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"Dateline" correspondent Josh Mankiewicz knows the bizarre murder/assisted suicide case of South Carolina's Murdaugh family is right up his show's alley -- and he's totally into it -- but he says the location is a bit off.

Josh was leaving The Palm in L.A. Wednesday when we got his take on the endless twists surrounding prominent lawyer Alex Murdaugh, and the unsolved murders of his wife and son.

For starters, Josh, like everyone else, says the case is riveting and people are asking him about it nonstop. Comes with the territory when you're the go-to guy covering true crime cases.

For the uninitiated ... Murdaugh found his wife, Margaret, and 22-year-old son, Paul, shot dead outside their home in June -- and police have yet to make any arrests in that case.

Fast forward to September 4 ... when Murdaugh got shot in the head, but survived. He now admits he hired a hitman to kill him so his surviving son could collect a $10M life insurance policy. The shooter's already been arrested and charged with assisted suicide, and Murdaugh's expected to surrender to authorities Thursday.

Josh is blown away by all of this, and that's coming from a "Dateline" vet who's seen it all ... so, ya know we're in uncharted true crime waters. In fact, he says one of the strangest parts of the case is that it's NOT happening in Florida!

Apologies to the Sunshine State, but y'know ... some insane stuff does happen there. 'Memba this and this??? Anyway, Josh also has a tip for Alex Murdaugh, although we suspect it's too late to help him now.

BTW ... S.C. officials announced they're also opening a new investigation into the 2018 death of a housekeeper at Murdaugh's home. 😲

Actor Eddie Deezen's restaurant problems have escalated, because he just got arrested for assault after cops say he refused to leave one -- and unloaded on officers on his way out.

According to a police report, Eddie -- best known for playing nerdy Eugene Felsnic in the original 'Grease' movies -- was causing a scene at a restaurant in LaVale, Maryland around lunchtime Thursday and refusing to leave, so cops were called.

Law enforcement says when deputies arrived, Eddie ran to hide behind a woman in a booth and refused multiple orders from cops to exit, so he had to be forcibly removed.

According to the report, Deezen threw numerous items at deputies during the incident -- including plates, bowls and food and actually struck one of the deputies.

Eddie was eventually removed -- shirtless, as you can see -- and hauled off to jail, where he's been charged with second-degree assault, disorderly conduct and trespassing.

You may recall ... Deezen was involved in a bizarre situation earlier this year where a Maryland waitress accused him of being a creep and harassing her, but then he went on social media and accused her of cyberbullying.

Freddie Combs -- the minister who became a fan favorite on the second season of "The X Factor" thanks to his heavenly voice -- has died ... TMZ has learned.

According to his wife Kay ... Freddie died last Friday surrounded by friends and family at a hospital in Florida. She tells us his death was not Covid-related, but the result of kidney failure.

Kay says Freddie was diligently working on his weight loss over the past 11 years -- he had weighed over 900 lbs, getting all the way down to 385 lbs. -- and she's very proud of him. Sadly, she says she knew he was going to pass the day before he did, adding ... "I have so much gratitude to be his wife for 25 years and to be his best friend."

You may recall ... Freddie wowed the judges and audience during his 'X Factor' audition in Season 2 of the U.S. series, as the 540-lb. minister belted out a beautiful rendition of "Wind Beneath My Wings."

Simon Cowell and L.A. Reid promised to back him if he promised to get healthy, lose weight and get out of his wheelchair ... and Freddie vowed to do so.

Though he was eliminated shortly after, his story inspired many folks because he'd already lost more than 400 lbs. since 2009 ... when he topped 920 lbs.

Freddie and Kay, who struggles with weight issues as well, were also featured on a 2010 TLC special called "Ton of Love."

He was 49.

'Bachelor' star Hannah Ann Sluss is not down with seeing her face on Downy laundry products, and she's fed up enough to raise a legal "stink" with a slew of huge companies.

Hannah just filed suit against Procter & Gamble, CVS Pharmacy, Target and Walmart ... claiming P&G is still using a pic of her to sell products on those store shelves, even though its license to do so has expired.

