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Meek Mill and Michael Rubin must be tired of Congress stalling on a relief package -- they've just created their own ... a $2M scholarship fund to benefit underprivileged kids in Philadelphia.

The "Championships" rapper and 76ers partner created the fund which is expected to benefit nearly 1,000 students in the Philly area ... and the impact will be IMMEDIATE. We're told the money -- which will go toward the 2020-2021 school year -- will help students from pre-K through high school score resources they desperately need during the pandemic.

The students from poverty-stricken homes who are selected to receive a scholarship can use the money to attend private/parochial schools throughout the city with costs covered. For those in e-learning school, they can use the funds to to access equipment ... like laptops, tablets and WiFi.

As you know, so many families are struggling to make ends meet, and a big part of that includes finding resources so kids can continue learning from home.

It's an awesome and much needed gesture from Michael and Meek ... close friends who are both from Philly.

Both men have been involved in multiple relief efforts through this god awful year. Michael was the architect of the All In Challenge during the early part of the pandemic. Tons of celebrities did their part in hooking it up ... from Meek, Drake, Tom Brady and Kevin Hart to Justin Bieber, Magic Johnson and Leonardo DiCaprio.

Shia LaBeouf has just been sued by his ex-girlfriend, FKA Twigs, who claims he physically abused her, tormented her and gave her an STD.

FKA Twigs outlines in her new lawsuit horrific allegations of abuse. She claims Shia once slammed her against a car and attempted to strangle her. She also claims while they were driving he pulled a pistol out and claimed he had killed stray dogs before because he wanted to know what it felt like to take a life, so he could get in the mindset of a killer.

She goes on to claim he was so wildly jealous he would literally count the number of kisses she gave him in any given day and would berate her if she fell short of the target.

She says he was paranoid and would sleep with guns because he was afraid gang members were coming after him.

As for the claim of sexual battery, she says he knowingly gave her an STD, which she believes she contracted in 2019, and says he confessed and said he had a flare-up but covered it up with makeup. She also claims at least one other woman with whom Shia had a relationship contracted the disease.

FKA Twigs says she's not suing because she wants money, rather she says she filed suit because she wants to warn other women, "Shia LaBeouf hurts women."

She's suing for unspecified damages.

Shia told the NYT, "Although many of these allegations are not true. I am not in the position to defend any of my actions. I owe these women the opportunity to air their statements publicly and accept accountability for those thing I have done. As someone in recovery, I have to face almost daily reminders of things I did say and do when I was drinking."

He continues, "It has always been easy for me to accept responsibility when my behavior reflects poorly on myself, but it's much harder to accept the knowledge that I may have caused great pain to others. I can't rewrite history. I can only accept it and work to be better in the future. I write this as a sober member of a twelve-step program and in therapy for my many failings."

The Hollywood Hills architectural masterpiece owned by DJ Erick Morillo before he died is being listed by one of the stars of "Selling Sunset" ... who says it's his favorite home ever.

Jason Oppenheim originally sold the incredible property, once dubbed The Flying Wing, to the "I Like to Move It" DJ back in 2014 ... and now Erick's family's working with Jason to sell it again.

The 4-bed, 6-bath beauty was designed by famed architect Harry Gesner, and Oppenheim says its storied history and breathtaking views of L.A. are unrivaled ... and there's so much more.

The 4,543 sq. ft. is built into its own hillside with jetliner views from an open floor plan ... which features vaulted wood plank ceilings, and disappearing glass doors for tons of natural light.

There's a chef's kitchen, spacious living and dining areas, a custom-built bar and an infinity pool to further take in those views. After Erick bought the place, he built a state-of-the-art music studio under the pool ... and upgraded the entire property with an audiovisual system.

Erick bought the home for $7.6 million, and Jason's listing it now at $7.999 mil.

Taylor Swift sent her fans into a spiral -- believing the dress she wears in a new music video means she's hitched -- but we're told there's still no Mrs. before her name.

Taylor dropped her 9th studio album "Evermore" Friday and gave fans a music video for the single, "Willow." In the video, she sports a white-lace dress with a flower headband -- a sure sign, for fans -- that she had recently gotten hitched to her long-term boyfriend, Joe Alwyn.

However, despite what fans want to believe, sources with direct knowledge tell us Taylor and Joe are not married ... and the dress is just that. A dress.

Not to fear, there are still other nuggets in the album's lyrics for fans to find hidden messages. The song "Long Story Short" seems to reference Taylor's 2016 feud with Kim and Kanye, singing, "I tried to pick my battles 'til the battle picked me."

