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Mariah Carey didn't seem too amused by a small-time artist sampling her smash hit for his own remix -- telling him to get ready for a legal battle ... but it looks like she's just joshin'.

The singer responded to an A&R consultant who posted a music video from rapper/singer YTK doing his own version of "Shake It Off' -- only his take is a lot more ominous and street-friendly, 'cause he calls it "Let It Off" ... as in, let off rounds of gunfire. Still, it's catchy.

The video had started to catch fire online ... people appeared to be pretty down with it, and there was a mini viral campaign of sorts to help make it into a legally-cleared song.

So, the A&R guy wrote ... "Mariah Carey has 24 hours to respond." Welp, she responded alright ... but wasn't very receptive (on the surface, anyway). MC replied, "How about y'all have 24 hours to respond to my lawyers." She also posted a GIF of her saying, "GTFO."

Daaaaaammmmnn ... pretty feisty, huh??? Eh, not exactly -- apparently, Mariah was joking with her aggressive clap-back ... at least, according to the A&R exec who started this whole thing.

He elaborated on what was happening behind the scenes, saying he'd actually hit up none other than Questlove to help him get the song cleared for YTK ... and, apparently, Quest was on board to help make it happen. Also ... it sounds like Mariah's cool with them using the song, but the hold-up at this point might be Sony ... which appears to hold the rights.

Tawny Kitaen, the actress who starred in "Bachelor Party" and whose personal life was filled with radical ups and downs, has died ... TMZ has learned.

Kitaen died in Newport Beach Friday. The coroner has yet to determine cause of death.

Kitaen, whose credits include 'The Perils of Gwendoline' and "After Midnight," was a precocious child who got the showbiz bug at 14, when she saw Peter Frampton at Balboa Stadium in San Diego. She got a backstage pass and saw the All-Access VIP treatment Peter's GF, Penny, received, and that was it. She was hooked.

Tawny started out on a game show back in 1976 -- "To Tell the Truth." She migrated into movies and achieved some success with her roles, especially "Bachelor Party."

And, Tawny famously was featured in some music videos, notably Whitesnake's "Is This Love," and "Here I Go Again."

Kitaen dated Ratt guitarist Robbin Crosby while she was still in high school and even followed his band to L.A. in the late '70s. She was featured on the album cover of the band's album "Out of the Cellar" and their debut EP "Ratt."

Tawny's personal life was rocky. She married Whitesnake's lead singer, David Coverdale, back in 1989, but the marriage only lasted 2 years.  She went on to marry baseball star Chuck Finley -- with whom she had 2 daughters -- and the end of that relationship proved disastrous.  Finley claimed she repeatedly kicked him in the face with her high heels and she was charged with domestic violence. Those charges were later dismissed. He filed for divorce 3 days later.

She also had substance abuse issues and was arrested for drug possession and DUI ... which was well-chronicled in the media.

Tawny was 59.

RIP

Bill Maher scoffs at Republican claims the 2020 election was stolen, but he himself is leveling claims the Republicans are actually the thieves ... because he says they've stolen all the fun from Democrats.

The 'Real Time' maestro made it clear -- he's pissed off the drugs and sex that used to be associated with the Dems have somehow been co-opted by Trump's party. Matt Gaetz is someone who particularly sticks in Maher's craw. Frankly, Bill seems enraged.

But, as usual, Bill had a deeper point that goes beyond hedonism. He groused, "Once upon the time, the right were the ones offended by everything. They were the party of speech codes and blacklists and moral panics and demanding some TV show had to go.”

But, he says, the tables have turned ... "Well, now that's us. We're the fun-suckers now. We suck the fun out of everything: Halloween, the Oscars, childhood, Twitter, comedy. It's like woke kids on campus decided to be all the worst parts of a Southern Baptist."

Then he called for party introspection ... "If Democrats had always policed morality as hard as they do now, they'd be down a lot of heroes. No FDR, JFK, RFK, LBJ, Clinton, Martin Luther King. Democrats are now the party that can't tell the difference between Anthony Weiner and Al Franken."

He zeroed in on former U.S. Rep. Katie Hill, who had a bright career but resigned when it came out she was in a throuple and someone leaked nude photos of her holding a bong. Bill says Dems couldn't handle it ... "That was too much for our puritanical Democratic Party."

An anti-vaxxer has been going around stealing vials of the Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine, proclaiming it poisonous and urging people to turn their backs on it.

It's a bizarre story. A guy named Thomas Humphrey, turned the camera on himself as he showed up for his vaccine appointment Thursday at a CVS in Minnesota.

He tricked the pharmacy folks by saying he just wanted to look at the label on the vial, but once in his hand, he made off with it as he claimed it was toxic to humans. He said he was going to have it tested at a lab as he walked out of the store.

It wasn't the first time Humphrey pulled this stunt. The day before he did the same thing at a clinic, warning people the vaccine was toxic and they should roll their sleeves back down.

Humphrey is wearing a "National Action Task Force" shirt, an org that proclaims "enough is enough!"

Bhad Bhabie is calling BS on her critics who say she was way too young to post videos on OnlyFans, chalking it up to jealousy.

