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Boeing's 737 planes are being given the green light to get back up into the sky -- but a guy who used to do quality assurance for them says ... it might be too soon, not safe enough.

We talked to former Boeing quality manager John Barnett -- who came on "TMZ Live" Wednesday to discuss the fact that his old company has said their 737 Max 9 aircrafts are ready to hit the runway again ... this just a few weeks after the Alaska Airlines incident.

The speed at which this has all unfolded has alarmed many, and John here is right there with them in the concerned department ... and his reasoning lies in his personal experience.

Watch what he has to say for yourself -- John explains how things ran when he was in the field and how they've allegedly changed. Based on what he's claiming here, it's troubling, 'cause he suggests cutting corners is something the industry at large has leaned into.

John claims that inspection operators and experts have been getting slashed from assembly lines in recent years -- an awful trend that he suspects has only continued since he left.

With this in mind, he questions whether the 737s are, in fact, as good to go as Boeing insists ... because in his mind, he thinks more due diligence is warranted -- just in case, of course.

Margot Robbie is finally speaking on the Oscar snubs heard 'round the world over "Barbie" -- and while she's taking the high road for herself ... she's going to bat for her director.

The actress shared new remarks on the issue Tuesday night during a SAG-AFTRA panel where she was present and given the floor to air out her thoughts. It's interesting ... MR doesn't address her own snub for Best Actress, but she does explicitly defend Greta Gerwig.

Margot says, "Obviously, I think Greta should be nominated as a director, because what she did is a once-in-a-career, once-in-a-lifetime thing, what she pulled off, it really is. But it’s been an incredible year for all the films."

She went on to say that she's "beyond ecstatic" that 'Barbie' racked up as many nominations as it did (8) -- but in the same breath, noted she understood the disappointment from fans.

Margot finished by saying ... "I just suspect it’s bigger than us. It’s bigger than this movie, it’s bigger than our industry." Unclear what exactly she means by that ... sounds like she's referring to politics within the Academy, though.

Last thing Margot mentioned on this topic ... "We set out to do something that would shift culture, affect culture, just make some sort of impact. And it’s already done that, and some, way more than we ever dreamed it would. And that is truly the biggest reward that could come out of all of this."

Remember, there was widespread outrage over the fact Margot and Greta had been left off the nominations list -- even though Ryan Gosling and America Ferrera got Oscar nods.

Many felt if Ryan was nominated, it was a no-brainer to get Margot in there too ... seeing how she literally carries the film, and is the heart and soul of the whole thing.

Mark Zuckerberg is being roasted at a Senate hearing on the online child sexual exploitation crisis ... getting up from his hot seat to apologize to victims' families.

The Meta CEO was in the middle of his testimony Wednesday on Capital Hill when he started getting grilled by Sen. Josh Hawley, who bombarded Zuck with questions.

Zuckerberg can barely get a word in as Hawley badgers him on Meta's response, or alleged lack thereof, to kids being sexually exploited online ... and he's pretty much forced to turn around and apologize.

Standing up from his chair, Zuck does a 180 and faces the audience ... which is filled with parents holding up photos of their kids who fell victim to predators using social media.

Zuckerberg indicates it's the first time he's apologized for these sorts of issues happening on Facebook and Instagram ... and he says Meta is taking steps to protect kids.

Other social media executives are testifying too ... including Snapchat's Evan Spiegel, TikTok's Shou Zi Chew, X's Linda Yaccarino and Discord's Jason Citron ... but the most interesting moments have been reserved for Zuck.

Morgan Wade's Instagram page was scrubbed clean of almost all of her posts, including snaps of her and Kyle Richards, but despite speculation ... we've learned they're all good.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ everything's totally fine between the pals ... and the country star archived all but two posts on her page including Kyle pics because she's gearing up to release new music.

In case you didn't know, singers/actors have made it a trend to wipe their social media accounts clean when getting ready to promote a new project -- and that's exactly what's happening here with MW.

Fans clearly missed Morgan's memo ... raising particular concern her music video featuring Kyle was removed from Kyle's page as well, making people think Kyle removed the music video from her own page but that's not the case ... we're told because Morgan archived the video that pulled it down from Kyle's profile.

We should point out, Kyle still has all of her Morgan posts still up -- all 10 of them, in fact ... they're just tucked away in her picture carousels ... so unless fans are going through each and every one of her snaps, they may miss them.