There's another possible reference to her failed relationship with Tom Hiddleston, "Clung to the wrong lips. Long story short. It was the wrong guy."

Kim Kardashian says she's feeling "messed up" after her failed attempt to save Brandon Bernard from execution, because she strongly believes he was a reformed person ... and the system failed him.

Kim vented shortly after Brandon was executed by lethal injection Thursday night in Indiana, declaring ... "This just has to change: Our system is so f*cked up."

Kim also gave details of Brandon's final moments before he was put to death. She said, "Brandon wanted me to tell every single person who worked on his behalf supporting him in any way a huge thank you." Kim says this public support and faith that he wasn't who he was as a teenager when he was convicted was a gift to his family, and made him feel validated.

Kim added, "I could go on and on about what an amazing person Brandon was. I do know he left this earth feeling supported and loved and at peace." She says his attorney called to says Brandon wanted her to know he loved her and thanked her for championing his cause.

As we reported ... Kim's public support of Brandon and attempt to stop his execution did not sit well with the family of his victims, who called her out for it.

Pepa from Salt-N-Pepa can't shake her thang without pain and discomfort, because she claims a doctor pressured her into multiples butt surgeries and botched them.

Sandra Denton, better known as Pep, is suing Dr. David Sayah for negligence, claiming he talked her into 3 separate procedures to repair damage she suffered in a July 2018 car accident.

In legal docs, she says the wreck made the biopolymer injections she previously had in her butt and hips shift, leaving her in extreme discomfort. Pep says she was referred to Dr. Sayah in Sept. 2019 to help her out, and the plan was to remove the biopolymer material and butt implants to relieve her pain.

According to the suit, the doctor initially convinced Pep to simply replace her butt implants with smaller ones ... because she claims he told her she'd be distraught if she went back to her au natural derriere.

Instead, Pep alleges Sayah performed an unsuccessful liposuction, which required yet another corrective surgery.

Before that one went down ... she claims Dr. Sayah pressured her into a different procedure which caused her buttocks to harden and knot up -- making it difficult and stressful for her to perform on stage.

She claims the third and final surgery was in Feb. 2020 when Sayah finally removed the biopolymer material ... or so she thought.

Pep says she went to another doctor because her butt was still hurting and, after an MRI, discovered a "large amount of biopolymer silicone and dead scar tissue remaining."

Tommy "Tiny" Lister -- famous for playing intimidating, but lovable tough guys in films like "Friday" -- has died ... TMZ has learned.

Law enforcement sources tell us they got a call to the actor's Marina Del Rey apartment Thursday, just before 3 PM, for an unconscious male. Our sources say Tommy was not transported to the hospital, as he was pronounced dead on the scene.

We're told the coroner is at the home, but there's no word yet on a cause of death.

Though "Tiny" began landing his bullying bad guy roles in the '80s, he's most famous for his hilarious turn as Deebo in "Friday" and the sequel, "Next Friday."

He also played President Lindberg in the sci-fi action film, "The Fifth Element," and more recently appeared in the box office smash hit, "The Dark Knight." He voiced the character Finnick in "Zootopia" as well.

Along with acting, Tommy had 2 short pro wrestling stints, and starred alongside Hulk Hogan -- as the bad guy, Zeus, of course -- in the 1989 film, "No Holds Barred."

Oh, and if ya didn't know, his nickname is pure irony ... "Tiny" was 6'5".

When we last saw him out and about, "Tiny" couldn't have been nicer ... talking to us about another Deebo currently playing in the NFL, and dishing out some new "Friday" info.

Earlier this year, Lister used his bullying powers for the greater good ... getting word out to help grieving families -- and a few months before that, he was warning kids to stay inside during the early days of the pandemic.

Tommy was 62.

RIP

Steve Wozniak got incredibly sick after a trip to Asia in late December, and he's now sure it was COVID, but he couldn't get the attention of the CDC.

The Apple co-founder and his wife Janet were in Asia in December 2019, traveling through several spots where COVID-19 is believed to have first spread -- including China -- before returning to the U.S. on January 4. He took a selfie with someone from Wuhan, suggesting that's how both he and his wife contracted the virus.

Steve says he and his wife got incredibly sick -- worse than any flu by a long shot. He says they were coughing up blood, had diarrhea and other symptoms that lasted 3 weeks, subsided and then flared up again in March.

