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Steven Spielberg is reportedly worried about his daughter jumping into the adult entertainment scene -- but he's got nothing to sweat about ... so says Maitland Ward.

We spoke to the former "Boy Meets World" star-turned-porn star Wednesday in L.A. and asked her to weigh in on the famed director's adopted child, Mikaela Spielberg, announcing she's now a porn star ... and dad apparently not being thrilled about it behind closed doors.

At first, Mikaela said her parents seemed pretty supportive about her career choice ... which Maitland says is awesome and how more parents should look at it if their kid goes down that road. But, when we point out Steve is said to have been privately "concerned" and "embarrassed" over the whole thing ... Maitland says she gets that side of it too.

Fact is ... it might be surprising for parents to hear, but with more talking -- the more Maitland feels people will come around to the porn scene being part of the entertainment biz. And, as far as Mikaela goes, MW thinks her name alone will keep her safe and sound.

Mikaela, who's 23 years old BTW, isn't doing hardcore stuff yet -- just solo on-camera performances. If she makes that next step to include more people, that's where Steve might need to fret a bit, according to Maitland. Even then though ... she says she'll be fine.

The FBI told the ringleader in the college admissions scandal to lie and say his clients knew he was bribing college officials, and when he wouldn't play ball they yelled at him ... this according to Rick Singer himself.

It's a stunning, possible game-changing development in the case. One of the parents who's being prosecuted -- Elisabeth Kimmel -- filed legal docs Wednesday claiming the government just belatedly produced notes from Singer's iPhone.

Singer writes, "Loud and abrasive call with agents. They continue to ask me to tell a fib and not restate what I told my clients as to where there [sic] money was going -- to the program, not the coach and that it was a donation and they want it to be a payment."

In other words, Singer says he told his clients the money they were paying was a donation to the school, not a bribe to a coach.

Singer's notes have implications that go far beyond Elisabeth Kimmel. Fact is ... Lori Loughlin and other parents will benefit from the new revelation because it goes to the heart of the government's case -- namely, where the parents thought the money was going. If they thought it was going to the school, prosecutors may have had the rug pulled out from under them.

As we reported, Lori and other defendants have complained prosecutors have been withholding key evidence that tends to show the parents did not commit a crime. This new piece of evidence may be the smoking gun ... made all the more powerful by the fact the government didn't disclose it in a timely fashion ... not even close.

Ex-'Bachelorette' star Chad Johnson is breaking his silence following his arrest for domestic violence and robbery ... adamantly denying he roughed up his girlfriend.

Chad gave his side of the story Wednesday, and explained what led to the heated argument with his GF Annalise Mishler. Chad says they briefly broke up and got back together, but she got pissed when she found out he signed up for a dating app ... during their short break up.

He also says he's "100% confident any type of domestic abuse charges are gonna be dropped" because he didn't commit "any type of domestic abuse whatsoever."

Johnson reacted to the video Annalise posted of him yelling at her door after allegedly punching a hole in her wall. He does cop to ripping her phone away from her when she wouldn't stop recording him ... saying it was a "stupid decision."

Britney Spears is giving pop music a whole new meaning ... it's the very loud sound her foot makes after breaking it following this electric dance routine.

You'll recall Britney's boyfriend, Sam Asghari, revealed last week Britney broke her metatarsal bone on her left foot that required a trip to the hospital. Well, fast-forward to Wednesday and Britney posted a video of the dance routine that broke her foot.

You won't see anything crazy but it's the loud pop you hear that'll make ya wanna schedule a foot rub. Britney captioned her video saying, "I haven't danced in six months so I was full throttle at this spot. And yes .... I know I'm barefoot .... don't laugh but I grip the floor better that way!!!! PS you can hear where I broke my foot here. Sorry it's kind of loud!!!!"

"The halftime show last night was beyond inappropriate. Shakira laying on her side gyrating like sex, Lopez on a stripper pole, Lopez bending over to expose her butt crack, both performers grabbing their vaginas, Shakira grinding her butt against some tinfoil wearing man’s penis. This was incredibly offensive. My children were watching."

That was one of 1,312 super pissed-off people who complained to the FCC after Jennifer Lopez and Shakira's scorching hot Super Bowl halftime performance.

TMZ Sports requested the complaints made to the Federal Communications Commission -- a U.S. government agency which regulates television -- and it's clear while many praised the performance ... others, not so much.

"Completely inappropriate half time-show with simulated orgies, stripping, and borderline pornography. This is a family event during prime time and should never have happened," ... a viewer from Indiana wrote.