We can safely say there's no brewing rift between them ... and they're still good friends!

BTW, this ain't the first time their friendship status has come under the microscope -- they've also long been subjected to dating rumors.

Kyle also told us last week she was willing to talk about her relationship with Morgan -- as well as her estranged one with husband Mauricio Umansky during the 'RHOBH' reunion.

Courtney Clenney's parents already had a suspicion prosecutors in her daughter's murder case had their antennas up on their communications ... this before they were even charged.

Here's the deal ... TMZ actually interviewed Kim and Deborah Clenney recently for a new documentary we have airing in 2 weeks -- which does a deep dive into the case, and features never-before-seen footage/insights into CC's relationship with Christian Obumseli.

In light of Kim and Deborah's arrest this week -- with law enforcement accusing them of computer crimes for allegedly accessing Christian's laptop after he was killed -- we went through our footage and found a fascinating nugget ... namely, they knew they were being monitored!

Check out this exclusive snippet of our sit-down with them ... you can see they feel the prosecution in Courtney's case not only has it out for their daughter -- but for them as well.

As Deborah explained to us, she says law enforcement had actually been keeping tabs on their texts and conversations with Courtney -- noting, quite clearly, that she knows they're being recorded. Deborah also says she believes the prosecution would be willing to do and use anything they say to each other against them in the case ... and that came to pass.

FWIW, the Clenneys didn't acknowledge anything about the laptop to us, specifically, but they were already telegraphing the fact that they knew prosecutors allegedly had it out for them -- which makes the fact they ended up getting busted anyway all the more stunning.

Of course, we already know the Clenneys don't believe they've done anything wrong in this case -- we've been told by sources with direct knowledge that they think the computer charges are bogus ... even though the authorities are accusing them of illegally accessing something that didn't belong to them. That much was made clear in the charging docs.

The Clenneys are still currently in custody, and they're supposed to be getting arraigned today out in Texas too ... with law enforcement in Florida wanting to extradite them ASAP.

We've been told attorneys for Courtney will attempt to bond them out of jail -- but the whole thing is pretty fluid at this point. It's unclear if/when everything is going down, but we're keeping a watchful eye over the proceedings as they unfold.

Anyway, more will be revealed in the coming days -- and when our doc hits the airwaves on Feb. 12 ... we'll have more answers by then as well. The documentary is called 'Killer OnlyFans Model: Deadly Love Story' ... and it airs in 2 weeks on FOX at 9/8c.

Chrisean Rock isn't the only one of Blueface's baddies dedicating their bodies to his mug shot while he's locked up -- there's another gal doing the same ... only lower.

On Wednesday, his admitted side chick, Bonnie, debuted a HUMONGOUS tattoo of her own -- which was being done on her ass. Indeed, she posted pics and video of herself lying down with her pants dropped and her booty with BF's mug stenciled onto her left cheek.

Bonnie's an OG cast member of Blue's "Blue Girls Club" -- his short-lived reality show -- but her cheeky ink seems to have even surprised her close friend group ... 'cause they're saying she's a fool. Nevertheless, she's been doubling down all day, professing her 💙 for Blue.

We should note ... Bonnie has beef with Blue's other girlfriends/baby mamas -- including Chrisean and Jaidyn Alexis -- and basically all the other women in BF's life. That seems to be why she's doing this ... almost as a way to "stick it to them."

With this move, Bonnie appears to be trying to plant her flag on Blue -- with the message being ... he's all mine, once he's released from jail in a few months, of course.

Probably worth noting ... Bonnie just released a new track titled "That's My Daddy" ... and it's a diss to all her competition with Blueface -- and just further confirmation that he has her on lock, just like all the other ladies in his orbit, it seems.

TMZ Hip Hop just confirmed with Chrisean's tattoo shop that her newly planted "Blueface" is indeed permanent ... but like Bonnie, her own family thinks she needs to step aside.

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West seem to be putting their rocky past aside for the sake of the kids ... doing dinner with North and her friends, who wore merch promoting Ye's new album.

The famous exes pulled up separately Tuesday night at Nobu in Malibu, keeping their outfits in line with their recent style trends ... Kim wore a barely-there crop top and long black coat and Kanye covered his face in one of his patented black masks -- no surprises there.

We should note ... Kim arrived with North and a bunch of her friends in tow -- and it appears Kanye showed up separately later, heading in to join them, sans his new wifey Bianca Censori.