According to the docs, obtained by TMZ, Hannah claims she licensed one of her modeling photos to be used on a single product from October 1, 2017, to October 1, 2019 ... but she says P&G continued using it on multiple products after she got way more famous following her stint on 'The Bachelor.'

In her suit, Hannah claims her image is still being used to hawk at least 6 Downy products ... nearly 2 years after the licensing deal ended.

She's particularly upset one of the products is associated with P&G's "Life Gets Stinky" campaign ... calling it "especially egregious because it associated [her] with the word 'stinky.'"

Hannah's going after P&G, CVS, Target and Walmart for money ... and she's asking the judge to order them to stop selling the products featuring her picture.

"Jeopardy!" won't be going back to its revolving door of guest hosts after the quick exit of Mike Richards -- TMZ's learned it'll be Mayim Bialik and Ken Jennings for the rest of 2021.

Sony production sources tell us the quiz show is going to keep it semi-consistent from here on out -- at least for this year -- with Mayim on hosting duty for more than half of the episodes, and Jennings shooting a few weeks worth of episodes.

We're told execs have not decided about next season yet, but are still searching for a full-time, permanent replacement for Alex Trebek, and as we've told you ... Mayim still seems to be the frontrunner.

When Richards stepped down as host, he suggested -- in an internal memo to staffers -- "Jeopardy!" would return to a series of guest hosts. However, he was also ousted as Executive Producer less than 2 weeks later ... so it's clear his plan no longer carried weight.

As you know ... Richards was tapped to replace Trebek on the syndicated daily version of the game show, but controversial comments he made years ago on his podcast resurfaced shortly afterward, and he quit after shooting just 5 episodes.

Similarly, while former champ Jennings is still guest hosting, we're told he's not seen as a real contender for the permanent gig ... due to past controversial tweets.

Meanwhile, LeVar Burton's still out there ... but Sony honchos already decided he's not their guy.

Reece James -- a Chelsea soccer star and member of England's national team -- claims his home was burglarized Tuesday ... and he says it was all captured by security cameras.

James says the incident went down while he was away from his house playing in a game for Chelsea ... claiming the footage shows clear as day how thieves stole a giant safe from his home.

In the video, you can see what appears to be four men pushing their way through a gate on James' property to get access to his house.

The men then appear to look into James' windows ... before breaking in using a giant sledgehammer.

James says you can see in the video the guys stole a safe from his place ... and then hauled it all the way outside and into a getaway car.

"They managed to collectively lift a heavy safe containing some personal items of mine into their car," James said.

The 21-year-old footballer says some of his priceless soccer awards were in the safe ... adding that law enforcement has been notified and is investigating.

"I am appealing to all my Chelsea and England fans to help identify and turn in these low life individuals who will never be able to rest easy as the evidence is mounting against them," James said.

"The police, my advisers and Chelsea FC (and many others) are all behind me as we have firm leads on who the perpetrators are. We are closing in on them."

James said, thankfully, nobody was home or injured during the incident.

Nicki Minaj's tweet about her cousin's friend becoming impotent and getting swollen testicles has really blown up ... to the point where she's getting chided both on American soil and beyond.

Trinidad and Tobago Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh blasted the rapper Wednesday, calling her claim about one person's alleged side effect of the COVID vaccine on the Caribbean island bogus.

The health minister said the reason it took his department a couple days to respond is because they were looking into Minaj's comments, adding ... "Unfortunately, we wasted so much time yesterday running down this false claim."

As you know ... Nicki's received major backlash ever since she tweeted about why she's hesitant to get vaccinated, which included the anecdote about her cousin's friend in Trinidad.

It led to senior health officials like Dr. Fauci condemning her unscientific claim, but Nicki later claimed she was invited to The White House to speak with medical experts and get educated on the vax.

However, a WH official later clarified that it did NOT extend an invite for Minaj to visit, but simply offered to hop on a phone call to discuss questions about the safety and effectiveness of the COVID vaccine after her tweets.

Nicki has not taken too kindly to this clarification, and responded with a 14-minute Instagram video claiming she was invited ... and suggesting she's being made out to look like a liar.

