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Despite being critical of both Bill Belichick and Sauce Gardner, Asante Samuel tells TMZ Sports he's got absolutely "no beef" with either guy ... explaining his comments were simply him just giving his opinions -- and nothing more.

"I'm a critic just like y'all," he said. "Y'all wake up, man. Y'all stop actin' like clowns."

Samuel took aim at Belichick's resume this week during an interview with ex-NFL player Bryant McFadden ... saying he didn't believe the Patriots head coach was the best ever.

Just a couple weeks prior, he took issue with Gardner's resume too ... writing on his Twitter page that he believed Seahawks star Tariq Woolen had a better year than the Jets corner -- while adding that he thought Sauce's status was being buoyed by the New York media.

Both hot takes were widely panned -- and most felt they were actually personal attacks on Belichick and Gardner.

But when we spoke with Samuel about it all on Thursday -- he said that couldn't be further from the case.

"Y'all stop it," the former New England Patriots cornerback said. "It's not a beef. If y'all want to cover it, y'all cover it. But it's not a beef."

He insisted giving his takes on the NFL is something he's done repeatedly over the years -- and it's never once been personal.

"I've been doin' this," he said. "I'm sick of it!"

Everyone's seeing pink as "Barbie" takes over theaters, but collectors and resellers of the famed dolls are thinking green ... according to a man who collects toys for a living.

Pop culture expert and collector Joel Magee -- a frequent guest on "Pawn Stars" -- tells us the interest in Mattel's flagship doll has been high ever since the movie promotion took off. He says fans don't just want a movie ticket, they want the source material for themselves.

Joel loves that a toy which debuted in the '50s is just as popular today, and feels there are gonna be some rare editions of Barbie coming out of retirement, and onto auction blocks, thanks to the movie.

For context, Barbies that had been going for $100 last month are seeing markups around $150 today, and that's the cheap stuff. The one everyone's after is the 1959 debut doll -- which is going for anywhere between $15k to $20k today!

BTW, Joel -- AKA "The Toy Scout" -- knows his stuff when it comes to Barbie and beyond ... he's been in the game for 30 years, traveling across the country making deals on vintage toys and collectibles.

He also just wrapped a massive Disneyland auction with Van Eaton Galleries ... where over 1,400 theme park goodies from the past left his collection and went on the auction block.

If Magic Johnson does, indeed, change the Commanders moniker in Washington ... former star running back Brian Mitchell tells TMZ Sports he's sure fans would be in favor of it.

Magic -- who was part of a group that officially bought the D.C. franchise from Dan Snyder for $6.05 billion this week -- floated the idea of a name swap during an interview shortly after the deal went through.

"Everything is on the table," the NBA legend told TODAY's Craig Melvin.

When we spoke with Mitchell -- who played in Washington for 10 years -- about it all on Friday ... he made it clear he doesn't believe there would be many Washington fans who would be opposed.

"I think people had started to like the Washington Football Team [name]," the former All-Pro said. "Then you change it to a name that I don't think many, many people voted on or cared for. And, so, if it wanted to change, I don't think you'd have a lot of uproar with people."

Mitchell, though, did caution that it might be a lot for some fans to swallow. After all, it would be the fourth name the team's had since 2020.

Then again, Mitchell made it clear ... "you spend six billion, you get the right to name it whatever you want to name it!"

"Hey Ben, kiss my ass! You're coming out of retirement? I'll send you right back in the motherf***er!"

Buckle up ... we're talking Jorge Masvidal vs. Ben Askren II!

Retired UFC superstar Jorge Masvidal joined Babcock on the "TMZ Sports" TV show (airs weekdays on FS1) this week to talk about the upcoming Gaethje-Poirier BMF fight (more on that shortly), when the conversation turned to Askren and a comment he made about wanting to avenge his 5-second loss to Gamebred.

"Ben Askren said he'd come out of retirement to fight me," Masvidal said, adding ... "Hey Ben, I'll beat your ass with both hands behind my back!"

The BMF belt holder continued ... "Ben's so bad at boxing."

The resurgence of the beef seemingly goes back to late 2022 when Askren said he'd only come out of retirement for a rematch with JM.

