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The Easter Bunny's making a comeback of sorts, and this time it doesn't just mean Spring is sprung, it's a sign Americans are getting ready to celebrate Easter like it's 2019 ... for better or worse.

The bellwether in this case -- bunny costume sales, and they're super hot with Easter less than 2 weeks away. A rep at HalloweenCostumes.com, the world's largest costume retailer, tells TMZ ... its Easter category sales are up over 75% year-to-year.

For instance, this time last year -- as the coronavirus pandemic and lockdowns were beginning -- the retailer had sold just 49 bunny costumes. This year, with COVID cases flat or dropping in most places, they've sold 171 ... and expect to sell out before Easter, which is April 4.

The easy explanation for biz boomin' is two-fold -- the decrease in cases and the increase in availability of COVID-19 vaccines. Not to mention the loosening of restrictions in many states, and total lack of them in others.

What's more ... the CDC also recently said vaccinated people can visit indoors with unvaccinated people of a single household without masks or social distancing if unvaccinated people are in the low-risk category. Great news for grandma and grandpa heading into the holiday!

Important to note, though, that if no one in your family's been vaccinated, the CDC is still recommending keeping celebrations within your household, and gathering virtually with others. And, of course, outdoor gatherings, if weather permits, are most ideal.

Bracket busted and need a new one?? President Barack Obama's autographed entry from the 2012 NCAA men's tournament is hitting the auction block ... and it's got a $10,000 starting bid!!

Of course, Obama is a huge fan of hoops ... and loves to share his March Madness picks for all to see -- for better or worse.

This particular bracket is from when #44 teamed up with ESPN's Adam Katz to fill out his "office pool" entry back in 2012 ... and the whole thing was recorded for a segment called "BARACK-ETOLOGY."

Barack shared his picks live on the network ... channeling his inner Dick Vitale and explaining why he thought he had the perfect bracket.

Obama's bracket was filled out on a 63 by 36-inch whiteboard (which has since been framed) -- and after he made his picks, Barack signed it with a pen.

FYI, Obama's bracket was anything but perfect -- he picked North Carolina to win it all. Instead, Anthony Davis and the Kentucky Wildcats took home the title that season.

While BO's autographed bracket was busted, it's clearly a collector's item -- and will now go to the highest bidder courtesy of Goldin Auctions ... with bids starting at $10,000.

But, let's get real ... Obama memorabilia is always in high demand and with the sports collectibles market exploding in recent months, this thing could easily hit the 6-figure mark.

Bidding starts Tuesday ... good luck!!

Kylie Jenner is clearing the air on her GoFundMe controversy ... she says she was just trying to help an old friend pay medical bills and his family's glad she did.

The billionaire broke her silence Monday after catching tons of heat over the weekend for promoting a GoFundMe for celeb makeup artist Samuel Rauda. Lots of folks dragged her for only donating $5,000, while pushing others to make their own contributions.

Kylie confirms what we first reported ... Sam worked with her back in the day, and he's friends with her current MUA, Ariel.

KJ says she doesn't have a personal relationship with Sam anymore and called Ariel to find out what happened to him. Kylie says when she learned of Sam's accident, she went to his GFM and saw it was at $6,000 so she kicked in $5k to send it over the original benchmark.

Kylie says she posted the link to the GFM on her IG stories to make more people aware of it. It was all a good thing, and she doesn't know why people took it the wrong way.

She says Sam's family reached out to her through Ariel and they're "very appreciative of all the donations, prayers and love towards Sam."

Kylie's encouraging folks to stay positive and keep Sam and his fam in their thoughts and prayers.

Krispy Kreme is offering a sweet reward for folks who get vaccinated against COVID-19 ... free donuts!!!

The nationwide donut chain says folks with valid COVID vaccination cards can snag a free Original Glazed donut just by showing proof of the shots ... and the offer's good every day for the rest of the year.

Think about it, a free donut every time you step into a Krispy Kreme with your vaccination card ... this may be a more effective way to get people vaccinated than celebrity endorsements.

Remember, former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter joined forces to encourage Americans to get COVID-19 vaccines ASAP ... but they weren't offering free donuts!

Krispy Kreme says the freebies are good at all of their 369 shops across 41 states with no purchase necessary ... ya just gotta visit the store in person or drive-thru.

Welp, sounds like Mike Tyson vs. Evander Holyfield is dead ... Evander's camp says negotiations for a 3rd fight between the boxing legends have fallen apart.

"We thought this was a done deal but it quickly fell apart when Tyson’s people declined all offers,” Kris Lawrence said.

"We were negotiating in good faith all along and it appears we just ended up wasting our time."

