving many fans pissed.

DDG is living his best life these days ... and wants his good friend Blueface to do the same thing in light of his recent legal troubles.

We got DDG out in Bev Hills Thursday, and he told us there's only a handful of rappers he considers a "real friend" ... and Blueface is one of 'em.

The 2 hit platinum gold with their "Moonwalking in Calabasas" collab ... and were working on a joint album before drama got in the way.

DDG says he wants Blueface to emerge victorious in his still-developing attempted murder case ... and he also sent positive vibes to Blueface's GF Chrisean Rock.

DDG and his GF, 'Little Mermaid' star Halle Bailey, double-dated with Blueface and Chrisean in the past, and says he's looking forward to better times once again.

TMZ broke the story ... Blueface allegedly shot at a man in a pickup truck outside a Las Vegas strip club, where they'd had an altercation.

Undercover cops arrested him this week for attempted murder.

On a lighter note, sorta, DDG introduced us to rising social media star Woo Wop ... the kid famous (or maybe infamous) for those "I Wanna Kill My Mom" viral videos blowing up TikTok!!!

Woo Wop -- who's DDG's nephew -- gave us a demo of his skills, but he doesn't seem the least bit impressed with his own fame.

Taylor Swift is sorry for her fans who feel they were screwed by Ticketmaster in trying to score tickets for her tour ... blasting the company for failing to deliver on its promise for a smooth rollout.

The singer just broke her silence on the concert ticket disaster, with a lengthy statement on her Instagram Story where she's royally pissed at Ticketmaster ... echoing the same feelings from her legions of fans.

Taylor says she's extremely protective of her fans and adds, "It's really difficult for me to trust an outside entity with these relationships and loyalties, and excruciating for me to just watch mistakes happen with no recourse."

TS also says, "There are a multitude of reasons why people had such a hard time trying to get tickets and I’m trying to figure out how this situation can be improved moving forward."

She's pretty pissed at Ticketmaster, explaining ... "I'm not going to make excuses for anyone because we asked them, multiple times, if they could handle this kind of demand and we were assured they could. It's truly amazing that 2.4 million people got tickets, but it really pisses me off that a lot of them feel like they went through several bear attacks to get them."

As we reported, there were tons of issues and delays with the Ticketmaster presale, and the ticket giant even canceled the public sale, and now the resale market is seeing sky-high price tags.

Taylor ends with a message to the fans who didn't get lucky enough to score tickets ... saying, "My hope is to provide more opportunities for us to all get together and sing these songs. Thank you for wanting to be there. You have no idea how much that means."

Kanye West may have gotten the boot from Adidas, but he's clearly not done with the company ... still rockin' the brand as if nothing happened.

Ye was spotted Thursday night, leaving the Waldorf Astoria in Beverly Hills with a glass of bubbly. He was with super right-winger Milo Yiannopoulos and a woman. Ye was decked out in his Balenciaga x Adidas collection -- a black sweatshirt and white crossover bag, all emblazoned with the Adidas logo.

Unclear how Adidas feels about Kanye's clothing choices after it cut ties with Ye in the wake of his antiemetic rants.

The company said they would continue to sell Ye-inspired shoes, but without a trace of the Yeezy name.

Blueface's allegedly opening fire on a vehicle -- and subsequently getting arrested for attempted murder -- was the end result of a joke falling flat and sparking a strip club fight.

According to legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Blueface and his crew were at Euphoric Gentlemen's Club in Vegas on October 8 ... and the alleged victim supposedly made a joke about the rapper talking with "some females in a cheap vehicle."

Cops say the joke set off members of Blueface's crew, who allegedly hit the man "multiple times."

The docs say the man then attempted to leave in his truck, and told cops Blueface's crew might have thought he was "going for a gun" ... leading to Blueface allegedly firing shots at the man's truck as he fled.

Cops say there were multiple bullet marks on the truck, and its owner suffered what appeared to be a "bullet graze wound" on his left hand.

As we reported, video obtained by TMZ showed the truck suddenly pulling up to the rapper and his crew in the club's parking lot -- and it appears to show Blueface pulling out a weapon and firing it in the direction of the truck.

Taylor Swift fans lucky enough to get their hands on presale tickets could cash in for tens of thousands of dollars now -- the resale market is absolutely exploding in the wake of Ticketmaster canceling the public sale.

We've checked out seat maps on StubHub in some of the biggest cities Taylor will hit next year on her Eras tour, and the pricing is insane. Mind you, Taylor's doing multiple shows in each city -- so, the following astronomical costs are PER ticket for Saturday shows (typically the most popular) in each city.

Fans hoping to score tickets for Taylor's SoFi Stadium in L.A. show will fork over a minimum of $400, and that's behind the stage ... while the most expensive seat is currently listed at $4,549.

You can score some nosebleeds for $765 at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, or shell out $11,475 for the floor.

However, those prices pale in comparison to the $22,500 you'll pay to see Taylor from the front row at Gillette Stadium in suburban Boston, and the "cheap" seats are $675. There's also Soldier Field in Chicago, where you can sit in the nosebleeds for $800 and land a floor seat for around $5,000.