For what it's worth, Nicki also claimed her Twitter account had been suspended, but the company denied taking any action against the account.

Jessica Alba's Honest Co. is being sued by shareholders who claim the company misled them by failing to disclose so many parents stocked up on diapers and other Honest products at the beginning of the pandemic that sales in subsequent quarters tanked.

The shareholders claim in a new lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, they bought Honest stock after the company went public in May, 2021 because the financial reports from 2020 showed gangbuster sales. They figured, hey, this company is on the rise so let's get in now.

Just 2 months later, Honest released a report saying they lost $20 million in the second quarter of 2021, and stock prices plummeted nearly 43% from the public offering price.

The shareholders claim Honest hid an essential fact ... that consumers had stockpiled diapers, wipes and other wellness products because of the pandemic, and by the time the company went public Honest knew sales were falling in a big way.

Now the shareholders do concede ... Honest disclosed that COVID was a driver of high sales and there was no assurance that would continue. But, the shareholders says Honest actually KNEW sales were declining but didn't ante up the info.

JoJo Siwa says her relationship with Nickelodeon isn't fractured beyond repair amid a dispute over her upcoming tour ... but she says it's gonna take a lot for them to mend fences.

We got JoJo outside the Loews Hotel in NYC and asked her about Tuesday's beef with Nickelodeon. She says the network's blocking her from performing songs from her recently released musical when she embarks on a 37-city tour in January.

JoJo told us her problem is Nickelodeon treating her like she's just a brand ... and forgetting she's a person too.

You can tell from her tone ... JoJo's ticked off the relationship's gone south. She says she's frustrated folks with less tenure than her at Nickelodeon are trying to call the shots on what she can and can't sing.

While JoJo says her home network's not supporting her ... she's turning to other child stars like Bella Thorne, Miley Cyrus and Demi Lovato for sage advice.

Sounds like JoJo's hopeful they can still come to an agreement before her tour, but she also leaves open the possibility of going against the grain.

Kim Kardashian sees how incredibly close -- and physical -- Kourtney and Travis Barker's relationship is, and newsflash ... she's all about it!!!

Kim told Ellen DeGeneres Wednesday she loves how much her sister and Travis have grown together. She said it's incredible how they went from being friends and neighbors for almost 15 years to where they are now -- which is PDAVille, U.S.A. ... where they're clearly co-Mayors.

Ellen couldn't avoid the obvious topic ... asking Kim why Trav and Kourt can't seem to keep their hands, and tongues, off each other. Kim had 3 words to describe how she feels about it.

Kim did laugh and agree with Ellen that "it's a lot," but in the end ... she finds it cute. Kim says she loves love, so she loves them. There ya go.

As we, and the sickeningly happy couple have documented, it doesn't matter where they are -- in the studio or on a NYC loading dock -- these 2 never have any problem showing some serious PDA.

When their relationship started it was all hands on deck. But, it hasn't been ALL about the physical part -- back in August, Kourtney notably helped Travis fly for the first time since the 2008 fatal plane crash that killed 4 of his friends, and left him with third-degree burns on 65 percent of his body.

Lil Mo is calling out Fat Joe for referring to her as a dusty bitch crackhead during "Verzuz" ... saying he's way outta line, and totally insensitive to all people battling addiction.

Here's the deal ... Fat Joe came under fire after ripping Lil Mo and another female rap legend, Vita, during his Tuesday night musical showdown with Ja Rule. He said Ja must have found them in a "crack house."

Lil Mo tells TMZ ... Fat Joe's comments are "vile" and "disrespectful" and he should know better than to use those degrading terms, especially in light of recent celeb deaths, like Michael K. Williams, from drug problems.

In fact, Lil Mo says Joe's disses were actually triggering to her, because -- even though she's clean now -- she's dealt with her own opioid addiction issues in the past.

Fat Joe ended up apologizing publicly -- he also says he told Lil Mo and Vita sorry to their faces -- and Remy Ma rushed to his defense on social media, but Lil Mo says he shouldn't get off the hook so easy.

