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Kanye West le está pidiendo a los principales actores de la industria musical que respeten su decisión de ir por su nuevo nombre legal "Ye", ha averiguado TMZ.

En una carta obtenida por TMZ, el jefe de personal de Kanye, Milo Yiannopoulos, lanzó un fuerte mensaje a los grandes actores de la industria, incluyendo streamers, editores, sitios web de letras y más, con una demanda de que ahora en adelante llamen al rapero Ye.

Como Milo dice, Kanye no tomó la decisión de cambiar su nombre a la ligera, ya que es consciente de que está sacrificando el valor de marca que viene con "Kanye West". Aún así, el ganador del Grammy lo considera un "nombre de esclavo" y quiere deshacerse del apodo en todas sus plataformas.

Y añade: "Ye es un hombre negro en América que quiere el derecho a la plena autodeterminación como todos los demás".

Recuerden, Kanye cambió oficialmente su nombre a Ye allá por octubre de 2021. El artista hizo que un juez le diera el visto bueno para adoptar su apodo de toda la vida como su nombre artístico legal años después de hablar a favor de los vínculos bíblicos del nombre.

En 2018, Kanye le dijo al presentador de radio Big Boy que prefería Ye, porque era la palabra más usada comúnmente en la Biblia, lo que en realidad no era muy preciso.

Aun así, Ye no es el primer artista que cambia su nombre. Diddy, Snoop Dogg, Prince, Bow Wow y Ke$ha han cambiado sus personajes públicos en el pasado.

Lindsay Lohan está en un papel protagónico nuevamente y los irlandeses están celebrando, pues esperan que su nueva película sea el amuleto de la suerte para impulsar el turismo en su país.

Un representante de Turismo de Irlanda, una entidad oficial del gobierno irlandés, le dice a TMZ que su equipo está muy emocionado de que la nueva película de Lohan "Irish Wish" se haya convertido en número #1 en Netflix, y están cruzando los dedos para que inspire a más personas a viajar a la Isla Esmeralda.

Nos dicen que su tierra natal se ve magnífica en la película y aprecian que los directores hayan añadido algunos lugares emblemáticos en el filme, como Killruddery House y los acantilados de Moher.

El Turismo de Irlanda también está estudiando el impacto que otras películas y series de televisión han tenido en la actividad del país. Destacan el aumento que experimentó el país vecino, Irlanda del Norte, tras el rodaje de "Juego de Tronos", y el gran número de personas que acudieron a Inis Mor y a la isla de Achill para ver las localizaciones de "The Banshees of Inisherin".

A pesar de sus esperanzas, nos dicen que aún no saben si "Irish Wish" ha tenido algún impacto, pero esperan ver uno pronto. Además, están soñando que el fácil acceso de la película a través del streaming mantendrá a la gente interesada durante muchos años.

"Irish Wish" se estrenó el pasado fin de semana en Netflix, llegando a más de 1 millón de hogares durante el fin de semana, según algunos informes, incluso mejor que su película de Navidad, "Falling for Christmas" de 2022.

"Falling" marcó el primer papel importante de Lohan en una película en años, por lo que parece que está totalmente de vuelta a las pistas, especialmente con proyectos que funcionan tan bien como "Irish Wish".

Por cierto, toneladas de personas pueden estar viendo "Irish Wish", pero eso no significa que les está encantando. La película tiene un decepcionante 37% en Rotten Tomatoes.

Lindsay Lohan's a leading lady once again, and the Irish are celebrating ... 'cause they're hoping her new flick is the lucky charm they need to boost tourism in that country.

A rep for Tourism Ireland -- an official arm of the Irish government -- tells TMZ ... their team is super excited that Lohan's new movie "Irish Wish" came outta the gates #1 on Netflix, and they've got fingers crossed that it inspires people to travel to the Emerald Isle.

We're told they think their homeland looks magnificent in the film, and they appreciate how the directors added some iconic locations -- like Killruddery House and the Cliffs of Moher -- to the movie.

