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It's that time of the year again ... where New Yorkers get in the spirit and dress up as old Saint Nick for a massive bar crawl throughout the city -- and 2022 didn't disappoint.

The streets of Manhattan were packed Saturday morning with thousands of people who threw on their best fat man fits and Santa hats ... all just to parade around, sing Christmas carols and drink to their hearts' desire, and some of these photos truly capture the magic.

While a majority of folks opted for the traditional red and white getup ... some got creative and did different iterations of the traditional Claus look -- including some sinister ones.

We're talking, of course, of someone dressed as the Grinch (classic) ... but also, one person donned the Krampus demon -- who's pretty much the antithesis of Santa, and who steals children for being bad. The dark version of Xmas you don't really hear about much. 😅

As for everyone else ... it seems they were having a pretty damn good time.

There's tons of footage of New Yorkers celebrating and getting rowdy, but nothing too crazy it seems. A lot of this appears to be sanctioned by the city, with NYPD officers all over and even shaking hands with the attendees.

Diddy has added another member to the family ... announcing he's welcomed a baby girl into his life, who really takes after her old man.

The Bad Boy honcho broke the news Saturday, which came out of nowhere -- saying he has a new daughter whom he's effectively named after himself. Diddy writes, "I’m so blessed to welcome my baby girl Love Sean Combs to the world. Mama Combs, Quincy, Justin, Christian, Chance, D’Lila, Jessie and myself all love you so much! God is the Greatest!"

It's unclear when this kid was born, or who the mother is ... Diddy didn't spill those details. But, he's clearly happy about the latest bundle of joy, so we suppose that's all that matters. The baby marks the 7th child of his -- he has 6 other children from different women.

Of course, this is taking the internet by complete surprise ... as no one even seemed to know Diddy was an expecting father of late. We know he's in a polyamorous relationship with Yung Miami -- but there's no suggestion she's the mom, as she hasn't appeared preggo at all.

They were spotted out together as recently as this past week, and YM looks as slim as ever. It's also not entirely clear at this point if Miami was even aware of this child of Diddy's. She responded to a Twitter user who told her to hop on a podcast, as the public has questions.

Her reply was simply a pair of eyeball emojis ... which is pretty telling in and of itself.

We've reached out to Diddy's rep for more clarification ... but so far, haven't heard back. In the meantime -- congrats, Puff.

Tom Cruise gave Emily Blunt some tough-love advice while on set for their 2014 action flick -- which basically amounted to him telling her to grow a pair ... so says his costar.

The actress dished about the amusing story during an appearance on the "Smartless" podcast, which is cohosted by Jason Bateman, Will Arnett and Sean Hayes. They went through highlights of her career, and along the way ... they stopped at "Edge of Tomorrow."

Emily recounted her experience with the massive metal suits that her and Tom's characters wear throughout the movie, which were actually pretty damn heavy and hard to use in real life.

It was so difficult, in fact, that EB says she was freaking out about it -- breaking down on set and even crying at one point because she felt she wouldn't be able to proceed with the shoot ... which she says left Tom at a loss for words, as he didn't really know what to do.

Eventually, the words came to him. She says he bent down and said, "Come on. Stop being such a p***y, okay?" Emily says she laughed at that, and got it together to get the job done.

Fat Joe’s latest round of storytelling has landed him in the crosshairs of Luther “Uncle Luke” Campbell … who disagrees with Joe’s recollection of a key Florida rap timeline.

Joe was a guest on Math Hoffa’s “My Expert Opinion” over the summer -- where he claimed to have been the first cosign for future legends Trick Daddy and Pitbull … and spun their early demos into successful career launches -- like the Don he says he is.

Joe also took credit for blowing up his fellow Bronx rapper French Montana — but the 2 Live Crew founder, who just came across the interview, couldn’t stomach the Pitbull and TD comments and dug into his bag of receipts ... which Rick Ross found rather amusing.

He actually commented under Luke's long caption, laughing at his word selection.

Anyway, Luke says it was HE who put Trick Daddy on -- via their 1996 booty-shaking anthem collaboration "Scarred" -- recorded right when TD came home from jail and started his career ... suggesting FJ was full of it for claiming he had discovered him.

The proud Miami native said the same for Pitbull ... noting he signed the Cuban megastar to his Luke Records imprint during his career origins, which happened back in 2001.