Of course, the men fought in one of the most infamous UFC fights ever -- UFC 239 in July 2019 -- when Jorge opened up with a flying knee that sent Ben to la la land, as the star wrestler was shooting for the takedown.

We asked Masvidal -- what discipline? Boxing, MMA, something else?

"[Askren] wanted MMA, but for his sake, I'd do it boxing so I can't knee him in the face. It's illegal!"

"Maybe Ben can get his way now."

That's when Conor McGregor took a stray ... just because.

"Conor, you're a bitch. You never mentioned my name because I'll break your f***ing eye over it, you're a f***ing skank bitch. I don't really like those guys too much, you know?"

Promise ... we also talked about the BMF fight at UFC 291.

When Masvidal beat Nate Diaz for the inaugural fight, The Rock presented the belt to Street Jesus. This time it'll be Masvidal who has that honor.

But, does he actually like the idea of Dustin and Justin fighting for the belt that was created for him at the MMA star from Stockton?

We've got a brand new look at Machine Gun Kelly and Megan Fox's dust up at the Orange County Fair ... and it looks like the singer is the one who threw hands first after getting heated.

Check out the latest angle, obtained by TMZ ... right off the bat, things were lookin' tense Thursday night as the couple hopped off the ride, with MGK beelining it to 2 guys standing nearby.

Seems like the dudes must've said something to irk MGK, 'cause almost immediately he swings at them, appearing to nail one guy in the face -- then, the other guy throws a punch back in retaliation, which is when his security gets involved.

As we reported, Megan got caught between the bodyguard and the randos ... getting slammed into a nearby fence before MGK pulled her away from the mess.

Travis Scott is still lugging around his "Utopia" album ... but as the project's release date approaches, the chain once bounding it to his security team has disappeared.

TMZ Hip Hop spotted La Flame walking into iHeartRadio in L.A. Thursday, and you can see his manager David holding the case without the patented handcuffs his security guards have been using to keep the project secure.

Team Cactus Jack's mission that day was clear ... drop off Travis' new collab "K-Pop" to iHeart ... a song of the summer candidate featuring the talents of Bad Bunny and The Weeknd.

The three megastars combine for billions of streams in their own right ... and are clearly looking to corner the "K-Pop" search term on DSPs -- a very smart move!!!

Travis directed the video and links with BB and Abel through plenty of snazzy backdrops ...  as well as SZA for a couple of steamy scenes.

The "Snooze" singer could be helping spice the promo run ... or there could be more than meets the eye, as time will surely reveal.

Wildlife biologist Forrest Galante is literally diving into the unknown to explore bizarre and rare sharks -- and while the potential danger is high, he says the never-before-seen footage they captured makes it all worth it for him.

That video will be front and center next week for Discovery's "Shark Week," and Forrest joined us Friday on "TMZ Live" to give us a peek at what he found off the coast of South Africa ... including some frisky, and violent mating habits.

Forrest's special is called, "Alien Sharks: Strange New Worlds" ... and he says it shines a light on sharks that don't get the publicity of great whites, hammerheads and tiger sharks.

While he swears most of the sharks in our vast, mostly unexplored oceans are harmless, he admits humans truly don't know what all is down there -- which, frankly, sounds pretty scary.

There's a happy ending here though -- Forrest and the Discovery crew came back to the surface with some historic footage ... pyjama sharks having sex on camera!!!

Daymond John says Kim Kardashian's name and celebrity is not the reason her popular clothing line Skims is now being valued at $4 billion ... he says product quality is the key.

The "Shark Tank" biz mogul joined us Friday on "TMZ Live," and dove into the numbers behind the new Skims valuation -- nearly $1B higher than last year's valuation!

Daymond says Kim's name being attached to the clothing line certainly helps, but based on what he's seeing and hearing, the value lies more in the affordable pricing and quality being delivered to consumers ... who might not even care about the Kardashians.

In other words, people aren't buying $750 million worth of Skims annually just because Kim is the face of the brand, though her advertising prowess and fame still bring a lot to the table.

Daymond's got answers for folks wondering why Kim's company is skyrocketing ... he breaks down the math, and sees a MUCH bigger number than $4 bil on the horizon.

Kevin Costner's estranged wife, Christine Baumgartner, is vacationing on the Big Island of Hawaii with one of Kevin's friends ... TMZ has learned.

