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Rep. Andre Carson's 5-second pause, when asked if he'll get vaccinated against COVID-19, underscores the hesitation most African-Americans have ... but he believes that can change.

We got the U.S. Congressman on Capitol Hill Thursday and he addressed the new study showing only 14% of African-Americans trust the vaccine will be safe -- in short, he's not surprised.

The congressman brought up America's ugly history when it comes to medical research on Black citizens -- most notably the Tuskegee experiments with syphilis on 600 Black men.

However, Andre also pointed to the work of Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett ... the African-American scientist who helped develop one of the COVID-19 vaccines.

He believes that will help start the "healing" process necessary for African-Americans to trust vaccines, but stressed ... it's just a start.

A robbery suspect went after residents of the home he was in with a hammer before being shot dead by a responding officer in the nick of time ... and it was captured on body cam.

Police footage of the terrifying Las Vegas incident from the early morning hours Tuesday shows the cop arrive to check out a report of a burglary. The officer says he can see the suspect through a window in the house, then goes to the front door.

The officer tries to get the 2 homeowners -- who are 73 and 76 years old -- to open up quickly to let him in, and thankfully they do ... because a second later the suspect charges with a hammer.

The cop shouts "No!" several times as the suspect tries to attack one of the residents, and as he raises the hammer to strike ... he's shot several times.

He reportedly died at the scene.

The Clark County Coroner has identified the dead man as 40-year-old Nathaniel Sironen. According to police, he broke into the residence armed with the hammer and demanded money and car keys from the homeowners, and told the female resident she was "coming with him."

Kelly Clarkson has declared war on her estranged husband, claiming he defrauded her out of a fortune.

Clarkson just filed legal docs with the California Labor Commission, claiming her ex, Brandon Blackstock, who also served as her personal manager, defrauded her by charging exorbitant fees, and she wants all of the loot back.

Among other things, Kelly says Brandon wasn't legally allowed to operate as a talent agent, because he never obtained a license.

She wants all the money back, and we are talking a fortune. Kelly has been one of the top money earners in the music biz for a long time now, so the commissions she's paid are enormous. She was with Brandon's company for 13 years.

Bryan Freedman, lawyer for Starstruck, tells TMZ “The labor petition conveniently ignores the fact that Kelly had her own licensed talent agency CAA at all times. While Starstruck Management Group provided talent management services on her behalf, it did so at all times that CAA was her agency of record."

He continues, "It is unfortunate that Kelly is again attempting to avoid paying commissions that are due and owing to Starstruck to try and achieve some perceived advantage in her ongoing custody and divorce proceedings.”

Kelly was sued by Brandon's company in September, Starstruck Management, claiming she owed the company $1.4 mil in commissions.

This is the latest shot over the bow in what has become a nasty divorce.

TMZ broke the story ... Kelly and Brandon were fighting over custody ... he wanted their 2 kids to stay with him at the family's Montana ranch. She said she did not want the kids shuttling back and forth between states, and L.A. has been home base for the children. The judge agreed, and now Brandon can only see the kids every other weekend.

LeBron James was so outraged after watching a youth football coach smack a child during a game this month ... he said he might've straight-up fought the guy over it all if he were there in person.

"If I there and it's not even my kid we gone have more than words for sure," the Lakers superstar said Wednesday night.

If you haven't seen it ... the video is pretty disturbing -- a grown-man ATTACKS one his players after a play on the field, hitting the kid in the head multiple times before throwing him to the sideline.

The incident all reportedly went down at the American Youth Football National Championships in Kissimmee, Florida ... and the child is reportedly only 9 years old

The man was hit with a TON of backlash on social media for his actions ... with many people calling for his job -- and even jail time.

The coach issued a video apology ... saying, "At the end of the day, I am a man. I'm not going to make no excuses for what I did" -- but, clearly, the mea culpa wasn't enough for LeBron.