Steve says when he got back he gave his data to the CDC, telling them lots of people on the plane ride from Hong Kong back to the U.S. were coughing. The response from the CDC ... "They could care less about my story."

Steve says his case study proves the CDC was wrong when it said the first cases were in Seattle in mid to late January ... he thinks there was an untold number of people infected way before the alarm was sounded in the U.S.

Steve says from his vantage point, COVID was in the U.S. in December, and his theory is supported by a recent study.

Taylor Swift dropped her second album of 2020, setting fans on a rabid hunt for hidden meanings in her lyrics ... and some hear references to her Kim and Kanye feud and a failed relationship.

"Evermore" features 17 tracks, one of them being "Long Story Short" ... where Taylor sings, "I tried to pick my battles 'til the battle picked me. Misery." Fans believe it's an obvious reference to her 2016 war of words with Kim and Kanye over the lyrics to his song, "Famous."

If you don't know already ... Kanye's verse, "I made that bitch famous" -- in reference to Taylor -- sparked a massive back and forth between Kanye claiming Taylor knew the lyric was happening and Taylor claiming the opposite.

Shortly after that feud, Taylor started dating actor Tom Hiddleston, but the couple split after just a few months ... and fans think the chorus for "Long Story Short" references that too.

She sings, "Clung to the wrong lips. Long story short, it was the wrong guy."

Jocko Sims plays Dr. Floyd Reynolds on the medical drama "New Amsterdam," but he's not playing around with COVID ... he says everyone needs to get inoculated.

We got the masked-up actor outside in NYC's Hell's Kitchen and asked about the skepticism over the vaccine ... especially among Black people.

Jocko tells us he understands why his community is hesitant to get medicine courtesy of the U.S. government -- there's a disgraceful historical context -- but he says he's witnessed the carnage firsthand, so the vaccine is a choice of life over death.

The TV doc heaps praise on Obama, W. Bush and Clinton for agreeing to show themselves get needled on video ... to show others it's effective and safe.

As we told you ... Gayle King is also imploring people to follow the lead of the former presidents and trust the vaccine, trust science, and trust Dr. Fauci.

This type of reassurance might be vital as the vaccine becomes available to the public, especially in the African-American community. As we reported ... a new study shows only 14% of African-Americans trust the vaccine will be safe and only 18% trust it'll be effective.

Noah Jupe's only 15 and living large after starring with Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant in "The Undoing" ... cause we've learned he got a hefty paycheck for his work on the show!!!

The kid who played Nicole and Hugh's son, Henry, on the hit HBO series banked a whopping $100k per episode for the 6-episode limited series. That's a cool $600k in Noah's bank account for starring in the psychological thriller.

According to his minors contract, filed in L.A. County Court, Noah also got some other sweet perks. For starters, he got at least 5 roundtrip business class tickets for him and his parents to fly to New York, where they filmed the show.

The deal, which he signed when he was only 13, also secured him a 3-bedroom apartment ... which is GOLD in the NYC area!

More perks for Noah -- a $100 per diem, and a weekly $350 Uber stipend.

All part of his growing Hollywood success. Noah's appeared in several other TV shows, including "Downton Abbey" -- but we're guessing "The Undoing" is his biggest payday up to this point.

UFC star Mackenzie Dern says she's a better fight NOW than ever before -- and it's all because she's a mom.

The 27-year-old jiu-jitsu specialist -- who gave birth to her daughter back in June 2019 -- won 2 of her last 3 fights after returning to the Octagon.

Now, she's gearing up to fight Virna Jandiroba at UFC 256 on Dec. 12 and feels more dangerous than ever.

She's also right on schedule to EASILY make weight on Friday -- something she struggled mightily with in the past.

In fact, Dern famously came in 7 pounds overweight for her May 2018 fight against Amanda Cooper and was docked 30% of her fight purse.

So, what's changed? Dern says having a child and getting married forced her to grow up.

Dern tells TMZ Sports she's more focused, more mature and more professional since starting a family. She's married to pro surfer Wesley Santos.

"Before my daughter was born, I thought I was focused at the time, [but] now I see how [I was] kind of a little more rebellious [when I was younger]."

Dern admits she lived a more carefree lifestyle before her daughter was born -- partying, traveling, etc. -- "I was single, I didn't have this support family to keep you grounded."

But now, Dern says she's laser-focused and is gunning for a title shot -- which is more realistic now than ever before.

"I really see the potential to be the champion," Dern says ... "I see the title. I can see it. Now it's in my vision."

