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Iman Shumpert is a champion once again ... and just like coming back from a 3-1 lead, it was a shocking upset win.

The former Cavs guard -- who made history when he became the first former pro hoops player to advance to the finals of "Dancing with the Stars" last week -- took home the Mirror Ball trophy with his partner, Daniella, after a freestyle dance that had all of social media talking.

It was a nail-biter 'til the end ... and a lot of folks thought Siwa was going to take it all. But, there can only be one winner, and it was the 6'5" hooper crowned champ.

Shumpert is the first NBA player to ever win it all ... joining other pro athletes like Emmitt Smith, Shawn Johnson, Hines Ward and more who have come in first.

Shump's fellow Cavs champ LeBron James gave a big shoutout to Iman after the win ... saying, "Congrats bro!! That's so (fire emoji)"

As we previously reported, Iman's wife, Teyana Taylor told us before the show the NBAer had an advantage after spending countless hours at her dance rehearsals -- and it clearly paid off!!

Shumpert tasted victory in 2016 with the Cleveland Cavaliers ... becoming the first team to come back from a 3-1 deficit to win it all.

Carole Baskin was (again) painted as an unhelpful, suspicious character in the ongoing search for her missing husband, but despite what 'Tiger King 2' suggests ... she says the exact opposite is true.

Joe Exotic's archenemy tells TMZ ... she's done everything in her power to track down Don Lewis -- her one-time hubby, who mysteriously went missing in the '90s and was never found. The 'TK' sequel, however, might have you thinking otherwise.

As you know ... the 2nd installment debuted last week, and a detective with the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, Moises Garcia, is prominently featured as they continue to dig into Don's case all these years later. As they delve into Carole's suspected knowledge about his whereabouts, Cpl. Garcia flat out says Carole seems uninterested in helping 'em out.

The reason ... she hasn't cooperated with his office's request for information -- but that's all for a good cause, according to Carole herself ... who says she's done enough already.

CB tells us that since the inception of the original investigation, she's done tons of interviews, forked over scores of documents and given unprecedented access to the authorities to get to the bottom of where the hell Don is. Not just that ... but she put out a $100k reward!

Carole adds, "There is no one who has more to gain from solving the mystery of Don’s disappearance than I do because it would clear my name and stop the idiotic rumors." She further states, "There is nothing that I know that is not either in the Sheriff’s files or in the diary I have published at SaveTheCats.org and no way I am going to have a clearer memory or anything to add twenty-four years later."

While Carole acknowledges she's mostly snubbed Garcia -- she explains she did on the advice of counsel, as she simply has nothing more to contribute.

There's also this ... the new Netflix doc apparently reveals that the Dept. of Homeland Security has already found Don alive and well in Costa Rica. Carole says she hopes that's true -- and it is even more reason she wants to put all the speculation to bed about her alleged involvement, which she says is based on nothing but unfounded rumors.

Bottom line ... Carole isn't about to dig up the past to appease kooks who are hung up on this, and she means that literally. AKA, no septic tank dig is happening on her watch.

Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson continue to give everyone something to talk about, and this time it's all thanks to what is almost certainly -- no, definitely, a hickey on the SNL's stars neck!!!

The bi-coastal duo hit Giorgio Baldi in Santa Monica Sunday night ... Kim wearing some signature Balenciaga and Pete in his signature -- jeans, jacket and t-shirt -- but, it was Pete's neck that was the biggest attention grabber.

Witnesses tell us PD was sporting a quarter-sized hickey on the left side of his neck, so ... seems like the couple had a fun "appetizer." They were quite cozy during the meal too, sitting side-by-side in a quiet corner of the restaurant.

From what we're told, there was plenty of touching and feeling going on between 'em while Kim was recently in NYC -- so the hickey shouldn't be a surprise.

TMZ broke the story, Kim and Pete's romance really started to take off during a private dinner between the duo at one of Pete's Staten Island favorites. From there, it was a group dinner at Zero Bond ... and just last week a celebration for Pete's 28th with Flavor Flav and Kris Jenner at her Palm Springs mansion.

Matthew McConaughey could win the Texas governorship if the election were held today -- according to a new poll -- and he hasn't even said he wants the gig.

So, here's the breakdown ...

Governor Greg Abbott vs. Matt -- Abbott 35%, Matt 43%

Beto O'Rourke vs. Matt -- Beto 27%, Matt 49%

Now weirdly, in a 3-way race, Abbott wins with 37%, versus Matt at 27% and Beto at 26%.  Thing is, there won't be a 3-way race, because Abbott's a Republican and Beto's a Democrat.

So, here's the thing ... Matt has been cagey/sly about running. He's hinted he might, but so far he hasn't pulled the trigger. And, not only has he kept his views on just about everything secret, no one even knows his party affiliation.