Bottom line ... Luke is directly contradicting Joe's recollection of events, and dares him to correct the record, as he says he has proof to back his memory. Not just that, but Luke went on to say he actually dug DJ Khaled out of obscurity and made him mainstream too.

Joe hasn't responded yet -- but the dude's been catching a lot of flak lately for such tales -- including the assertion that Latinos were equally important in founding the hip hop genre.

Elon Musk is sick of all the leaks plaguing Twitter lately -- so he's threatening to enforce the company's NDAs with his workforce ... at the risk of potential litigation.

The Chief Twit reportedly fired off an email to employees that detailed ramifications if they were found to be leaking sensitive insider info to the media ... this according to Platformer's Zoë Schiffer, who says she obtained a copy of the correspondence and quoted from it.

Schiffer says the email from EM begins ... "As evidenced by the many detailed leaks of confidential Twitter information, a few people at our company continue to act in a manner contrary to the company's interests and in violation of their NDA."

Elon reportedly goes on to say this, "This will be said only once: If you clearly and deliberately violate the NDA that you signed when you joined, you accept liability to the full extent of the law & Twitter will immediately seek damages."

There is a little wiggle room, it seems ... as Elon apparently told his fellow birds that an accidental or occasional slipup was understandable -- but also made a distinction between that and what he says has been happening en masse ... outright squealing to the press.

There has, in fact, been a lot of news about how Twitter's operating under Elon's regime -- with word of one of the HQs being turned into a motel of sorts, the mass firings/attempted rehires ... and, of course, the scarecrow moderation council he plans to install.

Some have called out EM as a hypocrite for trying to silence his own staff, while continuing to explicitly leak internal Twitter files to journos like Matt Taibbi and Bari Weiss.

Cristiano Ronaldo was in tears after Portugal's World Cup loss to Morocco this weekend -- which may be the last time he ever makes an appearance in the tournament.

The soccer star visibly wept Saturday after the final whistle in Qatar, this as he made his way off the field and through the tunnel back to the locker rooms. He, like the rest of his team, was clearly upset after the Moroccan National Team knocked them out with a 1-0 score.

Ronaldo actually started on the bench for this game -- just like he did in the last game against Switzerland -- but eventually got subbed into the action in the second half.

Still, he and the rest of the squad went scoreless. Morocco's Youssef En-Nesyri knocked one in in the 42nd minute -- kinda similar to how CR (almost) did against Uruguay a couple games back.

Of course, Portugal tried scoring multiple times ... but Morocco's goalie, Yassine Bounou, was able to keep 'em out. He's being touted as one of the team's heroes.

It's been a rough World Cup for Ronaldo -- not only was he benched these past couple games amid strife with his national team ... but he also broke up with Manchester United after blasting them in a recent interview. He's also said he may retire from the sport soon.

Nick Carter is still front and center with the Backstreet Boys, and based on their live performance Friday night ... fans are backing him after a woman sued him for sexual battery.

BSB took the stage at MSG for Jingle Ball -- singing the Wham! classic, "Last Christmas" -- and the crowd went wild, particularly when Nick solo'd on the first verse. It was the group's first performance since Nick was accused of the 2001 assault.

TMZ broke the story ... Shannon Ruth, who is autistic and has cerebral palsy, filed suit Thursday, claiming Carter forced her to perform a sexual act on him while on his tour bus. She was 17 at the time.

Nick denies the alleged incident ever happened, but as we reported ... ABC canceled a Backstreet Boys primetime holiday special that was set to air this coming week.

Several Nick Carter hashtags, including #IStandWithNickCarter, were trending Friday, in response to ABC's move and the lawsuit.

Other performers Friday night included Dua Lipa, Lizzo and The Kid LAROI.

The all-star lineup drew plenty of NYC celebs in the audience too ... such as Bethenny Frankel.

World Cup reporter Grant Wahl's fatal collapse during a match Friday is a tragic end to a long, arduous week of illness -- something he openly discussed the day before his death.

Grant recorded and posted his "Fútbol with Grant Wahl" podcast on Thursday, and said he'd come down with a case of bronchitis so bad ... he'd "been to the medical clinic at the media center twice now, including today."

Grant added he was feeling better, but was far from 100% ... which he said listeners could probably hear in his voice.

