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Richard Branson is out to prove he's the billionaire king of space travel, working with his team to beat Amazon's Jeff Bezos in busting out of Earth's atmosphere ... according to a new report.

Bezos announced he and his brother would be on the first crewed flight for his Blue Origin aerospace company -- the 11-minute trip is set to launch July 20. However, a report from the blog Parabolic Arc says Bezos' announcement has sparked a space race with Virgin Galactic honcho Richard Branson -- who now wants to launch his rocket-fueled flight over the July 4 weekend.

Branson's largest possible snag, according to Parabolic Arc, is that VG will first need to obtain a commercial reusable spacecraft operator’s license from the FAA.

Details of Branson's possible trip are sparse, but if approved -- he'll travel in Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity SpaceShipTwo rocket plane for the journey. The billionaire has not yet spoken publicly about the trip.

One person who will certainly not find entertainment in the billionaire space race? Elizabeth Warren. We got the Senator in D.C. Thursday who said Bezos' planned trip to space is a slap in the face to taxpayers ... who she claims are basically funding the trip because Bezos doesn't pay his fair share in taxes.

Someone has beef with Jennifer Lopez and way too much time on their hands, and it's pissing off cops, who continue to get flooded with 911 calls to go to her L.A. home ... nearly 6 months after this annoyance started.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... LAPD units are still responding to the singer's house because someone keeps calling 911, but we're told this isn't your typical swatting where people report a fatal shooting or mass carnage.

We're told the 911 caller reports other complaints ... like loud music or other disturbing noise coming from the house. Our sources say each time officers get to the pad, there's no such disturbance and J Lo's security tells them everything's fine.

In one instance, we're told cops found a gardener at Jennifer's pad -- but security quickly assured them the gardener wasn't blaring music.

Our sources say cops are struggling to track down the 911 callers because the calls aren't coming from a landline -- and the bogus calls have become a huge waste of time and manpower.

TMZ broke the story ... the calls started almost immediately after J Lo performed at President Biden's inauguration, and the operating theory was the calls were politically motivated.

Kim Kardashian really needs the third time to be her charm -- she flunked the baby bar exam on her second crack at it, and even did a little bit worse.

Kim revealed the results of her test Thursday night on the series finale of "Keeping Up with the Kardashians," which she needs to pass before she can get a chance to sit for the regular bar exam ... to get her license to practice law.

She was on the phone with attorneys Erin Haney and Jessica Jackson -- who helped her prep for the exam -- when she got the bad news, and Kim went from excited to "totally bummed."

Kim says she failed with a score of 463, which is slightly lower than the 474 she got on her first attempt at the test. Students need a 560 to pass.

Although KK was clearly disappointed, she said she's not going to stress about it because there are more stressful things going on, and she's just gotta do better next time.

As we reported ... Kim failed the baby bar months ago, and it was later revealed she and her whole family were dealing with COVID while she was in studying crunch time.

Kelsey Salmon's trip to get her eyelashes done ended in the worst possible way ... with a little dog attacking her and biting off the finished product, along with her entire left eyelid!!!

The photos are brutal -- that's a warning for the queasy -- but not as brutal as the experience the 23-year-old from Atlanta has been through since going to a lab technician she found on Instagram.

According to Kelsey ... her normal lash lady was booked, so she went to a lash tech who worked out of her home ... and had a pet chihuahua.

Kelsey says the dog jumped up on her lash bed while she was getting her lashes done, she was petting it ... and everything was fine. But, when she was done, she says she sat up and the dog was on the floor looking up at her.

"Then, out of nowhere -- it happened so fast that I didn't have time to pull back -- he jumped up, bit me in the face and broke my eyelid off."

What Kelsey describes next is a horrific scene of blood and chaos as the ambulance was called, and she was rushed to the ER. After hours of waiting, she says she had to go to another hospital for surgery ... and miraculously, they were able to successfully reattach it.

To make this all worse, Kelsey was getting her lashes done for a birthday trip to Hawaii when this all went down. Fortunately, she still got to go, but with her left eye completely sewn shut ... and she says the doctors told her it could take up to a year to fully heal.

Lamar Odom says he's not here to "play" boxing -- he's gunning to knock out Aaron Carter and embarrass the dude in front of his girlfriend.

The 41-year-old ex-NBA star is taking on the 33-year-old pop star in a 3-round exhibition Friday night at the Showboat Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City.

Both guys have been working their asses off in the gym -- but Lamar tells TMZ Sports he could "really give a f**k" about Aaron's training program.

"I'm prepared," Lamar says ... "I don't know who he's sparring against but I know my gym is full of guys that can fight and I've been sparring with and I have a really good trainer."

"[Aaron has been] talkin' s**t but I'm gonna put him to sleep early."

Lamar says he won't predict which round he'll KO Carter -- but says, "I asked his girlfriend yesterday which round do you want to wake him up in."

THE DISRESPECT!!!

Mama June's going after a dentist she claims promised to fix her teeth in exchange for some Instagram publicity, but allegedly pulled a bait-and-switch ... leaving her mouth in major pain.