It's no secret, Tupac Shakur was gang-affiliated -- and a piece of his own jewelry collection confirmed it ... one that's now made its way back to the marketplace with a fat price tag.

The rapper's very own gold 'M.O.B.' ring -- as it's known -- is hitting the auction block this week, courtesy of Moments in Time ... but it ain't really gonna be up for bidding, but more so ... just sold at a flat rate -- first come, first served.

The going rate ... a cool $95,000 -- so you can definitely cop it if you can afford it. And hey, the value might be spot on -- considering the late icon himself wore it on a handful of occasions, especially once he started hanging with Suge Knight and co.

For the uninitiated ... M.O.B., in the Death Row Records context, mostly stands for Member of Blood -- a street gang that Suge was certainly tied to in those days. M.O.B. can stand for other things -- money over b****es, mafia, etc -- but the Blood reference is most common.

It looks like Suge had a lot of his artists rock the M.O.B. rings back in the day -- including Pac, who's said to have usually worn it on his pinkie finger, and Snoop Dogg too (even though his roots are with the Crips). Anyhoo, this ring here was flashed quite often.

As for how it ended up in MIT's hand ... sources connected to the sale tell us Tupac actually gave this ring to a then-girlfriend he was seeing before his death ... and it eventually made its way to a private collector over the years.

Michael Irvin's bromance with Amari Cooper is on pause for now ... 'cause the Dallas legend tells TMZ Sports he's FURIOUS with the Cowboys star for not getting the COVID vaccine.

"I'm absolutely hot about it," The Playmaker said. "Are you joking?!"

Because of Cooper's unvaccinated status, after he tested positive for COVID last week, he was automatically ruled out of the Cowboys' games against the Chiefs and the Raiders.

Of course, Dallas got kicked in the teeth by Kansas City with the star receiver out on Sunday -- and its chances of beating the Raiders without Cooper on Thanksgiving aren't looking great either.

When we asked Irvin -- who's been a huge fan of Cooper's since the player was traded to Dallas in 2019 -- about it all in NYC on Monday, he didn't hold anything back, saying, "I'm so hot at Amari Cooper for not being on that field."

"I got a guy who makes $21 million on the bench at home not playing," Irvin added. "It's crazy."

Irvin says he knows even with the vaccine Cooper still might have been forced out of the games regardless, but he said he's mad at Amari for not even attempting to diminish that chance.

"You have to try to mitigate any issue that could cost you a game or a Super Bowl, and COVID is one of them," Irvin said. "You go get vaccinated to try to mitigate it, best you can."

For Dak Prescott's part, Cooper's quarterback chose not to criticize his wideout after the loss to the Chiefs over the vaccine decision ... telling reporters he's pretty sure Cooper would have missed the two games regardless.

Before this blue-eyed baby was shining on the silver screen, she was just another blonde beauty growing up in Los Angeles, California.

This smiling sweetheart stepped into the spotlight with a breakout role along with an ensemble of sisters finding their way in the world. Soon after, her career launched into stardom as she scored a reoccurring role on a widely popular television series based on a scandalous book series.

As one half of a lovable Hollywood couple, she's made headlines for her hilarious antics with her famous husband with whom she shares three children.

Kyle Kuzma's pregame outfit Monday night featured an oversized sweater that looked more like a damn blanket  ... and naturally, he got roasted like a marshmallow over it.

The 26-year-old showed off his Raf Simons oversized-sleeve virgin wool jumper -- which comes with a $1,659 price tag and sleeves that almost reach the floor -- on his way into the locker room before Monday's game against the Charlotte Hornets ... and the dude's NBA buddies had a blast at his expense.

"Cmon bro 😂," DeMarcus Cousins commented on Kuz's IG pic showing off the 'fit. "S*** getting outta hand now."

Isaiah Thomas added ... "Come on killa… lol that one ain’t it haha."

J.R. Smith even took a break from class to get in on the clowning sesh ... saying, "Man hellll nawwwwwww 😂😂😂"

Not everyone hated it, though -- WNBA player Liz Cambage praised the interesting wardrobe choice ... saying, "he went and done did it 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽."

Influencer Zack Bia had a simple reaction, adding, "Yes."

LeBron James even went in on his old teammate ... saying, "Ain’t no f***ing way you wore that!!! 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂. I’m not pressing the like button cause this is outrageous Kuz! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣"

Aaron Carter is a first-time father, welcoming his son, Prince Lyric Carter, to the world with fiancée Melanie Martin.

Aaron announced the exciting news Monday, posting a photo of his newborn and caption, "Emergency C Section after 13 hours of labor but my fiancé is in great health thank you lord and the incredibly sweet loving staff here. Prince is precious I love you son."

Clearly, it was an emotional event, as Aaron writes, "Your mommy loves you as I drop tears on the phone."