As we reported, the veteran sports journalist collapsed Friday -- while covering the Argentina-Netherlands match -- and after CPR attempts at Lusail Stadium, he was Ubered to a hospital, but died. CBS News is reporting it was a heart attack.

Grant's brother, Eric, announced his death with a video -- in which he was understandably distraught -- and flat out said he believed there was foul play involved.

He said Grant had been getting death threats in Qatar after stadium security had detained him back in November ... when he wore a rainbow-themed T-shirt in support of LGBTQ+ rights. His detainment became a big story, as Qatar had threatened to shut down any LGBTQ+ protests during the tournament.

Grant's death shocked the sports world, well beyond the World Cup -- he'd covered huge athletes for Sports Illustrated during his career, including then-high school phenom LeBron James' famous SI cover story.

Friday night, LeBron remembered Grant fondly, saying ... "It's unfortunate to lose someone as great as he was. I wish his family the best and may he rest in paradise."

Grant was just 49.

Controversial L.A. councilman Kevin de León got into a knockdown, drag-out fight with an activist ... while attending a Christmas tree lighting and toy giveaway event, of all places.

The video starts as de León is slamming Jason Reedy down onto a table, and the 2 of them continued wrestling into a hallway ... as people around them tried to break it up. Reedy is an organizer for a tenant rights group, and apparently has beef with de León.

After the fight ended -- with no serious injuries -- de León claimed it all started with Reedy headbutting him. He said the "self-proclaimed activists" assaulted him during the "community holiday event to the dismay of a multitude of families and children who were there to celebrate a Christmas tree lighting and to receive toys and food."

The incident's not all that shocking -- de León has been under fire since a leaked recording of him and other council members making racist remarks came out in October. Two of the council members resigned, but de León refused to step down and, instead, issued an apology.

After Friday's scuffle, Reedy's attorney told the LA Times, de León is “a disgrace.”

Britney Spears put a cap on her birthday week with a little booze, a lot of cake and a middle finger for her haters.

Decked out in a red jumpsuit and set to Eartha Kitt's "Santa Baby" ... Brit broke out some of her usual dance moves, and seemed to indulge in champagne.

Near the end of the video she puts her whole face in a creamy birthday cake, and happily smears it everywhere.

The celebratory post is one of her first since last weekend's head-turning shout-out to her sister. As we reported, the seemingly sweet note to Jamie Lynn Spears caught everyone off guard, since Britney's been on the warpath against her -- along with their mom and dad -- for years.

BS shut down her IG a few days after that -- leading some to believe the Jamie Lynn love-in was either a sarcastic jab or not really posted by Britney.

She acknowledged her IG pause in Friday's caption, saying ... "Yep it's my b-day all week and I know my Instagram has been down a few times but honestly I did the last two times myself !!! Oops ... I accidentally pressed wrong button."

Not sure her suspicious, and protective, fans will buy that, but she's back ... with a face full o' cake.

BTW, Britney also dropped some early New Year's resolutions -- including her desire to crash a wedding and sing a few songs.

A serial killer on the U.S. and Mexico border seems like a Ted Bundy copycat, at least to the Mexican authorities desperately trying to hunt him down.

So far, cops believe the murderer has snuffed out 3 Tijuana sex workers -- women he targeted in strip clubs, lured back to a hotel room ... and then performed violent sexual acts before killing them.

Baja California (Mexico) Attorney General Ricardo Iván Carpio Sánchez told reporters Friday ... “This subject has criminal tendencies associated with violent and psychopathic behavior. His profile is very similar to someone who became very well-known decades ago: Ted Bundy."

They also suspect the killer is American. Tijuana is just over the California border.

Bundy confessed to abducting and murdering 30 women and girls across the United States from 1974 to 1978. He was later captured and executed by the state of Florida in 1989.

Thomas Markle is steering clear of his daughter's docuseries, "Harry & Meghan" ... according to Meghan's half sister, who says their father's more focused on his health than the project she calls "disrespectful."

Samantha Markle tells TMZ ... she's protecting her dad by telling him not to watch the new doc, saying Meghan's kicked Thomas while he was down in the past, and a series like this just further disrespects their fam.

Samantha says Thomas doesn't know what's in the series, and doesn't need to find out.

She doesn't think he'd even want to watch, because the royal family ordeal has been damaging to his health for a while. Most importantly, he's still recovering from the stroke he suffered earlier this year.