Tourism Ireland is also looking at the impact other movies and TV shows have had on tourism in the country. They note the spike their neighboring nation of Northern Ireland got after "Game of Thrones" filmed there -- and tons of people apparently hit up Inis Mor and Achill Island to see "The Banshees of Inisherin" locations.

Comeback SZN 2.0 could be on the horizon ... 'cause there's one organization clamoring to get Johnny Manziel to suit up once again -- the Arena Football League!!

That's right -- the AFL is relaunching in 2024 under new leadership ... forming 16 teams for a 10-game season.

TMZ Sports spoke with new AFL commissioner Lee Hutton III -- the first black pro league commish in United States history -- on the exciting times for the country's favorite sport ... and he's eyeing some big names to join in.

"Absolutely," Hutton said. "Some of them have received personal [direct messages] from me. I reached out to Johnny Manziel. So, Johnny, I'm a Texas guy. So, if you're ready to come back and indoors -- because you did very well -- we will take you. We will find a spot for you."

31-year-old Manziel was one of the most electric players on the gridiron once upon a time ... winning the Heisman in 2012 and eventually going in the first round of the NFL Draft two years later.

But things fizzled out ... and the former Texas A&M superstar bounced around to the CFL and other leagues before walking away from the sport for good.

Manziel has been open about his struggles with addiction and mental health ... but it appears he's doing much better and is on a good path, so perhaps he gets the itch to give it another go??

Regardless of whether Manziel hops aboard the AFL ship, Hutton -- an attorney for high-profile cases and celebrities -- said there are exciting times ahead for the org ... and they're expecting to satisfy fans' hunger for football throughout the year.

Hutton added he's been picking the brains of former owners, coaches and commissioners of the AFL ... and everyone's been super helpful as he transitions into the new position.

Tim McKyer -- a three-time Super Bowl champion -- reached a deal with prosecutors on Friday in order to close out his hit-and-run case, TMZ Sports has learned.

Court records show the former San Francisco 49ers defensive back agreed to enter into a pretrial diversion program ... and in exchange, officials said they'd drop the charges against him if he successfully completed it.

According to court documents, in order to accomplish that ... McKyer must do 16 hours of community service, take four hours of defensive driving courses, pay $100 and keep his nose clean. A hearing has been set for late May to determine if McKyer has fulfilled all of the requirements.

It appears to be a good deal for McKyer -- as the ex-NFL player was facing serious time behind bars after he was charged with five counts of leaving the scene of an accident with property damage stemming from an alleged incident in a Riviera Beach, FL parking garage back on Feb. 19.

You'll recall, authorities accused McKyer of slamming his Tesla into five parked vehicles ... before leaving the scene without notifying anybody.

We reached out to McKyer's attorney for comment, but so far, no word back yet.

Give Jaxson Hayes another assist on his career stats ... the Lakers center was seen handing out cash to kids in LA on Thursday night!!!

The 23-year-old performed the sweet gesture while outside of a Louis Vuitton event on Rodeo Drive ... after some tykes who were selling candy bars asked him for his business.

Hayes didn't want any of their chocolate -- but he decided to kick some money their way regardless.

Check out the video ... Hayes got one of the boys' numbers and then sent what appeared to be a Venmo. Seconds later, the kid jumped for joy and screamed, "He just sent me $100!"

Hayes was also spotted taking some pics with the little fans who had gathered around the storefront.

Nicole Eggert -- who's battling cancer herself -- says she can sympathize with what Kate Middleton is now going through herself ... telling us there's a lot to juggle on this journey.

We talked to the actress Friday and she weighed in on Kate's announcement -- where she revealed she'd been diagnosed with cancer and was receiving preventative chemotherapy. Nicole, who has breast cancer, tells us there's a lot she can relate to with her own diagnosis.

For starters, NE says there's a lot of pressure having to weather this storm for public figures -- and perhaps even doubly so for someone like Kate ... who's a senior Royal.

Nicole says the public should lend her some grace during this time and not scrutinize as much as they have been ... because Kate will undoubtedly go through some changes in the near future, some of which she might not want to share with everyone despite the curiosity.

