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Kim Kardashian has been trying to become a lawyer now for more than a year, but she's no closer to getting her license to practice law ... because she missed a passing grade on the baby bar exam.

Kim made it official on a preview of "Keeping Up with the Kardashians," where she fessed up to flunking. TMZ heard she flunked the exam months ago, but our Kardashian sources would not confirm.

That said, she can always try again. It's unclear if she took the exam a second time, because many months have passed.

Kim said, "If you are doing law school the way I'm doing it, it is a 4-year program instead of your typical 3-year program, and after year 1, you have to take the baby bar. This was actually harder, I hear, than the official bar."

Kim scored 474 on the exam ... a passing grade is 560.

Kim's mentor in taking the exam, attorney Jessica Jackson, said, "That is extremely close on a test that most people are not taking in the middle of a pandemic." A source tells us Kim had to take the test at home, while balancing her kids and other factors ... making it more difficult than taking the test in a controlled environment.

Amy Cooper -- who was branded Central Park "Karen" after calling cops on a Black man -- is taking her former employer to court, saying they painted her with a broad, racist brush.

Cooper is suing investment firm Franklin Templeton, where she worked before this whole mess, alleging defamation, negligence, infliction of emotional distress and racial discrimination.

In the docs, obtained by TMZ, Cooper claims FT fired her prematurely and without having all the facts. She goes on to say the honchos jumped on the bandwagon that was spreading across the country ... to portray her as another "privileged white female 'Karen.'"

She says they painted her as a racist when they announced they were cutting her loose in the days that followed ... saying they did not "tolerate racism of any kind," which Cooper believes wrongly labeled her, and helped ruin her life and future prospects.

Not just that, but Cooper says Franklin Templeton's claim of doing a full investigation -- which only lasted a couple days or so before they canned her -- wasn't up to snuff, and she claims they failed to review the entirety of her 911 calls for context.

Adding insult to injury ... Cooper claims FT didn't bother pulling notes from the New York City Park Board Meetings -- which she claims would've shed light on unproven allegations Christian Cooper, the guy with whom she had beef, had been noted as a pest in the park.

AC claims what was really going on that day is that Christian targeted her in a supposed ongoing feud between himself -- an avid bird watcher -- and dog owners in Central Park. She says she didn't call 911 out of racism, but out of genuine fear.

The search for Ellen's successor didn't take long, and doesn't come as much of a surprise ... "The Kelly Clarkson Show" will take over the slot currently held by "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" after her 19th season concludes.

NBC made the announcement that Clarkson's show -- currently in its second season and airing in all of the network's markets -- is expected to replace Ellen's by Fall 2022.

As we first told you ... Kelly had been penciled in as the front-runner for Ellen's coveted, syndicated hour of television pretty much since her talk show launched in Fall 2019.

The show debuted to huge ratings, and with NBC honchos predicting DeGeneres would pull the plug on her show eventually ... Clarkson seemed like the perfect successor.

Problem is, Kelly's show's ratings dipped big time during the pandemic -- as did a lot of other daytime programs -- so there was some uncertainty if NBC would still go with her, or opt for someone new ... like, perhaps, Tiffany Haddish.

Clearly, the network wanted to eliminate all doubt by crowning Kelly.

Howard University is cementing Chadwick Boseman's legacy into its campus -- putting his name on a college, and securing some financial backing from a Disney bigwig.

HU announced Wednesday that its College of Fine Arts would be named after Chadwick, who graduated from Howard in 2000, and had deep ties to the higher-ed facility and the college that will now bear his name.

According to Howard, Chadwick was one of a few people back then leading the charge to keep the College of Fine Arts from being folded into the larger College of Arts & Sciences ... literally hitting the ground with protests and other activism to preserve the COFA's integrity.

Turns out, his efforts worked ... because not only was the College of Fine Arts left alone as a stand-alone school, but it's now going to be juiced up big time in light of the renaming.

Disney Chairman Bob Iger is heading up a fundraiser that seeks to help pay for a new state-of-the-art facility for the Chadwick Boseman College of Fine Arts -- which will house an endowment in Chadwick's honor, plus a lot of other helpful resources for those looking to get into entertainment and/or broadcasting ... including serving as the HQ for Howard's radio and TV stations.

Chadwick had been back to visit Howard a few different times over the years after graduating, and he was even delivered the commencement speech in 2018.