James Instagrammed the video and SLAMMED the coach ... adding, "Ain't no way!! Couldn't be my kid."

Other athletes have expressed similar outrage ... with Pro Football Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe writing, "Even IF* that’s his kid, I’ll whip him."

"I won’t let anyone prey on the weak or vulnerable in front of me," Sharpe continued. "Not going to happen."

It's unclear if the coach will face any criminal charges -- or even discipline from the youth league -- over the incident.

Kim Kardashian's influence can be a huge asset in rolling out transformative changes to L.A.'s criminal justice system ... so says new D.A. George Gascon, who's ready to work with her.

The freshly sworn-in L.A. County District Attorney says he and Kim share a lot of the same viewpoints about prison reform, and he believes her reach will be vital to spread their message ... especially to young people.

Gascon tells us he respects the commitment Kim's demonstrated to changing the system, and he wants her help in fully re-imagining it for the better.

On that note ... Gascon's already taken major steps to get the ball rolling, which is why Kim shouted him out in the first place and grabbed his attention.

During his first days on the job, he called for ending the death penalty -- something very important to Kim -- eliminating cash bail for non-violent crimes ... and ordering a cease of prosecuting first-time offenders for misdemeanors.

Gascon explains why he feels these changes are so important, and will lead L.A. away from defaulting to putting people behind bars -- and instead aim to help and rehabilitate them.

Listen up, Peloton -- you're excluding deaf people from being able to enjoy your app ... at least that's what's alleged in a new class-action lawsuit.

A man in New York is suing the stationary exercise bike company on behalf of his fellow deaf and hearing-impaired people ... claiming the app is violating their civil rights.

That's because, according to legal docs obtained by TMZ, the Peloton app does not include closed captioning for its workout videos.

The plaintiff claims this makes it "impossible" to comprehend the audio portions of the workout tutorials for deaf Peloton members, so they are not able to enjoy the features of the app as much as people without hearing impairments.

Specifically, the man suing says he was unable to understand vids on the app titled "10 Minutes Stretching," "10 Minutes Arm Toning" and "3-Minute Warm-up" due to the lack of closed captioning.

The lawsuit's seeking damages from Peloton and an order requiring the company to close-caption its videos.

This isn't the first big controversy for the exercise company as it's skyrocketed in popularity the past couple years. About a year ago, it caught flak for a Christmas ad many deemed "sexist" ... though it stood behind it.

Ellen DeGeneres has tested positive for coronavirus, but says, so far, she feels okay ... but she wants to give everyone she's been in close contact with a heads up.

The talk show host revealed her diagnosis Thursday morning and says she's following all the proper CDC guidelines. It sounds like she's going to be taking a break from work, because she adds ... "I'll see you again after the holidays. Please stay healthy and safe."

As for the guests she's had in studio in the last week -- Justin Bieber, Bryan Cranston, Diane Keaton, Alison Brie and Lil Nas X.

It's been a rough stretch for Ellen the past several months. We broke the story ... her Montecito mansion with Portia de Rossi was burglarized in July, which led to a serious security upgrade at the home.

Around the same time ... several ex-employees of "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" alleged a toxic work environment, for which she later apologized.

Montana Yao has officially filed divorce docs seeking to end her 9-month marriage to NBA player Malik Beasley, TMZ Sports has learned.

Yao filed the papers this week in Minnesota, where the family has been living since Malik was traded to the Timberwolves back in February.

We're told the couple was married on March 5, 2020. They have one young child together.

As we previously reported, Yao felt "blindsided" by recent photos of Beasley holding hands in public with Larsa Pippen during a Nov. 23 outing in Miami.

The photos show 24-year-old Beasley and 46-year-old Pippen strolling around arm-in-arm at a public shopping area.

Yao has been posting on social media about her marriage ever since -- and on Wednesday she issued a statement saying, "Things have been pretty rough I'm not going to lie."

Montana added, "We were told to leave our family home 10 days ago and just like you all I'm pretty confused."