There's another element to this as well, and that includes how to deal with parenting her three young children as she and William navigate these choppy waters ... something Nicole tells us will be no easy task.

Take a listen to how she describes this -- NE says Kate not only has to process her diagnosis and manage how her body feels throughout this ... but she'll have her children to worry about as well, which is why a solid foundation at home and help will go a long way.

Dolph Lundgren's not against recasting an iconic character -- telling fans to give David Corenswet's Superman a chance ... even if he's not entirely sure who he is.

We talked to the action movie star in Los Angeles Friday, and asked him all about the DC Universe coming to an end -- 'memba, Dolph starred as King Nereus in the 'Aquaman' films -- and he says he's sad to see it go 'cause of his great time working on the flick.

DL name-drops a few of his costars from the flick before moving on to the outrage surrounding Henry Cavill being dropped as Superman for Corenswet.

Lundgren says he isn't familiar with David -- by name or reputation -- but he says fans always get up in arms when one of their fav characters ends up being played by someone else ... and they need to give the guy a chance to flex his superhero muscles.

It seems like Dolph doesn't know Corenswet's work very well -- and yet, he's very positive here, saying he's rooting for DC's newest Man of Steel ... which is pretty awesome.

That said, Dolph's very clear there's one character he doesn't want recast ... Apollo Creed, played by the late great Carl Weathers.

Nicki Minaj and Kenneth Petty were accused of ambushing a security guard with violence a couple years back -- and it appears they ignored his lawsuit ... 'cause they now owe money.

The rapper and her husband had a default judgment entered against them Friday in L.A. County Superior Court -- this after a judge says they failed to respond to the lawsuit.

As a result, Nicki and Kenneth now have to pay up -- in the amount of $503,318.02.

We broke the story ... Nicki and Kenneth were sued by a guy named Thomas Weidenmuller -- who alleged Petty and Minaj roughed him up in 2019 at a concert she did in Germany.

At the time, Weidenmuller claimed Nicki had berated one of his security guards working under him, and he says he went to her to address it -- at which point, he alleged she threw a shoe at him. He says he dodged it -- however, the guy alleged Kenneth was waiting in the wings.

Weidenmuller claimed Kenneth socked him in the face and broke his jaw ... and he alleged he had 8 different surgeries to fix the damage. He sued in 2022 for hefty medical bills.

Kate Middleton's cancer announcement came too little, too late and was completely mismanaged by Kensington Palace -- so says a reporter who knows all about social media.

We talked to Taylor Lorenz Friday on "TMZ Live," where she analyzed the effect Kate's health news might have online -- where all the conspiracy theories and speculation about her condition and whereabouts have been running rampant for weeks now.

Taylor says a reckoning of sorts is happening on social media after Kate came out and told the world about her cancer -- with a lot of people deleting their tweets and posts that were mocking the whole saga. Her coming out has certainly tamped down the speculation.

With that said, TL tells us there are still people that'll have their doubts about all this -- even in the wake of the health update -- and the reason, she says, is because the Palace has botched the rollout of this news ... something she says they should've just started with.

The fact that Kensington Palace appears to have tried to keep this secret and under wraps for as long as they did -- with missteps along the way, including the Mother's Day photo -- has only given skeptics more reason to lean into the theories and gossip about Kate.

95% of brackets had Kentucky beating Oakland in the first round of the NCAA Tourney, so while nearly no one in the outside world believed in the Golden Grizzlies, their squad did, including star hooper Trey Townsend who hopes this proves rankings ain't everything!

As you know, the 14th-ranked Oakland Golden Grizzlies officially kicked off the Madness in March when they defeated John Calipari's number 3-seeded Kentucky Wildcats ... the tournament's biggest upset (so far).

"You can't put that mindset on yourself going to a game thinking you're lesser than your opponent, because you're, per se, shooting yourself in the foot and giving yourself a disadvantage mentally," Townsend said.

"We come in confident and play our best game, play as hard as we can and we're just as good and can compete with anyone in the country. We proved it [Thursday]," the team leader told us.