As we previously reported, 54-year-old Tyson announced on his podcast last week that he'll be returning to the ring on May 29 in a massive event at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.

Tyson didn't name his opponent -- but all signs pointed to his old nemesis, 58-year-old Evander Holyfield.

Now, Evander's camp confirms the two sides were in serious talks -- "intense negotiations for several months" -- but the deal ultimately went south.

"Team Holyfield sincerely believed a deal was imminent, especially after the Hard Rock threw its support behind the project, and there were multiple other offers conveyed to Team Tyson," Holyfield's camp said in a statement.

"However, Team Tyson’s demands recently became untenable, and not what Mike Tyson had originally agreed on in direct conversations with Holyfield."

Our sources tell us ... Evander claims he personally spoke with Mike on the phone early on in negotiations and they agreed to a 50/50 split on profit.

But, things changed ... with Evander's camp claiming Team Tyson simply wanted a bigger cut.

Holyfield's team says they tried to make a deal in which Tyson would get a guaranteed $25 mil for the fight -- but Mike turned it down.

Now, it seems both sides are at loggerheads -- and willing to walk away from the deal.

Our sources on the Holyfield side tell us Evander still wants to fight -- if Mike's people will come back to the table with a better offer.

So, there's still hope ... but right now, it's not looking good.

When the "Fast & Furious" franchise revs up its engines again for the 9th installment, you might notice a familiar, but much younger-looking face ... because it's Vin Diesel's kid!!!

Vin's 10-year-old son, Vincent Sinclair, will be making his big-screen debut this summer in 'F&F9' ... as the younger version of Vin's character, Dominic Toretto.

According to docs, obtained by TMZ ... lil Vin's playing the role of Younger Dom and actually filmed his scenes way back in late 2019 when he was a budding 9-year-old Thespian.

It's unclear how much screen time Vin's boy will get, but his minor's contract says he got paid a daily rate of $1,005. Not bad take-home for a kid who, let's be honest, probably woulda done it for a pack of gum.

BTW -- there was a flashback to a younger Dominic already in 'Furious 7,' but the character was played by an actor named Alex McGee.

The old adage is true -- no good deed goes unpunished ... and Kylie Jenner is learning that first-hand this week after trying to do something nice for somebody she cares about.

Get a load of this ... Kylie promoted a GoFundMe a few days ago for a celeb makeup artist named Samuel Rauda, who's worked with tons of famous people like Bella Thorne, Bebe Rexha, Olivia Culpo, Doja Cat and many more. Kylie knows him too, apparently.

Sam was recently in a bad car accident that left him with major brain injuries and in need of surgeries. He's in the hospital now -- and, of course, his medical bills are certain to be immense ... so his family started a fundraiser, and his celeb clients have been plugging it.

Kylie wanted to get the word out as well, so she posted something on her IG story that led folks to the GFM, asking anyone who wanted or could to donate ... while also sending kind words to Sam and his loved ones. She also donated herself -- $5,000.

The OG target amount was supposedly around $60k -- but it has since been bumped because of the flood of donations that have poured in. The fund has raised north of $97k as of now.

Innocent enough, right? WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! At least that's what Twitter justice warriors are saying a whole three to four days later ... giving her s*** for having the audacity to ask her followers to chip in, even though she's incredibly wealthy and could technically cover his fees on her own. That's the outrage -- with the main criticism being ... "she's out of touch."

For starters, anyone who follows Kylie and saw this wasn't forced/obligated to do anything. Second ... the logic that rich people/celebs are heartless heathens for trying to raise money when they could just as easily fund the whole damn thing is absurd. Hardly any celeb does that -- even the richest among them -- and it's unreasonable to expect them to anyway.

By that rationale ... every issue in the world should be remedied with celebrities' bank accounts, which is silly. Point is, Kylie donated ... and so did a bunch of others. It's possible she also kicked in even more anonymously or offered help elsewhere -- WE DON'T KNOW.

Kylie, specifically, is dealing with this horse crap is because she's pegged a billionaire. So with that in mind -- she should probably consider keeping these sorts of things on the DL ...  because people are downright ridiculous. And if she DGAF, even better. Do you, boo boo.

It's good to have Kevin Hart for a dad ... just ask his daughter, Heaven, who just scored a Mercedes SUV for her sweet 16!!!

An unsuspecting Heaven came home after her parents -- Kevin and first wife, Torrei -- distracted her ... and she seemed genuinely surprised by the surprise party.

The big reveal, however, was the sweet Benz that was festooned with a big red ribbon in the driveway.

It was quite the bash ... executed by bDASHd Event Planning and Bakery.

