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Mariah Carey didn't cut any corners ahead of her NYE redemption performance in Times Square ... 'cause she just completed a full soundcheck and rehearsal.

Mariah wrapped her rehearsal and soundcheck Sunday afternoon in NYC, where she's hours away from round 2 of "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve." Eyewitnesses tell us she completed her run-through with no issues, and looks ready for tonight.

It appears it was the real Mariah up there too, no stand-in like last year ... which, as you'll recall, didn't end great come showtime. It also sounds like you can hear her pretty well through the sound system now, which bodes well for her actual performance.

He's already producing and acting in the movie -- but now Mark Wahlberg is making a play to DIRECT his upcoming movie about the life of NBA star Caron Butler.

We broke the story ... Wahlberg has been targeting huge names like Spike Lee, Peter Berg and Barry Jenkins to direct the flick about Butler's journey from dealing drugs to becoming an NBA all-star.

Our sources say Wahlberg is very passionate about the project -- and thinks it could be the perfect movie to make his directorial debut.

Wahlberg gave a clue during an interview with Collider, saying he has "one specific project" he'd love to direct ... teasing "it takes place in Wisconsin. It's a true story."

And guess where Caron Butler grew up? WISCONSIN!!!

Boom.

One problem (that's not really a problem) -- Wahlberg says he thinks Peter Berg is REALLLY going to want the project ... jokingly saying, "I made the mistake of sending him the script."

Ex-NFL wide receiver Braylon Edwards says he was just kidding around when he reached over the bar at a Chicago tavern and pulled the beer taps ... in a late-night incident captured on video.

It all went down Friday at Duffy's Tavern and Grille -- you can see the 34-year-old pull 4 beer taps while jawing at the bartender. Unclear what was being said.

The bar manager initially slammed Edwards on social media -- saying Braylon owed the bar $75 for "the product he wasted." The manager also claimed Braylon "threatened my staff and punched the front window as he left."

Edwards tells a different story -- saying he was just goofing around and meant no ill will. He's also adamant he never threatened anyone.

Braylon's rep tells TMZ Sports, "He heard Duffy's was a Michigan fan bar and he wanted to stop by for some holiday cheer. Mr. Edwards spoke with the bar manager and has offered to pay the tab for the taps that were poured during the prank."

Floyd Mayweather is NOT in a committed relationship with 'Love & Hip Hop' star Nikki Baby ... so says the boxer's rep who tells TMZ Sports, "they're associates."

Floyd and Nikki have been friends for a while -- and ignited dating rumors after a flirty Instagram exchange that was captured by The Shade Room.

But when we reached out to Floyd's rep, Mayweather's camp shot it down saying when it comes to reports of dating, it is "not true."

Add James Harden to the list of NBA players showing support for Meek Mill ... 'cause the Houston Rockets superstar visited the rapper in prison on Tuesday and says "his spirit is high."

Harden took some time in-between games to visit Meek at the State Correctional Institution in Chester, PA and reported back on social media.

"Got a chance to see my bro Meek Mill today. His spirit is high and hopefully we can get him out by February," Harden wrote.

"Told me to tell y'all when he get out he got some (fire) for y'all."

Sources connected to Meek tell TMZ Sports ... the NBA star had some special "Free Meek" sneakers whipped up and plans to rock them on the court on Thursday when the Rockets play the Celtics.

As we previously reported, Joel Embiid and 76ers owner Michael Rubin visited Meek last month and said he was doing well. Colin Kaepernick also spoke with Meek and said Meek was "humbled" by the support.

10:55 AM PT -- A rep for Cardi tells TMZ, the "sex video" isn't real ... it was all a joke. We're told they weren't actually banging, and were fully clothed in the video.

Cardi B doesn't seem to care about cheating rumors going around about her fiance Offset, because she just posted what REALLY looks like a live sex video of the two of them.

A video of what appears to be Cardi and Offset doing it doggy style -- which reportedly 1st aired on Cardi's Instagram Live -- has surfaced online. In the clip, Cardi says, "I don't got no more in me left. You gotta give a whole hour" ... as Offset's back there thrusting away.

Unclear if what they're doing is real or not -- you can't see the bottom half here, but it sure looks like they're banging. That seems to be what they want people to think, anyway.

Offset made some headlines this weekend after video allegedly belonging to him leaked, showing off a naked woman that many people said wasn't Cardi. She appeared to laugh that off though, saying she was still banging him.

Sylvester Stallone just paid a visit to a powerful criminal defense lawyer, but not because he's going on the defense.

Stallone and his civil lawyer, Marty Singer, showed up Friday afternoon at the law offices of Blair Berk. We're told he's there because Berk is assisting him in filing a police report against the woman who claimed he raped her back in 1990.

Calvin Harris paid homage to Steve Angello ... actually, he paid him millions of bucks for his home.

Calvin bought Angello's 4 bedroom, 4.5 bath L.A. home for $5.045 million, and got a deal, too ... the home was originally listed for $5.5 million.

The two have been friends for years and we're told Calvin was sold on the crib since it had a recording studio. It also has a pool, guesthouse and 18-foot ceilings with glass walls, so Calvin can get inspiration looking out into the canyons.

The house is right under the Hollywood sign ... which is kinda awesome.

Turns out Santa Claus is real, and he's black, and he plays for the Washington Wizards -- because John Wall just got into the holiday spirit by buying Rolex watches for ALL of his teammates.