His rich ties to the campus are exactly why fellow alumnus Ta-Nehisi Coates called the college bestowment "perfect" ... which his family said CB would be "overjoyed" with.

His widow, Simone Ledward-Boseman, also said, "Chad was a very proud Bison — both Howard and Ms. Rashad played integral roles in his journey as an artist. The re-establishment of the College of Fine Arts brings this part of his story full-circle and ensures that his legacy will continue to inspire young storytellers for years to come."

The City of Oakland really came through on its promise to pay tribute to late comedian Paul Mooney ... by declaring May 19 will henceforth be known as "Paul Mooney Day."

According to new legal docs obtained by TMZ ... Oakland City Councilmember Carroll Fife proposed the resolution to name a day after Mooney and recognize him for his "uncompromising social and political commentary and iconic contributions to Black arts and entertainment."

The resolution calls Paul "an Oakland treasure—a trailblazing comedian, writer, producer, film and television actor with a career spanning four decades" and says his legacy is "a shining example of the talent in Oakland."

Councilmember Fife tells us the city council passed her proposal unanimously Wednesday, so May 19 -- the day Mooney died -- will now be named in his honor for years to come.

As we first told you ... Oakland officials were looking to honor Paul even before he passed away, but that mission sadly became more urgent last week. Fife says after Mooney died, she made a number of calls to people he was close with about how to do it ... including comedian and Oakland native, Luenell.

Brad Pitt just won a huge victory in his child custody war with Angelina Jolie, and she lost in a very big way ... TMZ has confirmed.

A judge just made a tentative ruling in the case, awarding Brad and Angelina 50/50 joint legal and physical custody of their 5 minor children. Maddox is 19 and not subject to the ruling.

Angelina had been gunning for sole custody and at the time only wanted Brad to have supervised visitation, but the judge felt her arguments that Brad was not a suitable parent lacked credibility ... this after numerous witnesses -- including shrinks -- testified in the trial.

A source connected to Brad tells TMZ, "he's over the moon."

The ruling is "tentative," but typically tentative rulings are just a formality before they become final. The NY Post first reported the ruling.

Something smells funky ... at least to the company behind those Little Tree car air fresheners, which is suing popular pet food company Chewy for allegedly ripping off its famous product.

Car Freshener Corporation claims Chewy is pimping a dog toy it describes as a “Frisco Retro Tree Freshener Plush Squeaky Dog Toy."

According to docs, obtained by TMZ, the Little Tree company says the dog toy is suspiciously similar in shape, color and overall appearance to its distinctively abstract Tree design.

In the suit, Car Freshener says for over 60 years it has built up its Little Tree air freshener brand ... slapping the tree on t-shirts, hats, socks, stickers and luggage tags, among other products.

What's more, Car Freshener says it's sold third parties like Buffalo Wild Wings, Purina PetCare, Kia and Capital One licenses to use the trees ... but NOT Chewy.

Car Freshener claims Chewy's dog toy copies the shape and basic dimensions of its Little Trees air freshener, while also featuring the white diagonal and horizontal banners emblazoned across the middle and bottom of the Little Trees air fresheners.

Car Freshener's pissed consumers will think it's in bed with Chewy ... although, it's unclear why that would be a bad thing.

Here's the first look at Ariana Grande's wedding dress ... and it's absolutely gorgeous.

The "7 Rings" singer just shared a photo dump from her big day earlier this month, when she slid a wedding ring on her new husband, Dalton Gomez's finger. There were only 20 people watching at her home in Montecito.

TMZ broke the story of the wedding, and Ariana just confirmed the date -- she got hitched May 15.

Ariana's home was decorated with lots of white flowers and white candles.

Vera Wang designed Ariana's silk wedding dress, following up on a pact they made a few years back at the Met Gala, and Dalton wore a Tom Ford suit ... according to Variety.

Check out all the pics ... there's a bunch of kissing, huge smiles and even a cute little pup.

So much for home-field advantage.

A massive crowd of Dodgers fans flocked to Minute Maid Park in Houston to watch L.A. take on the Astros on Tuesday ... and trolled the living hell outta the home team over the infamous cheating scandal!!

It was the first time fans were in attendance for a Dodgers vs. Astros game in Houston since the 2017 World Series -- which, of course, many believe was tainted due to the 'Stros' elaborate electronic sign-stealing operation.