We got BB, formerly known as Danielle Bregoli, Friday at The Grove, and she launched on folks who want to change the age of entry on the OnlyFans site from 18 to 21, arguing at 18 it amounts to child grooming. Danielle says these folks are just bitter over her success, and success she has had -- at least monetarily.

BB pocketed a million bucks in just 6 hours in her OnlyFans debut and she thinks the criticism comes from people who are butt-hurt by her cash flow. By the way, OnlyFans confirmed she did indeed cross the million-dollar mark in 6 hours ... a record for the site.

Jay-Z could be in the process of starting his own production company ... at least it seems that way based on the trademark application his company has filed.

According to legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Hova's company, S. Carter Enterprises, filed to trademark "2/J" on May 3 for "entertainment services in the nature of creation, development, and production" of television programming, TV series, movies and similar projects.

Too early to tell, but it sure seems like Jay's laying the groundwork to start a production co.

It would be rather fitting if Jay-Z, a music and business mogul, starts his own production company. He's already made a fortune on his own cognac with D'Usse, the streaming service Tidal and, of course, his massively successful entertainment firm, Roc Nation. And, just last year, he launched his own premium cannabis brand, Monogram.

Jay would be following in the footsteps of entertainment moguls who have their own production companies ... like Spike Lee's 40 Acres, Adam Sandler's Happy Madison Productions and LeBron James' SpringHill Company, which reportedly has already amassed an impressive portfolio of deals and partnerships in the media world.

LaKeith Stanfield's under fire for his involvement in a Clubhouse discussion about Louis Farrakhan's anti-Semitism that devolved into a cesspool of hateful conspiracy theories and comments about Jewish people.

The recently Oscar-nominated actor was a moderator for a discussion on the Clubhouse app Wednesday night, and although he's not accused of spewing any anti-Semitic speech himself ... many are outraged he did nothing to speak out against it either.

The Clubhouse discussion Stanfield was monitoring began when another chat -- titled, "Did Min. Farrakhan Tarnish His Legacy by Being Antisemitic?" -- got shut down by its moderator for becoming too inflammatory.

Instead of ending the convo, someone launched the second room titled, "Someone Ended the Room About Farrakhan" ... and that's where things got very disturbing, with one participant describing comments as "worse than things that I’ve read or heard about neo-Nazis saying."

When a Jewish woman in the room confronted Stanfield about why he was allowing the hate speech to continue unchecked, he skirted the issue and implied he was trying to remain neutral ... according to The Daily Beast.

For some people in the room that was inexcusable behavior from an influential Hollywood star with 79,000 followers on the Clubhouse app ... and they question his intentions.

Now, LaKeith did join another Clubhouse chat Thursday moderated by a panel of Jewish educators who wanted to address the hate speech they had witnessed ... and he admitted he fell short moderating.

He said if he continues to choose to be a moderator in a certain room, he needs to pay "attention to what is actually being discussed and determine if that’s a discussion that you really want to get into."

Stanfield also explained he lacked knowledge about "the origins of Judaism in Jewishness," but suggested he enjoys Clubhouse because he learns a lot from it.

He said ... "I've been in a couple rooms where a lot of s**t has been discussed and talked about, very heightened emotional states. It’s been very enlightening and interesting to me."

LaKeith's response was well-received within the room. Outside of it, however, you gotta wonder how a 29-year-old man didn't see the grossly anti-Semitic remarks for what they are ... hate speech.

Henry Golding says the latest heinous attack in San Francisco makes it painfully obvious America needs more awareness about Asian hate -- but he's hopeful we can put an end to it.

The "Crazy Rich Asians" star was in Beverly Hills when we asked him about the recent attack on 2 elderly Asian women, which he calls horrific and cowardly.

As terrible as that situation was -- thankfully, both women survived and a suspect's been arrested -- Henry tells us people are standing up to Asian hate and violence more and more ... and he believes it's making a difference.

Sadly, the harsh reality is that these attacks keep happening, so the actor says there's still a need to educate loved ones about the dangers and keep spreading awareness. To that point, we also got his take on what Hollywood's doing to help the movement.

TMZ Sports: "Do you think Jake Paul can win?"

Mike Tyson: "No. He's gonna get beat up pretty bad."

There it is ... Mike Tyson keeping it all the way real when asked how Jake Paul would fare against Floyd Mayweather if they ever step in the ring.

Don't get it twisted, Mike is NOT a hater -- he loves both Jake and Logan Paul ... but he's also a walking boxing encyclopedia who knows more about the sport than almost anyone else on the planet.

So, with Logan slated to fight Floyd on June 6 and Jake also gunning for a shot at Mayweather, we asked Mike if either guy had a snowball's chance in hell.

Look, our photog was extremely excited to talk with Mike and fudged the names ... but you get the gist of what he's trying to say.

Bottom line ... Mike ain't even offering up the "puncher's chance" argument for either Paul -- which basically states that anyone with knockout power has a chance of winning a fight, even if they're out-skilled.