Christine is at a swanky resort with Josh Connor, a wealthy financier and friend of Kevin's who lives very close to the Costner family home in Carpinteria, CA. We're told Josh, who's recently divorced, has been good friends with both Kevin and Christine.

Sources connected to the Costner divorce have told TMZ Christine and Josh have been very close, although sources close to Christine and Josh say there is "absolutely no romantic relationship," adding, "They have been good friends for years."

It's unclear how long Christine will be in Hawaii, but the clock is ticking for her. A judge ruled she must be out of the family home by the end of this month, per the prenup.

Christine filed for divorce in May. The split has been extremely bitter ... there are big issues over child support, their prenup, as well as allegations by Kevin that Christine has taken large sums of money and other assets behind his back.

Adam22 says there's no way he's letting Antonio Brown anywhere near Lena The Plug ... telling TMZ Sports the ex-NFL superstar better have security if they ever cross paths -- 'cause he's "pulling up."

AB caused quite a stir when he publicly hit up the popular podcaster on Twitter earlier this week ... saying he wanted to be "next" after Adam's porn star wife filmed a sex scene with another man, XXX actor Jason Luv, for the first time in their seven-year relationship.

We caught up with Adam outside the "No Jumper" studio in L.A. on Thursday ... and he's pissed off over AB's antics -- calling it blatant disrespect.

"Let me explain something," Adam tells us. "My wife worked with a trained adult male porn star, and it's not like she's up for grabs for any horny dude in the industry whose career has fallen apart who wants to get some."

As it turns out, Adam claims AB's team reached out to his people in hopes of setting up an interview over the whole interaction ... and he was down to make some "good content" with the Super Bowl champ -- that is, until he asked for $5,000 to make it happen.

"I was like, it's not happening," Adam tells us. "He must be broke, or something. I looked him up on Google, it says he's worth like $20 million. But, I mean, he's out here scrounging up, trying to get $5,000 out of me to do the interview."

"I'm like, why am I gonna give you $5,000 for disrespecting my wife on Twitter, you piece of s***?"

While Adam makes it clear Lena's work doesn't open the door for other guys, he mentions a guy he would consider way before he ever grants AB his wish -- controversial personality Andrew Tate.

"To be totally fair, Andrew Tate might be at the level where we would consider it," Adam says. "Antonio Brown, to me, is basically a homeless person."

"The idea that I'm gonna let this piece of s*** f*** my wife, it's not happening. And, I'm not giving you $5,000 for an interview, either."

Carlee Russell's "disappearance," which cops can't confirm actually happened, could have a negative impact on people of color who really do vanish ... but one organization wants to make sure that doesn't happen.

Natalie Wilson, co-founder of Black & Missing Foundation, tells TMZ ... the details police provided this week about Carlee's alleged disappearance were certainly disappointing to hear, but shouldn't set a precedent for similar cases.

She says her org has been working hard the past 15 years, lending a hand to families whose loved ones' cases don't make headlines -- and Natalie doesn't want Carlee's example to knock down all that progress.

Natalie feels something good did come out of the Carlee story, though ... telling us the country really came together to bring awareness to her case, and hopes that same energy can be put into finding others.

As we reported, police said they found searches for Amber Alerts, taking money from a register and the movie "Taken" on Carlee's phone -- and those were all in the days and hours before she went off the grid last week.

Plus, they added there's no evidence to support her claim of seeing a child get abducted.

New footage from a diverted Frontier Airlines shows several women involved not only verbally attacking flight attendants and travelers ... but getting physical with them, too.

The video, obtained by TMZ, shows a different angle of the altercation aboard the Frontier flight from Philly to Las Vegas. You see flight attendants trying to restrain two women from going after other passengers.

Folks on flight 2143 last week tell TMZ ... the women got into a dispute, and it spiraled out of control ... eventually leading to hands thrown.

Passengers tell us one of the women may have spilled a drink on a man sitting nearby, kicking off a verbal dispute between the women ... eventually, we're told, another man shouted at them to "shut the f*** up."

The witness tells us one of the women then turned her attention to that man ... before flight attendants stepped in to try to stop her.

Frontier tells us the flight was diverted to Denver, and the women were taken off the plane and met at the gate by officers from the Denver Police Department. The airline says the plane then took off for Vegas after 67 minutes on the ground in Denver.