"I do not subscribe to The Playboy Channel, we do not buy porn for $20 a flick, we simply wanted to sit down as a family and watch the Super Bowl. God forbid we expected to watch football and a quick concert but instead had our eyes molested," a family from Tennessee wrote.

The continued ... "JLo’s movie Hustlers was rated R so since when is rated R viewing allowed on network TV at 7/8:00pm?"

A person from Michigan even evoked Janet Jackson's infamous wardrobe malfunction ... saying JJ's performance was "by far better," despite showing nudity.

Some people were so pissed, they say they're DONE watching football.

"That was a disgusting display allowed of something that our children can't un see!!!"

"Strip clubs have that crap with sluts performing like this! This is soft porn! Fine the NFL or stop the HALFTIME shows! Beyond INAPPROPRIATE!!! Honoring a dog killer now THIS! BOYCOTTING THE NFL!!!"

Despite all the outrage, the performance has almost 136 MILLION views on YouTube ... so someone's watching!!

John Singleton's youngest child son is growing up so fast ... little Seven is about to start preschool in Bev Hills, and the late director's baby mama wants his estate to cough up the tuition.

Rayvon Jones has filed a petition asking Singleton's estate to give her a monthly allowance of $1,078 to cover Seven's expenses. The money would cover things like the kid's clothing, groceries, gas, and phone costs ... according to the docs. The phone cost might seem weird -- Seven is only one year old, but that's an L.A. one.

In docs, Jones also requests a one-time payment of $2,450 to cover Seven's preschool registration fee to a popular Beverly Hills school. Jones, who says she used to live with Singleton and stayed home to take care of the kid, says she'll begin looking for a job to support their son once he starts preschool.

Some people think Usher's new "Confessions" track has a line about him copping to herpes -- but his pal Jermaine Dupri says they need to listen closely ... cause they got it all wrong.

Jermaine cleared the air Wednesday about speculation surrounding "Confessions Part III," which Usher teased during a live gig this week. One particular line in the song has been widely interpreted to be a confirmation about the STD ... which has been the subject of multiple lawsuits against the singer.

On the new track, Usher sings, "You said bae let me take you to the ER, I said, ‘Nah, Imma be alright / Well the next day I found out from f*cking around that the sickness I had was life."

Don't let that sickness lyric fool you, according to JD -- who has teamed up with the singer again to produce a new sequel album to his 2004 smash hit project. Jermaine says, "I see y’all trippin... CONFESSIONS PART 3 is from a females perspective."

JD adds, "The song is about a girl cheatin’ on him and gettin’ pregnant by another man. She is then being stuck with the decision to keep or abort it. Now that he knows, Should he stay or Leave ???"

Get it? "The sickness I had was life" refers to a baby ... not to being sick FOR life.

In any case, the good news out of all this is ... more 'Confessions,' baby.

Harry Morton died from an irregular heartbeat ... according the L.A. County Coroner's Office, which confirms what his family had been told by the coroner.

TMZ obtained a copy of the autopsy report, and it offers a more clear picture of what the late Hard Rock heir was coping with, medically -- a condition called cardiac arrhythmia due to hardening of the arteries.

The family addressed these conditions based on what the L.A. County Coroner told them after an autopsy was done last year. There were no drugs or alcohol found in his system following his sudden death in November.

According to the report ... on the morning Harry died, he spoke with his brother and made plans to meet at the gym. When Morton didn't show up, his brother got concerned and raced to his house ... where he found Morton lying on the bathroom floor. The report says Morton was apparently preparing for a marathon.

TMZ broke the story ... Harry was found unresponsive in his Beverly Hills home, and was declared dead at the scene once paramedics arrived. As we reported, the restaurateur was suffering from coronary artery disease and also had a "mildly enlarged heart."

Morton's memorial service in early December was attended by Lori Loughlin, Jimmy Iovine, Steve Tisch, Demi Moore, Stephen Dorff and others. Everyone gathered at his father, Peter Morton's home afterward.

Harry was 38.

Cedric The Entertainer says the cop who arrested a 6-year-old girl over a school tantrum did more damage than he may realize -- because the kid's probably scarred for life.

We ran into the comedian Wednesday at LAX and asked him to weigh-in on the arrest of Kaia Rolle in Orlando last year -- a disturbing incident that was captured on bodycam footage and just recently released to the public. Cedric didn't hold back on how messed up it is.

He spells it out pretty clearly ... treating children like adults, especially in a legal setting, is absolutely wrong -- and a much different approach should've been taken by all involved.

More importantly, though, he tells us part of the reason youth grow up not trusting law enforcement might have to do with the fact stuff like this can actually happen. He seems to be implying that cops themselves set the tone when they pull these kinds of stunts.