As we reported, Swifties spiraled this week after Ticketmaster seemingly botched the presale -- causing millions of fans to wait online for several hours to secure seats to Taylor's first tour in years. Turns out they're the lucky ones.

Far more fans got zippo, and will now have to pay through the nose. Honestly, they'll be the ones singing "Look what you made me do" ... to Ticketmaster!!!

Things got so bad, Ticketmaster announced Thursday the general public on-sale, scheduled for Friday, was canceled "due to extraordinarily high demands on ticketing systems and insufficient remaining ticket inventory to meet that demand."

What's more ... the attorney general in Tennessee announced Wednesday he'll be investigating the ticketing giant for possible antitrust law violations.

Akon believes Chris Brown has all the talent to cement a legacy as big as Michael Jackson's ... that is, if he surrounds himself with someone other than Bloods.

The artist/producer/mogul was a guest on Shannon Sharpe's "Club Shay Shay" podcast, and while discussing the never-ending CB vs. MJ debate ... he made the bold proclamation about Chris.

Akon says if CB had MJ's caliber of management and handlers, the "Go Crazy" singer would've soared to iconic heights, but he didn't get that kinda guidance. Instead, Akon says Chris had gangbangers in his inner circle.

For what it's worth, Shannon does not share Akon's optimism about Chris assuming MJ's throne simply by detaching himself from the hood.

Michael debate aside, CB's doing just fine -- he had a huge tour with Lil Baby this year, and just got a Grammy nomination for Best R&B Album for his "Breezy (Deluxe)."

Elon Musk will tell ya the reports of Twitter's death are greatly exaggerated -- in fact, although news spread quickly the app's on the verge of shutdown, Elon says it had one of its best days ever.

Thursday night, while #RIPTwitter became the number 1 trending topic in the U.S., the Chief Twit himself tweeted, "We just hit another all-time high in Twitter usage lol ... let that sink in."

That tweet came after hundreds of his employees reportedly quit ... following his demands for people within the company to work "long hours at high intensity" or get booted.

The deadline for jumping ship or staying aboard was reportedly Thursday at 5 PM ... and it looks like a good amount were fine with saying goodbye.

The reported mass jump prompted millions of tweeters to take it as a sign of the end for the bird app ... although the surge to which Elon referred might have a lot to do with people using the "dead" platform to talk about its death.

Pretty damn meta (not you, Zuckerberg).

FYI -- a pretty cold projection popped up on the company's HQ in San Fran Thursday night, during this "all-time high" ... calling Elon a slew of names that just gets more and more brutal.

R&B singer B. Smyth is dead ... at a very young age, and after a long battle with pulmonary fibrosis.

The singer's brother, Denzil, broke the news to fans ... saying Smyth died Thursday from respiratory failure and had been hospitalized for a while, struggling with his lung disease.

Denzil says his little brother was in the ICU when he dropped his latest single, "Twerkaholic Part 2," just a few weeks ago, but the excitement around the release brought "a big smile to his face."

He says B. asked him to make the video for him before passing, so his fans would know he always appreciated them.

B. Smyth -- whose real name was Brandon Smith -- first jumped on the scene after covering hits like "Quickie" by Miguel or "Stay" by Rihanna in the early 2010s on YouTube ... before signing with Motown Records in 2012.

He dropped his first single soon after -- "Leggo" featuring 2 Chainz, and then released his first EP "The Florida Files" in 2013.

His big break came in 2014, when his song "Twerkoholic" blew up, gaining millions of views ... B. would go on to drop a studio album, "Thr3" in 2017, as well as a slew of singles over the years.

He was just 30.

One of the 4 college students found slaughtered inside an Idaho home fought with her knife-wielding attacker to the bitter end, this according to her father.

Jeffrey Kernodle was interviewed Thursday by a CBS affiliate in Arizona, revealing the body of his daughter, Xana, underwent an autopsy that proved one thing for sure ... she had "bruises" consistent with her furious battle to save her own life.

Jeffrey also described 20-year-old Xana as a "tough kid" who could succeed at "whatever she wanted to do."

As we reported ... Xana was among 4 University of Idaho students butchered inside an off-campus house with lurid images of blood leaking through the walls. 2 other roommates were inside the house but unharmed during last Sunday's attack, but they didn't call 911 for 9 hours.

The victims were identified as Xana's boyfriend, Ethan Chapin, 20, Madison Mogen, 21 and Kaylee Goncalves, 21.

Jeffrey told the news outlet he last heard from his daughter around midnight just before the attack and everything seemed fine. Jeffrey noted a number code is required to enter the residence through the front, speculating the killer was aware of that and went around back to find an open sliding door. A friend of the students who were killed has said a number of people had the code.

Flavor Flav has a few reasons to give Spirit Airlines another shot after flipping out on the air carrier over a missed flight -- he's not only getting his money back, he's getting big-time perks.

A rep for Flavor Flav tells TMZ ... Spirit finished the investigation into FF's angry incident in Las Vegas, and decided to give the rap icon a full refund.