The family of the 6-year-old who was paddled by an elementary school principal is holding out hope for justice ... in the form of yanking the principal's teaching license.

The 6-year-old's mother is devastated the Central Elementary School Principal, Melissa Carter, will NOT face criminal charges for meting out corporal punishment ... this according to the family's attorney, Brent Probinsky. The mother now wants the Dept. of Education to take a hard look at the situation and do what's right ... she says to deny the principal her license.

Probinsky says the family has an ally in the Dept. of Children and Family Services because CFS has recommended Carter be banned from teaching or even being around the children.

CFS interviewed the 6-year-old and her 2 siblings, without the mother's knowledge, about alleged neglect at home.

It's now a waiting game to see what the Dept. of Education concludes in its investigation. We're told once that's complete ... Probinksy and the family will decide whether they want to file a civil lawsuit against Carter, the clerk and the school.

Don't let these two almost identical images of Uma Thurman have you feeling confused. There are a few sneaky switches that have been made to this tricky pic and now it's up to you to try and find 'em!

The actress was recently seen in New York City on the set of her television show ... and we have made a few changes to the snap of her. Take a really good look at the two photos above and do your best to try and find the differences between these two super similar snaps!

Even though the days are warming up we are still not quite in the summer season ... but it hasn't stopped these sexy stars from taking to social media to show they are ready to switch on the hot!

From poolside pics to babes just having some fun in the sun, there are so many celebs that are lookin' very ready for this next season!

Jim Carrey is taking a page from Oprah's playbook, giving away a brand new car ... and the lucky winner is a crew member on his upcoming Sonic movie.

Production sources tell TMZ ... Jim has been up in Vancouver shooting 'Sonic 2' and he wanted to do something fun for the crew and show his thanks for their hard work, so he held a raffle ... and the grand prize was a Chevy Blazer RS.

We're told the winner was picked Friday morning ... and the crew member, who worked as a grip, is getting the keys to their new ride.

Jim's making a pretty big gesture with the free car giveaway ... the base model Chevy Blazer RS retails for just over $40,000.

As you know ... Jim starred in 2020's "Sonic The Hedgehog" as Dr. Robotnik ... and now he's bringing back the evil character for the upcoming sequel.

Antonio Brown invited 6ix9ine to work out at his personal training facility in Florida ... and you know who's pissed off about it??

Pretty much the entire internet.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers Super Bowl champ posted video with the controversial rapper on Friday ... running some 1-v-1s and easily catching passes over the rainbow-haired MC.

But, there's just one problem -- a lot of people have distanced themselves from Tekashi recently ... after the rapper was labeled a "snitch" for ratting out his gang member friends during his 2018 RICO case.

Folks on Instagram didn't shy away from calling A.B. out for the questionable move ... with NBAer J.R. Smith commenting, "Bruh...," and NFL player Terrelle Pryor adding, "Damn AB."

Other critics were harsher... with one person saying, "AB they gonna clown you for this one dawg," and another commenting, "Oh Hell No."

There's more ... "From being the best receiver in the league to 3rd string at Tampa and now doing workouts with a snitch ... #rockbottom."

Canadian Football League player Ahmad Thomas added ... "Taking L’s all across the board?"

We could keep going ... but you get the idea.

No criminal charges will be filed in the case of the 6-year-old elementary student who got paddled by her principal ... investigators concluded the principal didn't commit a crime, because the child's mother consented to corporal punishment.

According to new legal docs obtained by TMZ ... state prosecutors found Central Elementary School Principal Melissa Carter and her clerk, Cecilia Self, carried out the discipline of the student at the request of the girl's mother.

Deputy Chief Assistant State Attorney Abraham R. Thornburg explains "the evidence in this case appears clear that the child's mother sanctioned and consented to the spanking of her daughter as discipline for misbehavior."

Thornburg also says there were "significant concerns" about the mother's credibility regarding her statements that she was confused or didn't understand the process ... adding even if she was confused, there was "no reason to believe" the principal was aware of any such confusion at the time of the paddling.

He continues ... "A parent has the right to use corporal punishment to discipline their children, and similarly has the right to consent that others do so on their behalf."

The black eye and bloody mouth will fade ... but Jake Paul was still able to get a permanent reminder of his altercation with Floyd Mayweather -- immortalizing the incident with a new tattoo!!

The YouTube superstar showed off his new ink Thursday night -- just hours after he was roughed up at Hard Rock Stadium by Floyd and the boxer's bodyguards ... and it's pretty damn funny.

The tat -- located just below his right knee -- reads "Gotcha Hat" and features a picture of a baseball cap.

Of course, after Jake famously stole the hat off Floyd's head following the Floyd-Logan news conference in Miami -- he shouted repeatedly, "Gotcha hat!"

The scene was wild ... Jake got pummeled after stealing the cap -- and showed off a shiner and a bloody mouth in a video of the aftermath.

But, Jake's been having a great time with it all regardless ... talking all kinds of smack, getting the tat AND selling new "Gotcha Hat" merch.

Logan and Floyd are set to face off on June 6 ... and we're fired up for that -- but there's got to be Jake vs. Floyd immediately after that.