If you haven't seen the video yet, brace yourself ... it's quite upsetting. You see 2 officers -- one of whom has been ID'd as Dennis Turner, who was subsequently fired over this -- enter a room where Kaia is being read a book by a school official. She's then taken out to the police car with a zip tie used to hold her hands behind her back ... and she's fully bawling.

Apparently, cops were called in this case because Kaia had allegedly assaulted some of the campus workers ... but that's no excuse to take her in like this, so says Cedric.

Ric Flair is all about putting on a show ... but he knows this is an emotional time for the Lakers ... which is why the WWE legend tells TMZ Sports he had to think twice before giving his epic intro for the team Tuesday at Staples Center.

Flair got the entire L.A. crowd pumped before the Lakers took on Zion Williamson's New Orleans Pelicans ... welcoming "the greatest franchise in all of sports" ... and his favorite player, LeBron James.

It. Was. LIT.

Naitch tells us the team asked him to help lift everyone's spirits following a deeply emotional memorial service for Kobe Bryant at Staples Center ... but he was reluctant to accept.

"I felt a little bad that close to the memorial that was so overwhelming on Monday," Flair tells us.

"But, they asked me and I said 'are you guys sure?' and they said 'Yeah, please. The crowd needs to be pumped up a little bit.'"

It was a good thing he accepted ... because the crowd clearly loved the gesture.

"Shark Tank" star Barbara Corcoran is missing nearly $400,000 Wednesday morning after her office was victimized by email scammers who used a tiny typo to gain the upper hand.

The scam started last week when an email chain was forwarded to Barbara's bookkeeper, a woman named Christine. Folks on Barbara's team tell us the email appeared to have been sent from Barbara's executive assistant, Emily ... and it informed Christine she had the green light to pay $388,700.11 to a company called FFH Concept GmbH in Germany.

The problem is that email didn't really come from Emily.

The scammers changed Emily's email address by removing one letter, so they were the ones actually communicating with Christine ... who did ask the right questions. For instance, she asked what the money was for, and got an email back saying FFH was designing German apartment units in which Barbara had invested.

Great cover story because we're told Barbara really does invest in real estate, and FFH is a real company in Germany. Plus, all of this looks even more legit because it appears to be coming from Barbara's assistant.

Anyway, on Tuesday ... the bookkeeper fires off the wire payment to the account listed in the original email. Afterward, she emails Barbara's assistant, Emily -- at her real address -- and it's only then that Emily uncovers the scam. She noticed her address was altered on the previous chain of emails.

Unfortunately, the money is gone, but we're told Barbara's IT folks traced the original scam emails back to a Chinese IP address, and her attorneys are figuring out their next move.

Tyler Perry's nephew appears to have killed himself behind bars -- but the answer officials are giving the family doesn't have them convinced it wasn't foul play.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... the filmmaker's 26-year-old nephew, Gavin Porter, was found dead in his cell Tuesday night at a prison facility near Union Parish in Louisiana. We're told Gavin's immediate family -- which includes Tyler's sister, who's Gavin's mom -- was told by prison officials he had hanged himself with a bedsheet while in solitary confinement.

Our sources say the officials told the fam Gavin had gotten into a fight with another inmate over the weekend and was placed in solitary. We're told that around 6 PM, guards checked on Gavin and found nothing of concern.

Our sources say guards came back at 8 PM Tuesday and found Gavin dead. He had hung himself with bedsheets. We're told the family has been notified there's no foul play in the death -- but our sources say Gavin's family isn't necessarily buying the story.

Gavin was arrested for shooting and killing his biological father back in 2016 -- in front of his mother -- after cops say an argument erupted between the two. He pled no contest to manslaughter and was sentenced to 20 years.

People looking to make a buck off items from the Kobe Bryant memorial will have to go somewhere other than eBay ... 'cause the company is actively working to remove all the items from the site.

As we previously reported ... shirts, pins, programs and other items from Monday's event at Staples Center hit the auction site this week. One XL shirt sold for a whopping $2,025.

But, we noticed multiple listings had disappeared from eBay over the past 24 hours -- so we reached out to eBay to find out what's up.

Turns out, eBay has a policy that prohibits sellers from profiting off of "human tragedy or suffering."

In fact, eBay sent an email to one seller explaining their position -- "Please note, due to sudden and tragic passing of Kobe Bryant - eBay has made the decision to prohibit the sale of merchandise, images and mugs relating to their passing."

"We do not allow listings that attempt to profit from human tragedy or suffering."

The policy does not prevent the sale of more traditional Kobe memorabilia -- like autographs, jerseys, photos, etc -- despite the fact those items are in high demand following the NBA star's death.