Now, Oakland (located in Michigan, not California) will face No. 11 North Carolina State in the second round on Saturday ... and Townsend believes they've got a real path to the Sweet 16! Especially with Jack Gohlke shooting lights out (he knocked down 10 threes)!

"I think it's just playing the way we have all season," Townsend said. "The biggest thing, especially at this time of the year, is to stay consistent to what you've done to get you to this point."

"We're not gonna take anything lightly, even though we just had a big win. You gotta keep that in your back pocket for now and we can celebrate after a long run in this tournament."

As if Trey and Oakland's story wasn't already cool enough, his dad Skip Townsend, who was not only a credentialed media member working Thursday's game, but also a former hooper on the Golden Grizzlies team.

In fact, Skip played for Oakland's CURRENT coach, Greg Kampe, way back in the 80s! His mom Nicole was also on the women's basketball team.

"I always wanted to be an Oakland uniform and be like my dad," Trey said.

Gunna says his decision to bring Flo Milli on the road as his 'Bittersweet' tour mate was an easy one ... as they'd already proved they can kill the stage during last year's test runs!!!

TMZ Hip Hop linked up with the superstar rapper in Bev Hills -- right back on his fave street, Rodeo Drive -- while he was spending his bankroll, and we got the skinny on his 16-city concert rollout.

Remember, Gunna packed out Brooklyn and L.A. venues last year amid rumors he turned his back on Young Thug ... and Flo Milli shone as his opening act at those shows.

On top of that success, he was super impressed with her "Never Lose Me" hit.

They just went halfsies on a freaky-deeky collab, "Edible," and Gunna deferred to Flo Milli when we asked what inspired the track. No kissing and telling with this raunchy record!!! 👀

Gunna tells us to expect big-time creativity, and promises to bring the energy -- which he clearly has a lot of these days, judging from the gym pics he's been posting lately.

3/22 -- 3:18 PM PT -- MLB just announced it has officially launched its probe into the matter ... saying, "Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhari from the news media."

"Earlier today, our DOI began their formal process investigating the matter."

MLB is doing its due diligence with Shohei Ohtani ... with sources telling TMZ Sports that league officials are gathering information to determine if the face of baseball was involved in the gambling scandal surrounding his translator.

Ohtani's inteprator and best friend Ippei Mizuhara has given conflicting stories on Shohei's involvement ... first saying the Dodgers superstar was well aware of his huge gambling debts, and loaned him millions of dollars to get out of the hole. He later backtracked, saying the Japanese two-way athlete had no idea.

As for Ohtani, his attorney claims he's been the victim of a "massive theft."

Now, MLB's trying to figure out what the hell is going on -- not necessarily because they believe Shohei did anything wrong -- but because gambling is an existential threat to any pro sport.

Look no further than Pete Rose ... who despite his exploits on the diamond, was banned for life in 1989 after he admitted to wagering on games -- although no one has accused Ohtani of betting on baseball, or any other sport for that matter.

It's worth noting, it sounds like Ohtani -- who signed a 10-year, $700 million contract with the Dodgers this offseason -- has nothing to hide.

We're told his team alerted authorities to the "theft" ... and the feds are currently investigating.

No one connected to the probe has been arrested.

The Dodgers are 1-1 on the season, and their newly signed star is off to a solid start, despite the scandal ... collecting 3 hits and 2 RBIs in 10 plate appearances on the season.

Kate Middleton's cancer diagnosis may be the one thing that can bring Prince Harry and Prince William back together after years of growing apart ... so says a Royal correspondent.

Sean Mandell -- creator of the "Spilling Royal Tea" podcast -- shared his insights on "TMZ Live" shortly after Kate's health revelation Friday ... saying the silver lining in the devastating news may lie in the small window of opportunity for the two to finally patch things up.

Mandell reminds us Harry actually used to be quite close with Kate -- in fact, he practically third-wheeled loads of her public engagements with William ... this before Meghan Markle came along, which created an undeniable divide between the trio.

