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Amanda Gorman, the poet who stole the show at President Biden's inauguration, says she went from hero to suspect, adding it's a reality of what Black girls are forced to endure.

Amanda was walking home Friday -- apparently in L.A. -- when a security guard seemingly felt she was a threat and followed her. When she got to her home, she says he demanded to know if she lived there because "you look suspicious."

Amanda says she showed the guard her keys and went inside, but that's not the end of the story. After the guard realized she lived there, there was no apology ... nothing.

Amanda says, "This is the reality of black girls: One day you're called an icon, the next day a threat."

To that Amanda agreed ... "In a sense, he was right. I AM A THREAT: a threat to injustice, to inequality, to ignorance. Anyone who speaks the truth and walks with hope is an obvious and fatal danger to the powers that be."

I do not like green eggs and ham ...

And, your reading is a sham, Kevin I am.

Rep. Kevin McCarthy appeared clueless as he read Dr. Seuss's "Green Eggs and Ham" out loud ... presumably in protest of the decision to yank 6 of the famed author's books because of racist images.

McCarthy apparently wasn't down with the decision, but his choice of books to read in defiance misses the point. Fact is ... "Green Eggs and Ham" was NOT pulled. The books that were pulled ... "And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street," "If I Ran the Zoo," "McElligot's Pool," "On Beyond Zebra!," "Scrambled Eggs Super!" and "The Cat's Quizzer."

What's more ... Congress is debating a pretty important bill -- getting stimulus checks to suffering Americans, and here sits McCarthy reading Dr. Seuss.

"Entourage" star Kevin Connolly put the E in "eruption" after his car got towed at a flower shop ... and the store's banning him after the blow-up.

The manager of Nicolai Bergmann Flowers & Design in L.A. tells TMZ ... there’s a podcast studio next to the shop, and they claim Kevin's frequently parked his Tesla in their parking lot ... presumably while recording podcasts.

On Tuesday, the manager says the shop had enough -- after having left multiple notes on Kevin's car about jacking their parking -- so after it had been there more than an hour ... they called a tow truck.

Kev's car alarm was sounding as the tow truck left with his baby.

Shortly afterward, Kevin entered the flower shop -- captured on security camera -- and appeared to grow increasingly irritated while speaking to the staff.

We're told he asked where his car was and was told to call the towing company ... and that's when you see him getting really upset. Kevin appears to yell at someone as he's walking out, then delivers a couple of swift kicks to items near the exit.

The shop manager says the business is closing soon, but regardless ... Kevin is not allowed to come back to the store while it remains open.

The Kardashians are all about expanding their business empire ... and now it looks like they want to tap into the greeting cards biz.

Kim, Kourtney, Khloe and Kris filed trademark docs to lock up the rights to a name for their potential new revenue stream ... "Kardashian Kards." Ah, it just rolls off the tongue.

According to the docs, obtained by TMZ, the Kardashians are looking to use their famous family name to sell greeting cards, calendars, decals, photo albums and postcards.

The docs make it look like they also might slap "Kardashian Kards" on scrapbooks, stationery, paper, notebooks, stickers, erasers, bookmarks and gift wrap.

Don't let these two almost identical images of actress Rachel Brosnahan make you start to feel under the weather! Cheer up by proving you have what it takes to uncover the sneaky switches that have been made to this tricky pic!

The "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" star was seen on set recently in New York City ... and we have made a few changes to this photo of her! Take a really good look around both pics and see if you can find the differences between these two super similar snaps!

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is a trailblazer -- so says the Hollywood Critics Association that labeled him as such -- but D.J. says the real trailblazer was his pops.

Johnson accepted the HCA's Trailblazer Award Friday night via Zoom, of course, and he got pretty emotional.

Dwayne says he felt super lucky to be in a position of privilege where he could make people feel good. He's done that in a big way, working with the Make-A-Wish Foundation for a long, long time. He was also honored for the donations he's made to frontline workers and first responders.