Meanwhile, Denver PD tells us they did not arrest the women ... and we've reached out to the FBI, which usually handles crimes that occur on planes midflight.

Wee Man is ripping Disney for swapping out "dwarves" for taller actors in the upcoming live-action version of "Snow White" ... he says it's another existential threat facing his community.

We got the "Jackass" star at The Apple Pan in L.A., and asked about the Disney movie losing the little people in favor actors of average height.

Wee Man says it's a really big mistake for Disney ... he says it's costing little people jobs, and he's equating it to the looming threat of artificial intelligence in Hollywood.

It's not just changes with "Snow White" that are drawing serious side-eye from Wee Man ... he's also taking shots at Hugh Grant for playing an Oompa Loompa in the upcoming "Wonka" flick with Timothée Chalamet.

Wee Man's takeaway stands in stark contrast to another celeb ... Peter Dinklage went viral early last year in a tirade where he railed against Disney for even remaking "Snow White" -- a tale he says horribly typecasts little people.

Disney's pivot to non-little people actors isn't scoring points with Wee Man, though he tells us the Mouse House can get back in his good graces with one small fix.

G Herbo's letting out an "aht aht" for haters who think his world is crashing down following his recent string of legal drama.

TMZ Hip Hop caught up with Chiraq's finest Thursday outside LAX, and he assures us he ain't worried 'bout nothing ... just like French Montana used to sing.

When we asked about his mounting cases, he said his workload still dominates his time and he's simply focused on doing the right thing.

Chicago Police would beg to differ, after busting Herbo for illegal gun possession a couple of weeks ago. We'll say this, if he's sweating the case ... he's doing a great job of hiding it!!!

Herbo also took a plea deal Thursday in his 2020 wire fraud case -- confident in his decision, and the belief his team would never rat on him.

Switching gears, several videos of the late King Von -- from his time behind bars -- have inexplicably leaked on the internet, showing prison fights and other eyebrow-raising scenarios.

Herbo and KV were friends and Von's estate recently nabbed Herbo to kick off Von's posthumous album "Grandson" with the song, "Real Oppy."

"It's not an easy injury to come back from, but I do s*** that's not easy all the time."

That's former UFC light heavyweight champion Jamahal Hill talking about the devastating injury he recently suffered during a pickup basketball game ... admitting he doesn't know how long the torn Achilles will keep him out of the Octagon while vowing to make a return.

TMZ Sports caught up with 32-year-old Hill at LAX earlier in the week -- who was using a scooter to get around -- as he arrived in Los Angeles before surgery ... and we asked Hill how he was doing.

"Good," Jamahal told us, saying, "I'm about to get the surgery and back on the road to recovery. I'll do what I gotta do to get back."

Hill got the injury hooping with Daniel Cormier ... we asked him how it happened (he didn't want to say), but did tell us he's always used basketball to stay in shape.

"I've been using basketball to work out, stay in shape with cardio and s*** since I've been [fighting]. I wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary, out of the regular."

Just days after the injury, Jamahal, who obviously won't be able to fight for some time, made the decision to give up his belt (which he won vs. Glover Teixeira in January) ... we asked him why.

"It was the right thing to do."

Swizz Beatz felt it best to channel Al Pacino's Scarface out in Miami for DJ Khaled's We The Best golf tournament ... judging from the new "Tony Montana" track he spun to get his fellow rap stars grooving!!!

TMZ Hip Hop obtained video from Timbaland giving Swizz a grand intro Wednesday as he deejayed Khaled's pre-party.

Swizz let the beat drop on the Scarface-inspired track ... and began rapping about waking up and putting on a suit like the infamous fictional gangsta.

Khaled and son Asahd, Diddy, and Jeezy all approved of the track, and sources at the party tell us the room was quite the royal hip-hop royal ballroom, mixed with pro-athlete elites.

We're told Quavo, Fat Joe, Bun B, Angie Martinez, Cedric The Entertainer, all convened under the tent with the likes of Matt Barnes, Bubba Wallace, Terrell Owens, Gary Sheffield ... and many more!!!

Diddy also got a sneak peek grab at the winner's trophy and hoisted it like it was throughout the function.