Aaron says he was the one to cut his son's umbilical cord, and writes to Melanie, "I’m so proud of you hunny you did it I Love you with all my heart my beautiful blessings from god."

TMZ broke the story, Aaron and Melanie had planned on naming their son Prince as a nod to Michael Jackson. Aaron and Michael were close, and of course, Michael was known as The Prince of Pop.

There's a first time for everything -- LeBron James was just hit with a one-game suspension as a result of Sunday's wild incident ... the first time he's ever been banned in his 19-year career.

It's a shocking decision, especially because the Lakers' next game is in New York against the Knicks on Tuesday ... and Madison Square Garden is the biggest stage in the NBA.

Detroit Pistons player Isaiah Stewart was also suspended two games for his involvement in the incident ... with the league saying he escalated the altercation by "repeatedly and aggressively" pursuing James.

LBJ was ejected for just the second time of his career after elbowing Stewart in the face during a boxout in the 3rd quarter ... which sparked an insane altercation.

As it turns out, Bron reportedly felt awful about the 'bow throw ... with NBA insider Shams Charania reporting the future Hall of Famer tried to get Stewart's number to apologize for the incident.

In a day that saw more than 30 new lawsuits filed against Travis Scott and the organizers of Astroworld, now event staffers are filing legal papers of their own ... including two security guards who say the event has left them permanently scarred.

Samuel and Jackson Bush say they were hired by AJ Melino and Associates to work security at the event. The docs claim that while only 50,000 people bought tickets, there were many more in attendance ... and the massive crowd caused bigger problems.

Both men claim mental and physical injuries from working the event. Jackson says he witnessed CPR being performed on lifeless bodies and pulled a person from a crowd crush who ended up dying.

The lawsuit is asking for more than $1 million in damages ... and going after not only Travis, but Live Nation, AJ Melino, Cactus Jack Records and others in the process.

As we reported, the new filings are just a fraction of what's already come in. Just last week, a $2 billion lawsuit was filed on behalf of more than 280 attendees ... prior to that, another lawsuit for $750 million was filed against Travis and others.

Cops continue to investigate exactly what went wrong, but from almost all fan accounts, overcrowding and crowd surges seem to be to blame.

Travis remained out of the public eye since the festival, and 10 people have died after suffering injuries at the concert ... he's offered to pay funeral expenses and set up an account where families can get in touch with his team to work things out.

Travis' attorney, Ed McPherson tells us, "It was reported that the Operations Plan designated that only the festival director and executive producers have authority to stop the show, neither of which is part of Travis's crew. This also runs afoul of HPD's own previous actions when it shut down the power and sound at this very festival when the performance ran over 5 minutes back in 2019."

He continues, "Investigations should start proceeding over finger-pointing so that together, we can identify exactly what transpired and how we can prevent anything like this from happening again."

Evander Kane's divorce case has just taken another nasty turn ... the NHL player is now claiming his ex faked a pregnancy the last few months, and he's asking a judge to order her to take a mental exam to prove she's fit to care for their daughter.

It's all in new court docs, obtained by TMZ Sports, in which Kane says his estranged wife, Anna Kane, has been lying to him about her pregnancy since July.

The San Jose Sharks star claims up until earlier this month, he had believed Anna was pregnant with their second child, which was due in February 2022.

Evander says Anna had spoken about the baby often, and he says he had seen her belly grow with his own eyes throughout the last several weeks.

Evander, though, says after he reviewed recent medical bills -- it was brought to his attention that Anna had actually had an abortion way back in July.

Evander is accusing Anna of pretending to be pregnant for months ... going as far as wearing "some sort of pregnancy belly" to deceive him and cause him mental trauma.

Evander says all of it is so deeply disturbing, he's worried about the potential impact it might have on the couple's daughter -- and he's now requesting the court step in and give him full custody of their girl while also ordering Anna to undergo an examination to prove she's mentally stable.

For her part, Anna said in her own court docs that she did have the abortion in July, and acknowledged "I was less than forthcoming with [Evander] with regards to my decision."

She admitted in the docs that she "did not inform [Evander] or the court that I was no longer pregnant." She did deny, however, wearing any sort of prosthetics in an attempt to look pregnant.

Anna also claimed in her docs she is mentally stable and is fully capable of caring for the couple's daughter -- and is asking the court to deny Evander's requests.

Evander has been granted temporary custody of the child -- with a hearing on the matter slated for December.

Ghislaine Maxwell seems to be full of secrets -- including what she knows about Jeffrey Epstein and his powerful pals, and one journo is hoping to unlock the mystery once and for all.

The British socialite -- who was tight with Epstein for years before he was charged anew in 2019, and subsequently killed himself -- is about to have her day in court over alleged sex trafficking, among other charges she's facing ... which will be decided at trial later this month.