The former wrestling champ dedicated the award to his dad, WWE Hall of Famer Rocky Johnson, who passed away a year ago at age 75.  Dwayne called his dad a real trailblazer, and then went on to describe their relationship as "complicated" -- "Father and son, tough love, tough love." Dwayne says his dad did all he could do to make people go home feeling happy.

It's war between Harry and Meghan and Buckingham Palace, and Texas and Mississippi say 'see ya later!' to COVID restrictions. So, we gotta ask ...

The judge in the "QAnon Shaman" case is scratching his head over decisions made by the infamous defendant ... in particular, his decision to do a LONG interview with "60 Minutes+."

The accused insurrectionist, whose real name is Jacob Chansley, was called on the carpet by the judge for doing the jailhouse interview, which appeared on "60 Minutes+."

Chansley's lawyer told the judge yes, they did arrange for the interview, but felt everything was kosher. Apparently, the judge didn't see it that way.

Chansley, who says he's been in solitary since being arrested, said he was never violent inside the Capitol. He says his participation was "not an attack on this country" ... an interesting argument, given the images of him in the Senate Chamber.

He also says he's still loyal to Trump, despite being overlooked for a pardon. He makes it clear ... he did what he did at the former President's behest.

UFC light heavyweight champ Jan Blachowicz says he's got a secret weapon for beating Israel Adesanya on Saturday night -- his newborn son!

The Polish powerhouse's fiancee gave birth to their first child, JJ, back in December -- and Jan says it's changed his whole outlook on life and fighting.

"Mentally, I'm stronger," 38-year-old Jan told TMZ Sports ... "Bigger motivation for everything right now. To hit harder, work harder."

"I do this for him right now."

As for his fight with Adesanya -- the undefeated middleweight champ -- Blachowicz knows it'll be the biggest challenge of his career but he's confident he'll end it in less than 2 rounds.

"I believe that I'm going to be the first one who beat him after this Saturday," Jan says.

"He gonna be 20 and 1, this what I believe and that's it. I know that he's really great fighter, amazing fighter, one of the best in the world but anyway I got my time right now, it's my division and I will stop him."

There's talk of a possible matchup with Jon Jones down the line -- but Jan says he's focused on Israel ... and will deal with Jones when the time comes.

It wouldn't be a camera-ready face without some pearly whites to show for it ... And these stars are making sure their smile is one to put on display by heading down to the dentist!

Celebs such as Adam DeVine, Jonathan Bennett, Brooke Shields, NeNe Leakes and plenty of other stars have been sharing their silly snaps from the hot seat, and now we're showing off their pearly whites to you!

Let these stars hype you up for your next visit ... Just scroll through our gallery of stars at the dentist to see all the celebs keepin' their teeth nice and shiny!

Nicolas Cage is going back to the wedding well ... he got married for a whopping 5th time, and once again he tied the knot in Sin City.

The 56-year-old actor married 26-year-old Riko Shibata last month in Nevada, according to the Clark County Clerk's Office. The records show Riko took Nic's last name, and on Feb. 16 they said "I Do."

Nic, who lives in Las Vegas, announced his engagement to Riko back in August after proposing over FaceTime. Riko was in Japan when he popped the question, so Nicolas sent the engagement ring via FedEx.

It's the 5th marriage for Nicolas ... and the union comes less than 2 years after his last marriage to Erika Koike ended in divorce after only 4 days. DailyMail was first to report the news of his new bride.

THIS. IS. INSANE.

Cleveland Browns star lineman Wyatt Teller hunted, shot and killed a 10-foot gator in Florida this week .... and then picked up the beast with his bare hands!!

Seriously!!

Here's how it went down -- Teller linked up with his buddy and Miami Dolphins defensive end Zach Sieler ... who happens to own a hunting outfitter, Clay Gully Outfitters, in central Florida.

The 2 NFL players -- who have been planning the trip for a while -- hunted hogs and gators on Sieler's enormous plot of land.

Sieler and his GF Hannah Cook tell TMZ Sports the 26-year-old All-Pro killed the gator -- which Zach estimates were 9.5 feet and 200 pounds -- and then threw it over his shoulder and carried it away.