We're told they all hung out inside the restaurant for about an hour and a half together before Ye headed to his car flanked by security ... and minutes later, Kim left with North and her pals -- with all of the kids wearing matching "Vultures" merch.

North's clearly the most excited ... pulling the shirt up to give photogs a good look at the logo on the front and the album's title written in script at the top. We gotta say ... she's the spitting image of her father. Also -- no word on whether the group went in with these shirts.

This is eye-popping for a couple reasons. One, it's surprising to see Kim and Kanye get together like this, we don't see them breaking bread together ... even for their children.

More importantly ... interesting to see Kim let North wear the 'Vultures' stuff, y'know -- considering there's some antisemitic content on the album, from what we've heard so far.

Remember ... "Vultures" is Kanye's upcoming collaborative album with Ty Dolla $ign, and the title track's caught quite a bit of heat for controversial lyrics like, "How I'm antisemitic? I just f***ed a Jewish bitch."

Needless to say, the song's not sitting well with Jewish orgs, which have blasted the song.

Like we said, it's unclear how the t-shirt promo parade came together -- it's possible Kim was blindsided by it at the last minute.

As we reported ... North rapped a verse that might appear on her dad's new album during a listening party last month -- so, it makes sense she and her friends would be jazzed about the album's release and want to wear shirts bumping it.

Notably, and unsurprisingly, Kim did not wear one of the shirts. We've spotted her and Kanye at multiple basketball games for Saint over the last month and they've had some pretty frosty interactions -- if you can even call them that.

Talk about a great conundrum -- Paige VanZant just revealed she could make a TON of money by chopping off her locks ... but there's one key detail to the proposal that has her sitting on the fence.

The MMA star and OnlyFans model discussed the eye-popping request on the latest episode of her "A Kickass Love Story" podcast with her hubby, Bellator fighter Austin Vanderford ... saying one fan on the subscription-based platform slid into her DMs and asked if she would switch to a bob hairstyle in exchange for $50k.

While PVZ acknowledged it's a big payday for a little work, she explained the one thing that left her hesitant was that the follower wanted her hair scraps shipped to him once the deed was done.

Paige explained her reservations ... saying after watching a Gypsy Rose Blanchard doc, she started to worry about what the supporter could do with her tresses -- and she isn't trying to get some evil spell put on her.

Austin backed his wife ... pointing out if it were just a normal haircut, there's really no debate -- but mailing someone the locks makes it a pretty hairy situation.

Erin Moriarty is getting back out there after quitting Instagram over some harsh criticism from Megyn Kelly ... surfacing for the first time since their nasty back and forth.

The actress -- famous from "The Boys" -- went makeup-free Tuesday as she walked her two dogs in West Hollywood ... seemingly sending a message after Megyn savagely accused her of botched plastic surgeries. This is the first time we're seeing her since she left social media.

Erin first responded to Megyn's bullying by announcing she was stepping away from being online, saying in part ... "I've been in a hole and I've been consumed by this" ... and now she's back in public, though it looks like she's still glued to her phone.

Now, here she is emerging from that "hole" ... and she had some 4-legged friends tagging along. As you can see, Erin kinda had her hands full here -- trying to juggle her pups, as well as her phone.

Looks like the pooches were trying to get away from her at one point ... and Erin's reaction is basically every dog mom trying to wrangle their rambunctious pets in public.

It's interesting to see her reemerge since calling out Megyn. Remember ... the whole drama started last week when Megyn went on a rant against Erin's appearance and cosmetic procedures in general, going after her on her radio show.

Megyn said ... "It's not about an objection to plastic surgery, it’s about an obsession with turning yourself into this fake version of yourself. I find it, like, a sign of mental illness. It's extremely upsetting."

Erin fired back in a lengthy statement ... where she detailed that not only has she not had plastic surgery -- as Megyn suggested -- but that she'd been getting bullied because of the unfounded claim.

EM ripped Megyn for "exhibitionist feminism" and said she would be leaving social media as a result ... going dark online thereafter. With that said, she is looking quite confident here ... albeit, very preoccupied.

"Wheel of Fortune" fans were left bewildered after a contestant on the show seemingly gave the correct answer ... and they took to social media to voice their grievances.

Here's the deal ... Megan, a high school choir director from California, won the episode of 'WOF' that aired Tuesday, pocketing just over $14k and launching herself into the bonus puzzle round.