Some of the closest people to Norm Macdonald didn't know the comedian was battling cancer for a decade ... so the surprising and sudden loss floored them as much as it did fans.

We got 'Tonight Show' announcer and producer Steve Higgins in New York City and asked how he's dealing with Norm's death. They'd worked very closely ... Steve was an 'SNL' writer when Norm was a star cast member.

Steve says they were really close outside of work too, and he's taking Norm's death hard ... because he had no clue his friend was diagnosed years ago.

He also explained -- with a vivid and perfect metaphor -- exactly why everyone in the comedy community loved Norm.

Steve recalls spending tons of time with Norm back in their 'SNL' days ... saying Norm was "truly brilliant" for his comedic timing.

Elon Musk's space company just made history ... the first ever, all-civilian spaceflight is way up above our planet ... and they blasted off without any astronauts.

Billionaire Jared Isaacman, a pilot himself, is leading the mission dubbed Inspiration4 ... and it looks like he's already having a blast up there in space with the rest of his lucky space tourists.

Chris Sembroski, Dr. Sian Proctor and Hayley Arceneaux took off with Jared in a SpaceX Dragon capsule Wednesday night ... blasting into space using a Falcon 9 rocket, which launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

As you can see ... the space tourists were clapping and celebrating as they took off into space, breaking the speed of sound on the way up, while those in mission control back home were hyped too.

Now that they're in orbit, Jared and co. will be in space for the next 3 days, zipping around Earth about once every 90 minutes and enjoying the views.

As we first told you ... Jared told us back in February he was most looking forward to overriding the automatic pilot and taking Dragon for a spin up in space.

BTW ... the civilian crew will be sleeping in the same reclining seats you saw them in on the launch ... and they've got to share a toilet and forego showers.

Ben Simmons does NOT have a problem with his jumper -- it's a CONFIDENCE issue -- so says NBA and BIG 3 sharp-shooter Joe Johnson, who tells TMZ Sports the Sixers guard will be just fine.

Simmons has struggled to find his rhythm with jump shots since entering the league in 2016 -- most recently, he was criticized for going 35% from the charity stripe and averaging 9.9 points a game in the Eastern Conference semi-finals against the Atlanta Hawks.

Not ideal for a former #1 overall pick ... but Iso Joe -- who's known for his clutch shooting -- isn't worried at all, saying he knows the 25-year-old will find his way.

"I honestly don't think nothing's wrong with it," Johnson tells us. "You see him playing pickup basketball shooting jumpers, fadeaways, threes ... so we all know it's there."

It's true -- Ben put in work with Rajon Rondo earlier this offseason ... where he was recorded on video drilling threes.

"He just has to take that same confidence that he has in pickup and translate it into an NBA game," Johnson adds. "That's it. You're gonna miss and make shots, you can't care about the misses. He's just got to continue to take them."

Johnson says the talent is clearly not the problem ... but when BS takes the court, he's got to remember that he's that dude.

Before this perfect angel was a household name for her funny friendships on television, she was just another brunette beauty growing up in Birmingham, Alabama.

This little lady's career launched into stardom when she was cast in one of the most popular sitcoms of all time ... along with an ensemble of hilarious celebrities. This long-reining comedy series ran for 10 years, but it wasn't this famous face's only claim to fame. Around the same time, she balanced between television and film when she became the starring scream queen in a popular horror flick franchise.

Ex-NBA star Tyson Chandler and his wife, Kimberly Chandler, are going their separate ways ... TMZ Sports has learned Kimberly filed for divorce this week.

Kimberly, according to court documents, cited irreconcilable differences as the reason for the split. The two had been married for 16 years and separated in August.

Kimberly often posted pictures of her and the former basketball player on social media during their relationship ... recently showing off a photo of the two from their trip to Coachella in 2016.

"#ItWasAVibe," Kimberly said in the caption with the photo. "#MyLoverAndMe."

The couple has three children -- a 15-year-old daughter, a 12-year-old son and another 11-year-old daughter -- from their time together.

In the docs, Kimberly stated she was seeking spousal support ... as well as joint custody of the kids.