The reality star's legal team has fired off a letter to a dentist in Beverly Hills. In the document, obtained by TMZ, June says she made a deal with the dentist to fly into town to get her chompers fixed ... and all she'd have to do for payment is tag him and promote his work on social media.

June's rep, Gina Rodriguez, tells us June arrived on Monday for her appointment and booked accommodations for 12 days per the dentist's suggested timeline for the procedure to fix her top and bottom teeth.

According to the letter, the Doc removed her temporary dental implants from a previous procedure but then, "after placing her in a vulnerable (and painful) position," told her he would not complete the process unless she agreed to do media appearances to endorse his services.

June's team says this was never discussed at any point before the removal of her temporary implants, and now she's scrambling to find a new dentist to complete the work because her mouth is exposed ... and she's in a great deal of pain.

June's attorney, Jeffrey R. Klein, is demanding the dentist either complete the work as agreed upon -- or pay her $35k to cover the costs of her travel and getting the work done by another dentist. If he does neither, they say their next move could be a lawsuit.

We've reached out to the dentist ... no word back so far.

UFC champ Francis Ngannou ain't ready to move on from a possible showdown with Jon Jones ... telling TMZ Sports that's the ONLY fight on his mind.

Ngannou was strolling through Beverly Hills this week when we asked about his fighting future ... considering the UFC and Jones seem to be miles (and millions of dollars) apart from making a deal.

In fact, Dana White has repeatedly said he's targeting Derrick Lewis for Ngannou's next opponent ... and hopes that fight will take place in the summer.

But, Ngannou says he's still got Jones on the brain when we asked who he wants to fight next -- "I want Jon Jones ... I love that fight."

In fact, seems Ngannou is still pretty hopeful the two sides can work out a deal -- and we're guessing every MMA fan out there is hoping he's right!

When we spoke with White a few weeks ago, he told us he's "absolutely moved on" from trying to make that fight ... and said he doesn't know if Jon will ever fight in the UFC ever again.

"That's up to Jon," White said ... "He could absolutely fight again at 205 lbs. He said he wouldn't fight [Stipe Miocic] and now Derrick and Francis are fighting so we'll see how that fight plays out."

Ohio artist Jeff Timmons was only 25 years old when he gained fame as one of the founding members of the classic boyband 98 Degrees .. who shot to international fame after they released their second album "98 Degrees and Rising" in 1998 ... which included the Billboard hits "Because Of You" and "The Hardest Thing."

JT shared the stage with his Ohio-born homie Justin Jeffre ... and of course, the singing siblings Drew and Nick Lachey.

98 Degrees went on a big break after their initial success and have gotten together sparingly throughout the years which included a 2012 reunion and a 2017 Christmas album.

James Corden is catching heat from more than 10,000 critics who say his popular 'Spill Your Guts' segment is racist against Asians ... and he's facing pressure to retire the game.

Here's the deal ... 'Spill Your Guts' is the recurring bit on Corden's 'Late Late Show' where he presents celeb guests with grub he describes as "horrific" or "gross" -- but the menu items are almost always from Asian cultures ... according to the folks who are demanding James kill the segment or change it.

In a petition circulating online, they accuse James of encouraging anti-Asian racism by "continuously mocking" the foods. They already have 11,000 signatures and counting.

The point of the game is to get celebs to answer tough questions, or eat the foods in front of them. The segment's been around since at least 2016, and it's featured the likes of Kendall Jenner, Harry Styles, Justin Bieber and Jimmy Kimmel ... just to name a few.

The folks behind the petition want Corden to drop 'Spill Your Guts' ... or at least to use food not rooted in other cultures. They also want an on-air apology from James and the 'Late Late Show.'

Sen. Elizabeth Warren is going scorched earth over Jeff Bezos leaving Earth -- she's pissed about his trip to space, and says everyone who pays their taxes should be too.

We got the Senator Thursday at Reagan National Airport, and asked her about the world's richest man adding himself to the first crewed flight to space for his aerospace company, Blue Origin.

Warren says Bezos launching himself into space is a total insult to U.S. taxpayers because the trip is, effectively, being financed by them -- while Bezos does not pay his fair share in taxes ... at least according to the Senator.

As she puts it, the Amazon honcho's laughing all the way to space.

As we reported ... Jeff and his brother are traveling to space July 20 in a rocket ship named New Shepard, and they're auctioning a spot on the 6-seat capsule, with the highest bid currently approaching $5 million.

Fact of the matter is, Bezos is worth around $190 billion -- so, regardless of how much he pays in taxes, he could more than afford a ticket aboard the rocket.

Jeffrey Toobin's back on the air at CNN ... 8 months after the network pulled him off the air, and The New Yorker canned him, for exposing himself during a Zoom meeting.

Toobin's back in his capacity as Chief Legal Analyst, and appeared in a "CNN Newsroom" segment Thursday with anchor Alisyn Camerota. He was discussing a legal matter, but they also had to discuss the elephant in the Zoom room, if you will.

Clearly referring to what went down -- Toobin allegedly masturbating back in October while on a Zoom call with New Yorker colleagues -- Alisyn said, "To quote Jay Leno, 'What the hell were you thinking?'"