If you haven't seen it, the Netflix series is essentially the Duke and Duchess' side of everything they've been through -- from their first date to leaving the royal family to dealing with racist British headlines.

It also includes their viewpoint of the drama with Thomas leading up to their wedding, which he famously did not attend. Harry even says how "incredibly sad" it is for his wife to have lost her dad.

Joe Exotic feels he ought to be next in line after President Biden struck a deal with Russia to free WNBA star Brittney Griner, and he's stating his case for freedom ... from behind bars.

In audio obtained by TMZ ... The "Tiger King" star says, "The whole Brittney Griner and Trevor Reed prisoner swap is a slap in every American's face that is wrongfully detained in the American Federal Prison System, including myself."

He goes on to plead his case to the Prez, saying he's innocent of any crimes and calling out his ex-costar Carole Baskin in the process.

Quite frankly, Joe's drawing a ridiculous parallel here, between Brittney and himself. While she was imprisoned as Vladimir Putin's political pawn, Joe was tried and convicted for hiring a hitman, and various crimes tied to the treatment of animals at his infamous wildlife park.

After she spent nearly 10 months incarcerated, U.S. officials finally struck a deal this week -- Russia agreed to free Brittney in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout ... AKA the "Merchant of Death."

You'll recall, BG was accused of bringing hashish oil in her luggage to a Moscow airport, back in February, and was sentenced to nine years in prison.

Joe is serving a 21-year sentence, but insists he's innocent -- jury be damned -- and totally deserving of freedom ... something he's been pushing for since Donald Trump was in the White House.

It was a full week without T.J. Holmes and Amy Robach on the "GMA3" desk ... and Kim and Kanye came together again for the sake of their kid. So we gotta ask ...

Dana White may just have his next big superstar ... 'cause as long as Paddy Pimblett keeps on stacking W's, the UFC honcho believes "The Baddy" could reach Conor McGregor-like status!

"He has that 'it' factor that I always talk about and you know, and obviously he's undefeated here in the UFC. If he can keep winning these key fights, this kid will be a massive superstar," White told TMZ Sports.

"The other thing is too and you know about this, the thing with his dog going to the bathroom was so unbelievably viral, it was insane. There's things that go viral on the Internet but you guys did like a 10-minute piece on that thing on TMZ and other outlets did. It was everywhere! It was really big in America, so stuff like that doesn't hurt, either."

27-year-old Pimblett -- 3-0 in the UFC (19-3 overall) -- is fighting Jared Gordon as part of the co-main event at UFC 282 ... where Paddy will look to extend his UFC unbeaten streak.

As for the comparisons to McGregor ... here's what Dana had to say.

"It's never an insult when somebody compares you to a great or one of the biggest names in the sport. I think that [Israel Adesanya] didn't like it because he doesn't like Jon Jones and Jon Jones doesn't like him. I think that's why he didn't, but it's never an insult. It's a compliment."

We also asked White about all other things 282-related (fight's going down Saturday night from Las Vegas) ... including the UFC president's feelings on Jiri Prochazka's injury, and his relinquishing of the light heavyweight title.

Dana also weighs in on former champ Glover Teixeira -- who was supposed to fight Jiri -- instead opting NOT to fight a new opponent on the card.

White actually believes it was a smart strategic move on the part of the 43-year-old fighter.

Bottom line ... with or without Prochazka and Texeira, Dana believes it's a kickass card.

Tia Mowry is picking a side when it comes to the new milk and soda trend splitting the internet ... but she just might start a new trend with her own festive twist!

We caught up with the "Sister, Sister" star and cookbook author, and got her thoughts on the beverage craze -- the one where folks are mixing cola with milk to produce a sorta DIY carbonated eggnog.

Tia seems to be all for the odd combo, saying she would most definitely try it. She explained, she already likes to put milk in her coffee, and since Pepsi's also caffeinated ... hey, why not put milk in it too?!?

ICYMI, Lindsay Lohan helped hype this with a new Pepsi commercial ... promoting "Pilk" AKA a mix of Pepsi and milk, for the holiday season.

And, folks have been rushing to social media to either try it or knock it.

Well, Linds has convinced at least one big fan! Tia told us she'd even put her own spin on it ... with Pepsi, milk and a dab of something else that'll really make your holiday party 🔥.