"Cheaters!" chants? Check. Mean signs? Check. Blowup trash cans? Check. Dominant win for the Dodgers? Big ass check.

The scene was insanity as Clayton Kershaw led L.A. to an easy 9-2 win ... and you gotta think the Dodger fans taking over the stadium had to play a part in it.

Of course, Dodgers players and fans have refused to forgive the Astros for robbing them of a title in '17 ... and let their hatred ring from start to finish.

The signs were aplenty -- with fans saying things like "Read this sign ... you cheated!" and making references to the trash can that was used in the operation as the real MVP of the series.

Dodgers star Justin Turner was a huge fan of the support ... saying, "It was awesome. Some of the guys said tonight it finally felt like we were playing real baseball again."

"We knew it was going to be loud. We knew there was going to be energy in the building tonight. Our Dodger fans obviously traveled really well."

But, bad news for the 'Stros ... Pantone 294 -- the group that organized the takeover -- is teasing it's only gonna get worse for Houston on Wednesday night.

Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck have more than enough room to spread out in Miami Beach -- 'cause J Lo's rented digs are tantamount to a 21st-century palace ... and then some.

We tracked down the waterfront property that J Lo's hunkered down in this week -- and let's just say there's A LOT of space.

The place is a 2-story fortress ... laid out over 10,000 square feet ... with 11 bedrooms, 12 bathrooms, 3 garages, a private gym, pool, jacuzzi and spa.

Oh, it's also got its own docking area. Also of note -- there's a guest house on the grounds -- so if JL gets sick of BA's cig sessions, there's always option B when it comes to bedtime. We doubt that's gonna be an issue.

No word on how much J Lo's paying for this or how long she plans to stick around -- but it was sold for a fortune last month to jewelry designer Paul Morelli, who snagged it for around $18 mil. Realtor Julian Johnston had the listing.

YOWWWCH!!!

Anthony Davis' foot had a meeting with Suns forward Jae Crowder's baby maker during Tuesday night's game ... and it looked just as painful as it sounds.

It all went down less than a minute into Game 2 of L.A. and Phoenix's 1st-round matchup in the NBA playoffs ... when AD kicked his right leg out while attempting a deep 2-point shot -- and made solid contact with Crowder's groin.

Understandably, Crowder immediately fell to the court in pain ... but to add insult to injury, the guy was called for a defensive foul while contesting the shot!!!

To even things out ... Davis also got called for a flagrant 1 foul, which gave Crowder 2 free throws and the Suns the next possession.

Of course, Davis' move looked similar to one of Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green's infamous groin kicks -- something TNT analyst Reggie Miller referenced during the game broadcast.

However, Miller pointed out he believed Davis' kick was unintentional ... which set Green off on Twitter.

"So it’s unintentional now @ReggieMillerTNT?," Green said Tuesday night. "You referenced me as if mines was also unintentional? None of y’all said that during the time. Clarify your point? Would love to know..."

He added ... "Because if you’re saying mines was unintentional, there’s a lot of cowards that just went silent? And if you’re saying it’s intentional on my behalf but not here, then I shouldn’t have been referenced @ReggieMillerTNT just curious."

Davis finished the game with 34 points and 10 rebounds as the Lakers tied up the series at 1 game apiece with the 109-102 win.

Meghan McCain and Joy Behar's latest on-air blowup is prompting the new "sheriff" at ABC to step in and demand all of the 'View' co-hosts cool it with their personal attacks.

Production sources tell TMZ ... following Monday's heated exchange between Meghan and Joy over anti-Semitism, ABC News President Kim Godwin called a last-minute meeting with 'View' talent and producers, trying to improve the culture behind the scenes at the show.

We're told ABC was getting flooded with pleas to fire Meghan over her latest tantrum and attacks on Joy, and that's what sparked the virtual meeting.

Our sources say Godwin -- who just took the helm at ABC earlier this month -- told everyone things are getting too personal on TV lately, not with the issues they're debating ... but with the attacks between co-hosts.

Godwin told everyone it's coming off as toxic to the audience, and it's not the direction she wants for the show.

Remember, their competition over at "The Talk" just had to blow up their show, firing Sharon Osbourne after her very personal on-air battle with Sheryl Underwood -- however, we're told Godwin didn't mention CBS specifically.