However, SM tells us that something of this magnitude has the potential to melt any icy feelings between Harry and William -- and he suspects there may be a reconciliation.

As we reported ... Harry and Meg sent their well-wishes to Kate Friday, not long after she revealed she was battling cancer. Unclear if any future visits across the pond are planned.

While Mandell believes Harry will reach out to Kate personally -- which may lead to some fence-mending between him and his sibling -- it's hard to tell if the 'Fab 4' will get back together the way they used to be pre-Megxit ... there's been a lot of bad blood since.

In any case ... Sean says the Royals will pull together one way or another -- especially on the issue of Royal duties. Lots of other Royals are stepping in, and he thinks even Harry might get back into the mix now that both his father and sister-in-law have fallen ill.

Kate Middleton should be open and honest with her kids about her cancer diagnosis -- 'cause that'll be the best way for them to deal with it ... per a prominent expert in the field.

We spoke with Dr. Charles Sophy on "TMZ Live" Friday just minutes after the Princess of Wales revealed to the world she's dealing with cancer -- and he weighed in on how she and Prince William's children might be processing this heavy news about their mom.

Sophy -- a renowned child and family psychiatrist -- says lots of communication with the children, even about adult matters, is the best route to help them understand what's going on  ... and so is listening, as kids will ask the questions they want and need answers to.

Dr. Sophy says the Royal Couple needs to be transparent with their children -- 10-year-old George, 8-year-old Charlotte, and 5-year-old Louis -- and address the physical changes Kate may go through early on so the little ones aren't taken aback by things that may come.

On the issue of talking about really hard questions regarding the serious nature of the disease and how Kate's feeling throughout ... Sophy advises William and Kate to leave answers open-ended -- not promising a miraculous recovery, while also trying not to alarm the kids at the same time. He says it's a fine line ... one Will and Kate will have to walk together.

Since the young Royals are of different ages, some may question whether giving them varying levels of information is the right way to go ... but Sophy says no. He thinks William and Kate should give them all the same general information and let them process it how they need to.

Of course, Prince William will also be dealing with his own emotions following his wife's diagnosis ... and Sophy thinks it may bring up old emotions and trauma regarding the death of another famous Royal -- his mother, Princess Diana. Sophy says Will has to find the balance to weather his family through this storm.

Kate says she and her husband have already filled their children in on what's going on -- and that she's needed time out of the spotlight to do so correctly and with care.

Kate Middleton didn't disclose what type of cancer she's battling -- but one doctor who specializes in this field says he has a good idea of what it could be ... and how it was found.

Dr. George Crawford -- a general surgeon who focuses on bariatric, colon and minimally invasive procedures in the operating room -- joined "TMZ Live" Friday to discuss the Princess of Wales' announcement ... where she said cancer was found in the aftermath her abdominal surgery.

While Kate didn't get into the details of the exact type of cancer that was found -- Dr. Crawford tells us that, in his professional opinion, it could likely be one of two.

Crawford says that based on Kate's age and other factors ... he speculates that doctors might've discovered either ovarian or uterine cancer -- that's his best guess anyway.

He's not suggesting he knows her exact diagnosis for certain, but Dr. Crawford says his personal experience leads him to land on these two possibilities -- and he even gets into how exactly this may have unfolded.

Dr. Crawford says it's possible that the medical team found something alarming in the middle of the procedure and probably had a biopsy run on it right then and there. Of course, Kate says cancer was discovered after her surgery -- but Dr. Crawford says it's not uncommon to get an answer back fairly quickly ... which can change the course of an entire operation.

He also weighs in on the fact Kate says she just recently started preventative chemo -- which Dr. Crawford says makes sense, seeing how much recovery time is needed for an invasive surgery like the one she seems to have undergone ... and how heavy chemo is on the body.

Kate says she's needed time to recover -- as well as time to address this serious matter with her three young children. The upside ... she says she's getting stronger each day, which sounds promising.

The announcement should hopefully end all the gossip that has poured out of this saga for the past several weeks ... because it's clear, she's dealing with something incredibly urgent.