Of course, many see Maxwell as the key to unlocking the long suspected malfeasance Epstein was conducting with underage girls -- and that goes doubly so for reporter Vicky Ward.

We talked to Vicky on "TMZ Live" about the "Chasing Ghislaine" documentary she's just released on Discovery+, and she tells us a lot of new information is uncovered through her investigation ... one she's been digging into and working on for over a decade now.

Something that's clear to Vicky about Epstein's alleged criminal acts is he clearly had a support system of influential allies spanning the entire globe. Many of those ties to powerful people have already been exposed -- but Vicky wonders how they could NOT have known what Epstein was doing.

She does not suggest any one of these men participated in anything unseemly themselves ... but in her eyes (and, frankly, the eyes of many) there's no reason they should've been as cozy with the guy ... especially knowing his sordid history.

Kobe Bryant's two youngest daughters are showing a little glimpse of that Mamba Mentality already ... by playing hoops with Pau Gasol at the Lakers facility -- and it's adorable!!

Vanessa Bryant shared the footage this weekend ... showing Bryant's best friend and teammate Gasol on the court with 4-year-old Bianka and 2-year-old Capri.

Bianka is quick to show off her defensive skills against the 7-foot-1 center and manages to steal the ball from between his leg -- with the help from her sister and Gasol's daughter, Ellie.

Bianka also got a chance to dunk with an assist from Gasol and Bryant's longtime agent Rob Pelinka ... right near her dad's jersey #24 painting on the facility's wall.

Gasol loved every moment of it -- saying, "Always the best times with the kids."

The 41-year-old retired NBA star considered Kobe as his brother ... and has spent time with the Bryant family on a consistent basis since the fatal accident in January 2020.

In fact for Halloween, the Gasols and the Bryants all dressed up as Dalmatians for Vanessa's Cruella De Vil costume and hung out at one of Kobs's favorite places in the world -- Disneyland.

Britney Spears may be cozying up by the fire with none other than her mom, Lynne -- that is, if things go mama bear's way ... and it's clear she wants to reconcile.

Lynne ran into some paps at LAX, and they asked all about her daughter and the fact she's now out of the 13-year conservatorship -- one her mom had an integral part in orchestrating all those years ago.

As you see ... LS wasn't in too much of a chatty mood, staying mum on actual words. But, she did say a lot with her body language -- including an apparent desire to reunite for the holidays.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... Lynne is in L.A. to spend Thanksgiving with her son, Bryan. We're told she'd like to see Britney but there are no plans ... at least so far.  We're told Bryan still has a relationship with Britney, so he could talk to her about joining for Thanksgiving dinner. We're told, "The guest list has not been set," so stay tuned.

It also sounds like Lynne is happy Brit is out of the legal apparatus -- even though her kid is still furious with her ... going so far as to call for the jailing of her parents, whom she considers responsible for keeping her trapped for so long.

In any case, Lynne is obviously looking to bury the hatchet -- again, based on her few gestures here.

Tennis star Peng Shuai told International Olympic Committee officials she's not in danger during a video call over the weekend, insisting there's nothing to worry about, but the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) is still concerned about the star player.

The 35-year-old former #1 ranked doubles player in the world seemingly vanished around 3 weeks ago after accusing a powerful former Chinese politician of sexual assault on social media.

The post was taken down ... and Shuai wasn't heard from for weeks. Then, top tennis players like Serena Williams, Naomi Osaka, and Novak Djokovic took notice -- along with the WTA -- and demanded action.

Cue the 30-minute Zoom call ... with IOC prez Thomas Bach, and 2 other officials.

"Peng Shuai thanked the IOC for its concern about her well-being. She explained that she is safe and well, living at her home in Beijing, but would like to have her privacy respected at this time. That is why she prefers to spend her time with friends and family right now," the IOC said in a statement issued following the call.

After they spoke, another IOC official said they were convinced the 2013 Wimbledon doubles winner was safe and healthy after the call.

"I was relieved to see that Peng Shuai was doing fine, which was our main concern. She appeared to be relaxed. I offered her our support and to stay in touch at any time of her convenience, which she obviously appreciated."

But, not everyone's content with the call. The WTA, which has done an incredible job demanding answers from Chinese officials, still have concerns over Peng's safety.

"It was good to see Peng Shuai in recent videos, but they don't alleviate or address the WTA's concern about her well-being and ability to communicate without censorship or coercion," a WTA spokesperson told ESPN.

When asked specifically about the IOC's Zoom call, the WTA spokesperson said, "This video does not change our call for a full, fair and transparent investigation, without censorship, into her allegation of sexual assault, which is the issue that gave rise to our initial concern."

After not being seen or heard from for weeks, Peng's been more visible lately. In addition to the video call on Sunday, Shuai was also seen at a tennis tournament in Beijing on Saturday.