FYI -- folks down south love to eat fried gator ... but no word on what will happen with this particular beast -- it could be eaten, or used to make a cool rug or even gator boots!!

Either way, it's gonna get used up.

The first man to respond to the Tiger Woods crash scene was a local man who told law enforcement the golfer was unconscious in the driver's seat ... this according to new court documents obtained by TMZ Sports.

L.A. County Sheriff's Deputy Johann Schloegl submitted an affidavit which described an interview with a man who lives in the area where Tiger crashed his SUV on Feb. 23.

The man told law enforcement ... he heard the crash near the Rolling Hills Estates and decided to walk to the accident scene to check it out, where he saw Woods.

According to the affidavit, the witness tried talking with Tiger but the golfer was unresponsive.

L.A. County Sheriff's Deputy Carlos Gonzalez arrived at the scene shortly after -- and has publicly stated Woods was conscious and talking when he got there.

Deputy Gonzalez has also said Tiger did not appear to be under the influence of alcohol or any other substance.

As we previously reported, officials are now pulling data from the "black box" in Tiger's 2021 GV80 vehicle which could reveal details about Tiger's speed and driving pattern in the moments before the crash.

In the affidavit, Deputy Schloegl spells out, "I believe the data will explain how/why the collision occurred."

PETA demonstrators are putting the heat on a North Carolina police department where a cop hanged and choked a K-9 by its leash, and they're demanding justice for the dog.

The demonstration went down Friday outside Salisbury PD HQ -- masked up PETA protesters held signs condemning cops not only for the horrific treatment of the K-9, named Zuul, but also for an apparent attempt to cover up the alleged abuse.

As we reported ... disturbing footage surfaced this week showing an unnamed cop manhandling the hell out of Zuul, who he was supposed to be training.

Video shows the cop screaming at the K-9 before putting a leash on him, hanging him by it, slamming him into the side of an SUV, throwing Zuul into the back seat and hitting him. You can also hear an officer say, "We're good. No witnesses" ... as Zuul was getting choked.

Friday's protest comes on the heels of PETA firing off a letter to Salisbury Police Chief Jerry Stokes, urging the officer to be criminally prosecuted for animal abuse.

Timothy V. Murphy is ready to throw back some Irish whiskey and beer for St. Patrick's Day ... and he'll be doing it at a pub, even though the CDC wants the holiday to go virtual.

We got the "Sons of Anarchy" star at LAX Friday afternoon and our photog asked the famous Irishman about his St. Paddy's Day plans.

Timothy says he's looking forward to drinking at some popular Irish pubs in L.A. and he's not about to cancel the holiday for the second year in a row, despite the CDC urging folks to stay home and celebrate.

The way Timothy sees it ... St. Patrick's Day just doesn't work in a virtual setting, so he's keeping it live and in person. L.A. has outdoor dining (and drinking) again, so he'll have options.

Our guy also asked Timothy about Conor McGregor catching heat for buying a bottle of Proper 12 inside a liquor store without wearing a mask. Sounds like Timothy's glad he's not back in Ireland, or New York City, for that matter.

Sampson the service dog is a very good -- and smart -- boy who deserves lots of treats for learning an important new trick -- how to wear PPE so he can help his disabled neuroscientist mom.

The scientist, Joey Ramp, conducts her lab work at the University of Illinois, but says she wouldn't be able to do her job without the aid of her assistant ... the first pup ever granted access to the college's chemistry lab.

For safety reasons, Sampson, a golden retriever, is required to wear protective gear just like the humans do, and as you can see ... he's mastered it.

Joey suffered a traumatic brain injury in a 2006 horse-riding accident and now studies the human brain, and she says her good boy's crucial to her research. She explains that he's not only there for her if she drops something and needs support kneeling down to pick it up ... but he's also trained to spot signs of her PTSD.

Joey says, "I couldn't possibly navigate academics or a neuroscience program without his assistance," and she's advocating for more service dogs to be allowed in labs for students with disabilities ... with guidelines like making the pups wear PPE.