It sounds like her message was not well received by MM, though -- we're told she stormed out of the meeting before it ended because she felt like she was being "attacked."

Akon deserves an award for Most Respectful Citizen Calling the Cops, because he seriously kept his cool with a 911 operator ... who gave him a hard time while he tried to report his stolen ride.

TMZ has obtained the audio of Akon's call to Atlanta PD late Monday night -- where he says his Range Rover got jacked from him at a gas station ... while he was pumping.

It sounds like Akon had called 911 at least a couple times by the time he spoke with this operator, based on the convo he has with this woman, who honestly ... kinda breaks his balls a bit in the chat, and hilariously so.

Take a listen for yourself -- Akon starts by telling her he'd been carjacked at a gas station, and when she asks for the address, he gives her one ... but she quickly shoots that down as NOT being an Atlanta-area address, and asks him again.

Comes off as kinda rude, but Akon's still cool. He apologizes -- scrambling to get her the info she needs -- and eventually tells her he's actually got a tracker on the Rover, and he's providing the address where the vehicle is ... and that this is him calling 911 again to get the cops to respond faster.

The operator seems to take her sweet time processing the info, and then goes back to where this all happened in the first place. She asks if he was carjacked at gunpoint, and when he says no ... she sharply responds, "That ain't a carjacking," and says his car was simply stolen.

Akon agrees with her, and drops "yes, ma'am" throughout the call ... until finally, he tells her a squad car has arrived and they hang up.

Aaron Rodgers couldn't care less about the drama back Green Bay ... he's too busy frolicking through the waterfalls of Hawaii with his girlfriend and Miles Teller!

Aaron and Shailene Woodley -- along with Miles and his wife, Keleigh Sperry, spent their Tuesday hiking around Maui ... exploring the lush green wilderness with massive smiles on their faces!

Of course, back home on the mainland ... Aaron is in a cold war with the Packers, which are currently holding OTA workouts with the team.

The workouts are voluntary and clearly, Aaron isn't torn about his decision at all -- just look at how happy he is on the islands!!

We know Aaron is a pro athlete who's been playing at the highest level for years -- but look at that physique, dude is jacked!

After the hike, the group decided to flex their pipes -- singing the Taylor Swift hit, "The 1."

Earlier this week, Aaron was on the guitar as they jammed to hits like "Wagon Wheel" ... good times!

Bottom line, Vacation Aaron is LOVING LIFE right now -- really feeling that Aloha spirit.

DMX's first posthumous album is going to be named after his youngest son -- something that had been in the works before he passed ... and it's now happening thanks to a longtime collaborator.

The CEO of Ruff Ryders Inc., Joaquin Dean, tells TMZ, X's newest album -- the first to hit shelves since his passing -- is going to be titled "Exodus" ... but fans might not have realized it was an idea X had kicked around at length before he died.

We're told DMX had been working on this album for the past year ... as he was growing closer and closer to his 4-year-old, whom he shared with his widowed fiancee, Desiree.

Dean says X had expressed to his lifelong friend Swizz Beatz -- who helped produce "Exodus" -- he wanted to name the project after his boy. So, to fulfill that wish, Swizz made the call to honor X's wish.

In addition to the title, there are two tracks on the album that reference X's relationship with his son -- including a track called "Exodus Skit" and "Letter to my Son (Call Your Father)." "Exodus" also happens to be the final tattoo DMX got before his passing.

Forget Bitcoin ... Kevin Durant's Nets debut jersey could be the next hottest thing in the investment game -- it just hit the memorabilia stock market, and it could net ya a small fortune down the road!

Here's the deal ... the threads KD rocked in his first-ever game as a Net on Dec. 22, 2020 just hit the investment app Otis, and fans can now purchase shares of the uni for $10 apiece.

Reps for the app tell TMZ Sports once all of the initial shares are sold ... it'll go up for trading, and the owners who bought in can hold onto the shares or sell them -- just like a stock.

The current value of the jersey is estimated to be $47,600 ... but experts say it could go up way higher in just a matter of weeks.

After all, Durant's debut with the Nets was a special one ... he put up 22 points in a victory over his former Warriors squad -- and if he's able to win a ring with Brooklyn this summer, the uniform's worth could obviously skyrocket.

In fact, reps for Otis say it's not uncommon to see a 150% to 400% increase on pieces like these.