We're also told Spirit is upgrading his frequent flier status to "Gold" ... which is the airline's highest frequent flier tier. That status means Flav will never have to pay for any of the budget airline's add-on charges, like the ones for baggage and seat selection.

TMZ broke the story ... Flav narrowly missed a flight earlier this month in Sin City, and we got video of him flipping out on the gate agent who shut the door in his face.

Flav's camp said he typically waits to board flights after all the other passengers because folks like to take pictures with him and he doesn't want to hold up the boarding process. So, he waited, but the gate agent closed the door, shutting out Flav and 2 others.

FF eventually apologized to all the folks who witnessed his airport rant.

Tim Allen just got done visiting Jay Leno in the hospital ... and he says his close friend's face isn't going to be disfigured by severe burns suffered in a car fire.

Tim saw Jay at the Grossman Burn Center in West Hills, CA Thursday and talked to the paparazzi on his way out ... telling photogs Jay is feeling better after suffering deep burns to his face, hands and chest.

Jay seems to be in good spirits in the hospital, despite undergoing treatment in a hyperbaric chamber for his burns ... Tim says Jay was happy and they cracked some jokes. Hey, laughter is the best medicine, right?

TMZ broke the story ... Jay got burned bad over the weekend when a car erupted into flames while he was working on fixing a clogged fuel line on his 1907 White Steam Car in his Burbank garage.

Jay's not shying away from cars despite the incident ... Tim says he brought JL some car magazines to pour over during his recovery.

"Jake Paul is the next man on my hit list."

That's Tommy Fury making it crystal clear during a recent conversation with TMZ Sports ... he wants to box fellow undefeated fighter and bitter rival, 25-year-old Jake Paul.

Of course, we've been here before. The men were twice scheduled to fight ... but the bouts fell apart. But, just last weekend in Dubai, Tommy and Jake nearly came to blows after Fury boxed an exhibition match on a Floyd Mayweather fight card.

This time, Tommy tells us he's confident the two will make it all the way to the ring.

"I definitely feel like this fight will happen this time. I've said if this fight doesn't happen it'll be through no fault of my own," Tommy says.

And, Fury says he badly wants the fight.

"I want this fight more than anything because it's a chance for me to put everything that I've been hearing for the past two years to bed. And it needs to be put to bed because at the end of the day this man is not in my class, he's not in my league, and he's a YouTube fighter, that's what this man is. I'm a proper fighter. I'm from a fighting family. I have aspirations of winning world titles," Tommy tells us.

Fury's 8-0 with 4 KOs. Paul is 6-0 with 5 KOs. Jake's fought some big names in MMA, so his opponents are more recognizable. He's beaten future UFC Hall of Famers Tyron Woodley (twice) and Anderson Silva.

As for where the fight could take place, Tommy's thinking big. BIG.

"I feel like this is a Wembley [Arena] fight. I feel like it could do 80,000 very comfortably. If you ask anybody walking down the street on Saturday night do you wanna go watch Jake Paul vs. Tommy Fury at Wembley, everybody's gonna say yes. I believe it's a massive pay-per-view fight."

FYI, Wembley is a huge stadium in London with a capacity around 90K for boxing matches.

If/when the fight happens ... Fury would advise you not to arrive late, because he's planning for a short night's work.

"This fight does not go the distance. There's no chance in hell cause I won't let it go to the distance. I am not gonna get in the ring and look to outpoint Jake Paul. I'm gonna be in that ring looking to take his head off with every punch."

Then came the prediction.

English actress and model Saffron Burrows was 27 years old when she was cast as Dr. Susan McCallister -- the lead scientist studying sharks in aid to cure Alzheimer's but ends up being attacked and killed -- in the 1999 shark film "Deep Blue Sea."

Burrows shared the big screen with Samuel L. Jackson as the CEO who funded the aquatic study center, Russell Franklin, Thomas Jane as the shark hunter, whisperer and exceptional swimmer, Carter Blake and LL Cool J as the hilarious chef giving a humorous point of view on the shark attacks, Preacher.

Jeffrey Dahmer's father is admitting he ignored a ton of warning signs about his killer son's behavior, but it's the why -- which he shared with Dr. Phil -- that will likely piss off the public.

Lionel Dahmer got candid with the daytime TV host during his 3-day special on the Dahmer case ... and Phil asked him if, in retrospect, he feels he should've seen the evil coming. His response is pretty chilling.

He recalled Dahmer between the ages of 11-14, and said his son used to roam around country roads where they lived to collect the remains of various animals that had been killed ... and then he'd take them home in garbage bags.

Lionel says there were all kinds of dead animals from foxes to small dogs, but he claims it wasn't until Dahmer's trial he found out his son would explore the animals' insides and feel them up.

It's interesting he's claiming he didn't know, because the Netflix series depicts Lionel as sharing that gory experience with his son in their basement.

Now, you'd think the collecting of the carcasses would be enough of a "red flag," but he says he simply didn't dig any deeper into Dahmer's behavior because he had friends who did the "same thing."

As you'd imagine, that explanation didn't sit right with survivors, who told Dr. Phil ... Lionel's ignorance about his son is complete BS.