We talked with some peeps over at Govberg Jewelers in Philadelphia who tell us Wall came to them some time ago with the idea to cop Rolex President Day-Date watches for every member of the Wiz squad.

BTW -- these watches retail around $40k -- and the Wizards have 16 guys on the roster, so that's around $640k worth of yuletide.

Before you start to feel bad about the sweater you got your sibling, Wall signed a $207 million extension with the Wiz back in June, so y'all definitely aren't the same.

Diplo typically earns big money for his DJ sets, but Wednesday night he helped raise cash at a mini festival ... with Rosario Dawson and Eric Andre watching.

The Mad Decent label head wasn't even on the flyer for the 2nd annual 'LA Gives Back' concert, but surprised the 2,300 fans who packed Union nightclub. Other DJs like Ookay, Valentino Khan, and Ghastly pumped up the crowd from the venue's 5 stages.

We're told Rosario and Eric were in the crowd. Unclear if it was a date, since they reportedly broke up 3 weeks ago. We know they helped the fundraising effort by hitting up the merch booth.

The event raised $60k to help 2 L.A. shelters -- My Friend's Place and the Downtown Women's Center.

French Montana is more than just a baller, he's also a softy when it comes to impressing the ladies ... something Evelyn Lozada learned right off the bat when they hooked up.

Well connected sources tell TMZ ... French had a private chef whip up a fancy meal at his L.A. crib for his first date with Evelyn. No group date, this was dinner for 2 with some CÎROC French Vanilla on the side, of course. Gotta rep for his brand.

We're told Evelyn and the rapper met through mutual friends, and have been hanging out for a few weeks, but are far from "exclusive" ... for now. One source says she's finally ready to get back in the dating world.

A Katy Perry fanatic has been arrested and ordered to stay away from the singer at all times after he told a cop he'll "do whatever it takes" to be with her ... TMZ has learned.

Pawel Jurski -- a 37-year-old man from Poland -- appeared in a Miami criminal court Thursday and faces felony charges of aggravated stalking and escape ... and misdemeanor charges of loitering and resisting arrest.

Jurski allegedly tried to bum-rush the stage through a security area at Perry's concert at American Airlines Arena in Miami Wednesday night, but was stopped by security and held until cops showed up to arrest him.

According to the police report ... Jurski's been to at least 6 of Katy's shows in different cities in the past 20 days and has tried to contact her at each stop. When asked if he would harm Perry, Jurski replied ... "I will do whatever it takes to be with Katy Perry."

He also told cops while he was in Chicago, he secretly followed Katy to a steakhouse to surprise her.

Christmas came early for A-Rod ... 'cause the ex-MLB superstar just unwrapped his brand new PRIVATE JET -- and it's awesome!

We're told Alex Rodriguez got rid of his old LearJet 60 a while ago ... and decided to upgrade with a Gulfstream IV.

According to people familiar with the planes, Alex's new jet has DOUBLE the flight mileage capacity as the old jet ... which means it's better for international travel.

And get this ... the jet seats up to 14 people -- perfect for Jennifer Lopez and her kids!

The new Gulfstream was delivered to Alex in Florida on Wednesday with his A-Rod Corp. company logo painted on the tail ... just in time for the holidays!

Sarah Hyland put CVS on blast for leaving her hanging on crucial meds she needed, but the pharmacy is firing back, saying the mix-up was her own damn fault.

Sarah tore into CVS earlier this week after she said a Studio City location never notified her to pick up her medication before closing time ... as she claims they promised they would.

She also called them out for allegedly posting the wrong hours on the Internet. Based on her post, it appears she pulled the hours from a maps app.

And therein lies the problem, as they say. We're told CVS learned Sarah did use a 3rd party search engine to find those hours -- but did NOT check the actual CVS website. That site displays the correct pharmacy closing time ... 9 PM.

The L.A. Rams have been crushing it on the field ... but what they just did for a local homeless family is the most amazing thing they've done all year.

Here's what happened ... Tavon Austin and Robert Quinn wanted to do something extra special for the holidays, so they teamed up with the LA Family Housing charity to find a well-deserving family to gift a fully-furnished, 4-bedroom apartment.

The lucky recipient is Shwonna Cox and her 6 children ... who lost all their belongings in the wildfires. Shwonna is an employee at USC, but was having trouble getting back on her feet.

But get this -- not only did Austin and Quinn put a roof over their heads ... the Rams hooked up Shwonna's new crib with a Christmas tree AND presents under the tree.

Check out the video ... Shwonna's kids go CRAZY when they see their new stuff.

Donald Trump Jr. crossed the line of decency by posing with a giant cookie frosted with a Barack Obama caricature ... this according to a pissed off Dallas restaurant owner.

Stephan Courseau owns Le Bilboquet, the French eatery where the photo op went down, and he tells TMZ ... he never would have allowed the cookie to see the light of day. He says the frosted image -- attempting to recreate Obama's "Hope" posters -- is laced with racist overtones.

Some critics have said it looks like a "racist minstrel show on a cake of Obama."

Jr. held up the cookie while posing with Ted Cruz, and it drew immediate backlash. Courseau says his regular customers flooded him with calls, asking how he allowed this to happen.

Courseau says he wasn't at the private event, and his manager left shortly before the cookie was brought out. He says he's disgusted and understands customers being angry. He is too.