She continued, "There have been no public or private addressing of the situation nor any type of apology."

We reached out to Beasley's reps for comment -- so far, no word back.

Beasley was a 1st round pick in the 2016 NBA Draft. He averaged 20.7 points per game with Minnesota in the 14 games he played with the T-Wolves in 2020.

A police officer stopped a driver and begged him to cooperate, but after a standoff, he unloaded his gun on the suspect ... and this could be a case of suicide by cop.

It happened Tuesday night in Hillsborough County Florida. The officer was trying to serve an arrest warrant on Dylan Scott in a McDonald's parking lot. Scott was wanted on charges of grand theft and resisting arrest.

The officer asks Scott to put his hands up but he refuses. The cop begs Scott, telling him, "I don't want to do this. It's not worth it."

As Scott remains steadfastly uncooperative, the officer tells him if he makes a bad decision it could cost him his life, but still ... Scott refuses to cooperate.

The officer pled with Scott for 4 minutes, to no avail. He begs Scott to put his hands up, repeating he does not "want to do this." It then gets even more tense, when the cop apparently sees Scott reaching for something. He begs him not to, and says "Whatever you've got in your hands, drop it." Scott still refuses, and the officer tells a fellow cop, Scott has a gun.

You then hear a series of shots from the officer's gun. No gun was found in Scott's car.

Scott was taken to the hospital where he died.

Matthew Morrison probably thinks fans who saw his performance in "Dr. Seuss' The Grinch Musical!" have hearts 2 sizes too small ... 'cause they're going off about his hyper-sexual take on the Grinch.

The "Glee" star drenched himself in the green getup for Wednesday night's musical on NBC, but instead of softening hearts around the world, things got strange.

With lots of moaning, heavy breathing and come hither stares into the camera ... many viewers felt MM went bizarrely overboard with his portrayal.

You could almost hear people at home screaming, "That's a no for me, dawg" ... which is a pretty good summary of the Twitter reviews. One viewer even said, "Sending matthew morrison the bill for all the therapy i’ll need after watching his bizarrely sexual interpretation of the grinch."

After the show, Matthew posted a video of himself taking off his makeup while singing "For Good" from the popular play, "Wicked."

Nice PR move, but it still didn't distract fans from taking out their frustrations. Some of them included concerned parents who said their kids had nightmares.

As one unhappy customer put it, "matthew morrison doing an incredibly cursed rendition of the grinch is the most fitting way to end this wretched year imo, we r in hell."

Dallas PD says they got the guy who gunned down rapper Mo3 in cold blood, slapped him with a murder charge and turned him over to the feds ... 'cause he's in even more trouble.

Homicide detectives say they tracked down Kewon Dontrell White on Wednesday after getting a tip from a witness about his alleged involvement in Mo3's November 11 killing in Dallas. Cops tell TMZ ... they believe White is the armed man seen on surveillance video running near the murder scene.

It appears White either knew Mo3 or was tailing him -- detectives say they have evidence placing him near the rapper a full day before the shooting, and also on the day of the murder.

As we first reported, sources told us Mo3 knew he was being tailed as he left a female companion's home the morning of November 11. A car chase ensued that ended on the I-35 freeway, and Mo3 was gunned down as he tried to flee on foot.

Cops tell us 22-year-old White is now in federal custody for a charge of prohibited person in possession of a firearm ... in addition to the murder charge in Dallas.

A Canadian cop was out for revenge when a motorist dared to call him out for not wearing a mask ... and it's right there on video.

It went down in Winnipeg when the officer pulled a woman over and said he was prepared to give her a warning for some sort of driving infraction. That's when the lady asked the cop why he wasn't wearing a mask, and that did not sit well with the officer.

He clearly felt disrespected, for some reason ... incorrectly saying he was safe because he was 6 feet away. In case he missed it, the pandemic has exploded, and just about every scientist is saying 6 feet away isn't enough ... you gotta wear a mask, even outdoors.