Toobin admitted it was "deeply moronic and indefensible," and added he's been miserable since it all went down. However, he says he also started directly apologizing to his New Yorker co-workers on the day of the incident.

Toobin -- whose book "The Run of His Life: The People v. O.J. Simpson" is the basis for the hit FX true crime anthology 'American Crime Story' -- also apologized to his wife and family ... and said he's working to be a better person and mentioned he's in therapy.

Tiger Woods isn't ready to golf yet ... and apparently, he ain't ready to talk about the sport on TV yet either.

The sport's biggest star -- who's still recovering from a gnarly February car crash -- declined an offer from NBC Sports to help break down next week's U.S. Open at Torrey Pines in CA, according to broadcaster Dan Hicks.

"We were all thinking how good that would be, who better, if he couldn't be there to play it, to voice it and have him a part of the show, but we were rebuffed," Hicks told media members Wednesday ahead of the event's June 17 start date.

"He didn't want to do it, and I totally understand his situation. There is a lot going on in his world right now and there's also a part of Tiger that doesn't want to become this, I don't want to, for lack of a better word, a sideshow at an event where we should be concentrating on what's happening."

Hicks added, "I understand that what’s going on in his world that he wanted to kind of keep it low-key and stay out of the limelight for this one and just hopefully he’ll enjoy it at home watching it on TV."

Tiger -- who won the U.S. Open the last time Torrey Pines hosted the event back in 2008 -- has avoided the spotlight ever since he crashed his ride in Los Angeles County on Feb. 23.

He's hardly spoken about the incident -- revealing only that rehab has been "more painful than anything I have ever experienced" -- and he's only posted one picture of himself since the crash.

As we previously reported, Tiger shattered multiple bones in his leg and required several complicated surgeries and a metal stabilizing rod to fix the issues.

Montana Tucker's dropping a new single that's all about self-confidence, but make no mistake ... she has vivid memories of bullies tearing down her confidence and forcing her into bathroom stalls.

The singer dug into her pain locker to reveal what fueled "Be Myself" ... her new single featuring Todrick Hall. The track aims to inspire self-acceptance and inclusivity ... something Montana says she works hard to convey on social media, and in real life.

On Thursday's "TMZ Live" she told us high school bullies called her MAN-tana because she was "a little bit bigger than the rest of the girls."

The bullying got so out of hand, Montana tells us she was relegated to sitting in the bathroom for lunch every day.

Her official "Be Myself" music vid -- which includes a flash mob routine in Times Square -- drops Friday, and Montana says it will also draw on some of those experiences she and Todrick had in school.

Dr. Dre is officially a very eligible bachelor ... because a judge just restored his single status, legally speaking.

The judge just signed off on the music mogul's request to become officially divorced from Nicole Young. That's not the end of the story. Both Dre and Nicole will now battle it out over the validity of the prenup, which will determine their property settlement.

Nicole wants the prenup declared invalid, and also claims Dre agreed he would not enforce it. Dre says that never happened and the prenup is ironclad.

We broke the story ... Dre asked the court for single status back in March, saying his split from Nicole had reached the point of no return.

As we've told you ... the contentious split has dragged on through abuse claims, diss tracks and allegations of mistresses and love children.

Tyra Myricks believes she has a solution to a notorious L.A. problem -- she's bringing New York-style pizza to the West Coast, and tells us she's making it with the right ingredients.

Tyra -- an entrepreneur and daughter of Jam Master Jay -- has teamed up with T'yanna Wallace, daughter of The Notorious B.I.G., to launch Juicy Pizza ... named after the latter's smash 1994 hit track.

Myricks says she came up with the idea when she was struggling to find good NY-style 'za in L.A. -- a common gripe, especially for transplanted NYers. So, she hit up T'yanna with her plan, because Biggie best represents that Brooklyn vibe she wants for their pizza joint.

Tyra took us through the New York-inspired menu when she was on Thursday's "TMZ Live," and revealed their secret ingredient -- real NY water in their dough. You gotta watch to see how they're getting that agua out west.

If you're still not sold, there's also this -- Juicy's gonna have a members-only cannabis lounge in the back ... to attract celebs and turn the place into a Hollywood hot spot. The fun begins real soon, because Juicy Pizza is opening its doors for dinner Saturday night.

Kid Rock's hatefulness is showing again, and he seems pretty damn proud of it -- while responding to the video of him hurling a homophobic slur, he's choosing to repeat the word and attack his critics.

The singer publicly addressed the video TMZ posted of him using the epithet at a Tennessee bar last weekend by tweeting this ... "If Kid Rock using the word f***** offends you, good chance you are one."

He attempted to put a friendly spin on it by adding, "Either way, I know he has a lot of love for his gay friends and I will have a talk with him. Have a nice day."

Kid credited the comment to Bob Ritchie -- his legal name -- in what seems to be a warped use of the third person to excuse his behavior or dismiss the backlash he's getting.

Either way, it's an incredibly bad look, but he clearly doesn't care much what anyone thinks.

We broke the story ... Kid was on the mic Saturday night at FishLipz Bar & Grill when he dropped the homophobic slur in the middle of a rant about the crowd recording him with smartphones.