Her category ... "Living Thing" -- didn't exactly narrow it down for her. And, the given letters "RSTLNE" didn't really clear things up with the puzzle reading "_ _N_  _R_ _ _ _."

Megan did well, adding three letters to the puzzle before the final round began ... so she was working off "P_N_  _RC_ _ D" for the final, two-word puzzle.

Now, this is where things got dicey ... at the beginning of guessing, Megan definitely says "Orchid" -- ultimately the second word of the puzzle -- though it sounds like she says "Something" or, as some fans speculated, "Pink" before it, which would've given her the right answer, "Pink Orchid."

The judges didn't award her the money -- which turned out to be $40,000 -- and host Pat Sajak said he thought she focused too much on trying to find a certain kind of orchid ... Megan said "Pony Orchid" at one point.

Well, fans of the show lost their damn minds on social media ... basically arguing they felt she clearly said it at the beginning and demanding 'Wheel' hand over the bag.

It's certainly hard to tell exactly what she said to begin her guessing ... but it sounds like "Something" to us -- and Megan reacts unsurprised when she's not awarded the cash -- so maybe everything's above board here.

Dry January? My a** ... so says these stars sunning themselves during idyllic getaways far and wide.

Sure, alcohol doesn't have to be involved ... as long as there's a whole lot of sea water, it's a good time! Just check out Tia Mowry ... knee-deep in the Thai waters, proudly showcasing her bottom.

Georgina Rodriguez and Cristiano Ronaldo were wet and wild in Dubai, while Cody Simpson gave us a glimpse of those ripplin' muscles floatin' poolside through the beginning of 2024. Jealous? Us? Nah!!

Diplo was marching to the beat of his own drum ... swapping out the soaring temps for an icy Antarctic plunge. IYDK, cold water therapy has many benefits, such as pain relief and boosting mental health, so Diplo is clearly leading by example.

Teri Hatcher's not gonna find love on Tinder or anything like it ... 'cause she says she's done with the online dating scene -- this after one popular platform apparently gave her the boot!

The bombshell actress/Bond girl -- who has long been a sex symbol in pop culture -- opened up about her unceremonious exit from the dating app world during an appearance on "Getting Grilled with Curtis Stone" ... explaining she hopped on Hinge to find a good man.

Unclear when this happened, but TH says she was "open and vulnerable," and really put herself out there ... but then claims the Hinge team didn't care, and promptly 86'd her.

Stone asked why they kicked Teri off the app ...and Teri says it turns out they simply couldn't believe THE Teri Hatcher was using their humble dating app. Moderators seem to have thought she was fake and deactivated her account ... that's what she's suggesting anyway.

Hatcher notes they later apologized, but by then it was too late ... Teri's online dating fever had already faded. She added she's got a busy life, so she's not pursuing love -- although, she'll happily accept it if she happens to meet someone IRL.

She ended the topic with a very real truth for many people ... asking who needs a man when you have a cat like she does?!?

FWIW ... Teri isn't the only celeb online dating -- and also not the only one the people behind these apps don't seem to believe. Sharon Stone recently detailed a ruinous rendezvous and said Bumble booted her from the hive -- seems like a common theme among the stars.

Travis Kelce just teed off on Justin Tucker over their pregame altercation at the AFC Championship ... calling out the Baltimore Ravens kicker for acting like a "f***ing d***" and purposely getting in Patrick Mahomes' way during warmups.

Both sides of the tiff have continued to breathe life into the viral moment this week ... with Tucker, Mahomes and now Kelce weighing in on it.

Travis didn't hold back when discussing the spat on his "New Heights" podcast with his brother, Jason, on Wednesday ... saying he could tell Tucker was playing around, but the Chiefs weren't in the mood for tomfoolery.

Kelce explained there's an unwritten rule when it comes to specialists -- they make sure to stay out of their opponents' way when prepping for a matchup. But, Tucker didn't do that ... which rubbed him the wrong way.

"If you want to be a f***ing d*** about it, you keep your helmet and your football and your f***ing kicking tee right where the quarterbacks are warming up and they’re dropping, eyes are looking left and they’ve got a helmet down by their feet," Kelce said.

"If you’re not going to pick that up, I’ll happily move that for you."

Of course, Kelce proved to be a man of his word ... taking Tucker's helmet and tossing it away from Mahomes on Sunday.