In any event, he exacts revenge on the woman for daring to question him.

God, we hope she fights this in court.

Diplo's scored a legal victory against the woman he says posted explicit pics of him on social media ... a judge ordered her to remove the pics and stay the hell away from him.

According to new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, the DJ was granted a restraining order against the woman, and it requires her to stop distributing sexually explicit images of Diplo. She's also been ordered to "identify and remove any such images previously posted or distributed" on social media.

The woman also has to stay at least 100 yards away from Diplo, his son's mother, Jevon King ... as well as one of the DJ's friends. TMZ broke the story ... Diplo claimed his ex-fling had posted photos and videos of the two of them having sex while also harassing him and his family.

Teyana Taylor's gotta be feeling appreciated today ... she celebrated her 30th birthday with a flashy Miami shindig, packed with her celeb friends.

The newly-retired singer danced her ass off Wednesday night at the bash ... surrounded by folks like Diddy, Lil Wayne and A$AP Ferg, just to name a few. You can see in the video ... people were shoulder-to-shoulder at times on the dance floor.

Unclear what, if any, testing went down beforehand -- but there was no social distancing and very few face masks.

Also worth noting, there are very few COVID restrictions right now in Florida.

The party, sponsored by the clothing line Pretty Little Thing, came less than a week after Teyana announced she was retiring from music because she felt underappreciated by the industry.

She said, "I’m retiring this chapter of my story with the comfort that I can depart with peace of mind seeing that all the hard work & passion put was indeed loved & supported somewhere in the world!"

She definitely got love and support to ring in the big 3-0.

Lizzo is going through it -- in a brutally honest moment, she's admitting she lets all the mean crap Internet trolls say get to her sometimes ... but she's also confident it will pass.

Lest you think things are always "Good As Hell" for the singer, Lizzo opened up about an emotional low she hit Wednesday as she was taking a shower -- "I just started having all of these really negative thoughts about myself. Like, you know, what's wrong with me? Maybe everything, [and] all the mean things people say about me are true."

The video is remarkable because it's the kinda honesty we don't often see from celebs ... and also because ya just wanna give her a hug.

Lizzo says, at that moment, she was hating her body ... but adds these are normal thoughts that "happen to everybody, they happen to the best of us."

She's never lacked for confidence, and you can almost see her working through her emotions, because by the end of the clip Lizzo had some inspirational words -- for herself and everyone else who goes through this on the daily.

The pandemic hasn't stopped people from getting their freak on at possible COVID super-spreader events -- they've simply gone underground, and they're going to extremes to keep it hidden.

A source with direct knowledge tells us the events have been happening since the start of COVID, but the recent surge in cases has made them more hush-hush. There's a vetting process, but more for secrecy than public health issues.

For starters, we're told anyone looking to access these speakeasy-esque events will first have to get in touch with a real sex worker.

Alice Little, a popular prostitute in Nevada, tells us sex workers -- who advertise on social media and escort sites -- serve as gatekeepers, giving only their most trusted clients the hookup to a party.

Alice says the sex worker might ask for references -- not unlike a job interview -- but we're told the grilling is more to sniff out narcs and undercover agents ... and not about health issues.

While you'd think there would be testing -- for COVID and STIs -- we're told that's not the concern for these underground parties ... they're more worried about getting busted by law enforcement.

This is a big change, and a dangerous one considering we're in a pandemic. Alice says pre-COVID these events would typically be run by brothels ... which were more likely to require medical testing.

Anyway, if you pass muster, we're told the sex worker takes you to the so-called kingdom -- which could be at a strip club, a private residence or even a literal underground hideaway.

As we reported, a swingers party in NYC was busted and more recently ... 158 people were arrested in L.A. County. So, these events are clearly on law enforcement's radar, and for good reason.

Party-goers risk arrest, but now the other major concern is the threat to public health and spreading COVID.