Scottish born actor Nicholas Rowe was only a teenager when he landed the iconic role as the pipe-puffing Sherlock Holmes -- who takes on the case of the murderous Eh-Tar -- in the 1985 old school mystery movie "Young Sherlock Holmes."

Nicholas Rowe was cast alongside some other awesome young actors to solve the mysterious poisonings including Alan Cox as the trusty sidekick, John Watson and Sophie Ward as Sherlock's young school crush, Elizabeth Hardy.

Nicholas can be seen more recently playing Jock Colville in the first season of "The Crown."

Kim Kardashian West needs to stop trying to save convicted killer Brandon Bernard from being executed because she's not considering the pain of the family he destroyed  ... so says a member of that family.

Dana Ladd, the stepsister of one of Bernard's victims, Stacie Bagley, tells TMZ ... Bernard deserves to be executed by lethal injection Thursday at a penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana despite Kim's desperate pleas to the White House to spare his life.

Ladd says, "I want her to think about if it was one of her children that Bernard did that to -- would she feel differently? It's easy for people to say things when they don't have similar experiences."

A source close to Kim tells us her heart breaks for both sides and in no way has she meant for her efforts to diminish the loss of Stacie. Kim says she knows what Brandon did was wrong, but taking his life won't make things right.

Bernard was 18 in 1999 when he was involved in the brutal kidnapping and killing of Todd and Stacie Bagley. While Bernard was not the trigger man, he put the victim's bodies in the trunk of a car and set it on fire.

Dana says during his trial, Bernard never showed remorse. Our Kim sources say she's spoken directly to Brandon, who has repeatedly said he's sorry for his role in Stacie's murder ... his remorse and his young family are major reasons why she got involved in his case.

Another defendant in that case, Christopher Vialva, who shot the couple in the head, was executed back in September. There were 3 other teenagers involved and they received long prison sentences ... while Vialva and Bernard got the death penalty.

As you might know ... Kim's been tweeting constantly since bringing Bernard's case to light last month. She had tweeted Bernard has only seen his kids through a glass, a tweet that really got to Dana.

Dana says, "Bernard was able to see his family through glass, but we'll never be able to see Stacie anymore. He has a daughter -- what would he think if someone did that to his daughter?" Dana says ... Bernard's getting what he deserves and nothing more.

She added, "A sin is a sin -- consequences of those sins will play out and that's what's happening today."

The Kardashians won't be without a medium for their reality tv content for long, because they're headed to Hulu ... just months after announcing 'KUWTK' was kaput.

The announcement was made Thursday during Disney's Investor Day in Santa Monica. We're told Kim, Kris, Kylie, Khloe, Kendall and Kourtney will all join the streaming service to create new global content that is expected to debut late 2021. Their content will air exclusively on Hulu domestically and on Star internationally.

As we reported, it was back in September when the family announced that after 20 seasons on E! "Keeping Up with The Kardashians" was coming to an end next year. At the time, Kim said, "This show made us who we are and I will be forever in debt to everyone who played a role in shaping our careers and changing our lives forever."

At the time, we were told the family was able to promote their own personal brands and products on their own social media pages, and needed to step away from TV for a bit.

Lil Wayne is deep in the hole with his ex-manager to the tune of more than $20 mil ... at least according to a new lawsuit.

According to docs, obtained by TMZ, Ronald Sweeney claims Wayne hired him in 2005 to help renegotiate his deal with Cash Money. You'll recall Weezy beefed with Cash Money honcho Birdman over how much Cash Money paid out to Wayne's label, Young Money.

Long story short ... Lil Wayne settled that Cash Money lawsuit in May 2018, but Sweeney now claims he only got a few payments from that settlement ... and they were nowhere near what he says his full cut should be.

Then there's this ... in the suit, filed by attorney Ed McPherson,  Sweeney says back in May 2018, Lil Wayne asked him to fire Cortez Bryant -- Weezy's manager and childhood friend -- over a conflict of interest in a legal dispute involving Drake and Cash Money.

Sweeney says he did so, and took over Bryant's duties and got Wayne to give him a pay bump from 10% to 17% commission. But, Sweeney claims Bryant and Mack Maine then conspired to drive a wedge between Wayne and Sweeney, which allegedly worked. Sweeney says Wayne fired him in September 2018.

Then, this past June, Lil Wayne sold his masters to Universal Music Group for more than $100 million. Sweeney doesn't seem to be asking for any money from that deal ... but brings it up seemingly to point out Wayne has the cash to pay him what he claims he's owed.