Kelce apologized for his actions ... admitting Tucker winked at him during the altercation to indicate he was just messing around, but reiterated he was not in a joking mood.

"If you're gonna be a d*** I promise you, I can one-up you every time."

A Pennsylvania man allegedly beheaded his own father -- a gruesome crime law enforcement says he flaunted on his YouTube channel with some very graphic footage.

Justin Mohn was arrested Tuesday night for murder and for possessing an instrument of crime with intent after he allegedly snuffed out his dad, Michael, in the Middletown Township home they shared.

Cops say they responded to the house around 7 PM and found Michael's corpse inside the bathroom after they received a report of a man who was deceased at the location.

Michael's wife -- and, obviously, Justin's mom -- placed the 911 call, but it was unclear where she was when she phoned first responders. Her current status is also unknown.

Police say Justin fled the scene, but he was picked up hours later about 100 miles away near a National Guard training facility in Harrisburg, PA.

As for the YouTube video, the clip has already been making the rounds online. You can see Mohn display what appears to be a human head in a plastic bag with his gloved hands. In another scene, Michael's severed head was stewing inside a cooking pot. YouTube executives eventually caught wind of the disgusting 14-minute video and took it down.

Investigators did not disclose a motive, but Mohn's online rants indicated he was angry with his father -- a 20-year federal employee -- for being what he called a "traitor." Mohan also blasted President Joe Biden's administration, the Black Lives Matter movement, the LGBTQ community, and Antifa activists.

The parents of OnlyFans model Courtney Clenney, the woman accused of murdering her boyfriend, were obsessed with trying to gain access to the dead man's computer and unlawfully accessed it ... so claim prosecutors in the murder case.

TMZ broke the story ... Kim and Deborah Clenney were arrested Tuesday on felony charges of unauthorized access or excessive access to a computer. Their daughter, Courtney, was also charged with the crime.

According to the police affidavit, Courtney's dad, Kim, came into possession of Christian Obumseli's laptop shortly after Courtney stabbed him to death in April 2022.

Prosecutors obtained a series of text messages between Courtney's parents and her lawyers, which repeatedly reference the need to figure out Christian's password. There were more than 4,200 texts in the group chats between the parents and the lawyers.

Courtney had apparently provided a list of potential passwords and through trial and error over a week's time, they were able to figure it out. The password ended up being his birthday ... 0412.

Courtney's lawyer told the group not to actually access the computer, but Kim told the lawyer he had already accessed it and was "starting to poke around." He said he had not opened a file and didn't see anything.

As we reported, the only thing on the hard drive was a cryptocurrency balance sheet. Prosecutors have not alleged -- at least not yet -- that Kim or Deborah deleted any content.

Both Deborah and Kim will appear in Miami court via zoom Wednesday morning. They are living in Austin, TX and prosecutors are trying to extradite them to Miami, where their daughter sits in jail awaiting her murder trial.

President Biden is the latest public figure to weigh in on Elmo's viral mental health pop-in -- saying the famed puppet was right to check in on folks ... 'cause we're all hurting.

It all started when the "Sesame Street" star's X followers began trauma-dumping in his comments earlier this week when he asked how everyone was doing ... something that's taken the Internet by storm over the past 48 hours.

In a follow-up tweet, Elmo said he was glad he asked -- reminding us all of the importance of checking in with a friend. Unclear if that was Elmo's intention, but that's what it became.

Welp, Joe himself signed off on Elmo's tweet and the broader implications of what it morphed into ... retweeting it to add his own words of wisdom -- writing, "I know how hard it is some days to sweep the clouds away and get to sunnier days."

He drew focus back to our friend Elmo ... acknowledging his underlying message was spot on, "We have to be there for each other, offer our help to a neighbor in need, and above all else, ask for help when we need it. Even though it's hard, you're never alone."

Of course, Elmo's initial message sent the Internet ablaze ... with actress Rachel Zegler viewing it as a safe space for her to admit she was "kinda sad." Heck, even T-Pain commented: "That's love, pull up any time bruh ... Check in on your people."

The comments section also became a safe space for others to talk about issues as small as running out of milk for the day ... to more significant topics such as exhaustion, the 9-5 grind, and mental health in general.

One takeaway from this ... a little Elmo-tional support goes a long way. People were clearly more than ready to share their problems and then some -- they just needed someone to ask.