The party theme -- ripped from the superhero manga series, "My Hero Academia." Not a bad theme coming out of COVID -- hopefully -- after a challenging year for students in the U.S. and around the world. But business is business, and Saturday studies took a back seat to a pretty awesome ride, especially for a 16-year-old.

Donald Trump's 757 jet is in mothballs in upstate New York, missing parts with one of its engines shrink-wrapped.

The jet is far, far away from the former President, who now calls Florida his home. The plane was a crown jewel in Trump's empire. It was called "Trump Force One" -- a status symbol he prized for years, yet now it seems the plane has been abandoned.

It's missing engine parts, according to CNN, and it's been exposed to brutal winter weather. To make it airworthy again, it's gonna cost a fortune, and it doesn't seem Trump's into it anymore.

As we reported, he flew in a relatively tiny jet from FL to NYC recently.

Trump was famously pictured chowing down on McDonald's during a flight in day's past ... when he didn't have to worry if the smell of fries would drive others on board crazy.

The plane hasn't been flown since Trump was elected ... he had another mode of transportation after that.

Kourtney Kardashian has some very specific, and graphic, sexual demands for her BF Travis Barker -- or she's a huge fan of 80s punk rock. Or both. 🤷🏽‍♂️

Travis and Kourtney hit up Nobu in Malibu at around 10 PM Friday ... rolling up in Travis's Rolls, and Kourt's fashion choice might say a lot about how she rolls, so to speak.

Yeah, take a closer look at her graphic (double entendre intended) tee -- it says "Beat me, bite me, suck me, f**k me" ... and there are a couple more lines we can't even write out.

We know what you're thinking ... So, that's what she's into!

Not exactly. Those are actually pretty famous (in punk rock circles) lyrics from a song called "Love Me" by The Queers -- and they make for eye-catching fashion too.

Travis and Kourtney have been dating for at least several months that we know of, although Kourtney confirmed it just last month when she posted a pic of their interlocking hands. Based on the shirt she picked for date night, we'd say they're verrry comfortable.

ICYMI ... they've been super close for years -- 15 to be exact. They met back in the day, when Travis was dating Paris Hilton. Memba that?

Kourtney and Travis have spent lots of time together, as have their kids.  She was a key player when Travis bought a house near hers in Calabasas country and helped him renovate it. It's a case of friendship simmering for a long time to a romantic boil.

Mama June's got her work cut out for her as she tries to stay sober ... telling us it's an everyday struggle to stave off her addiction as she tries to repair her relationship with her family.

The reality star joined us Friday on "TMZ Live" for an uplifting conversation about how she's turning around her life after her astronomically expensive drug addiction. Not only did she temporarily lose her family, but it also cost her nearly $1 million ... the amount she says she and her BF Geno dropped on drugs in the year before they got clean.

June tells us she's got to stay patient in her fight to get back in the good graces of her children, and while she admits it's been hit and miss so far ... she's not letting that discourage her from staying present and keeping in touch.

Honey Boo Boo's mom says she and Geno entered rehab in January 2020, and they've been sober ever since -- but she says battling their addiction when they got out was complicated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

June explained how she used social media to hold herself accountable for her sobriety while coping with life in quarantine.

One more thing ... she's back on TV -- "Mama June: Road to Redemption" premieres Friday night on WeTV, but June says she's focused on her daily battles ... for sobriety and family.

Nathan Apodaca has some dreams he'd like to sell, but Stevie Nicks just won't let it happen ... so says the skateboarder who went viral for vibing to her hit song.

A rep for Nathan, AKA Doggface, tells TMZ ... Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams" is part of the Warner Music Group catalog, so they reached out to see if they could include the track on the famous 23-second TikTok clip of Nathan skateboarding to it while sipping on cranberry juice ... which he wants to sell as a non-fungible token (NFT).

We're told Doggface's team offered Stevie -- who wrote the song -- 50 percent from the sale ... but she shot it down.

Nathan's rep says he feels slighted because Stevie never acknowledged him after his "Dreams" video went viral -- unlike some other members of Fleetwood Mac did -- even though it helped give her song a major boost.

We're told Doggface thinks her rejection of his NFT offer shows she wants nothing to do with him or his video.

We broke the story ... Nathan's still going ahead with selling the NFT of his original video, but it will be without the music since they couldn't secure the rights.

The NFT will now go up for sale March 27 with opening bids set at a whopping $500,000, so Stevie might regret her decision ... IF someone buys it for that much.

Believe it or not, it's already been one year since Joe Exotic was unleashed on the world ... and the man himself is dropping a footwear collection from behind bars to celebrate.

The shoes are part of Joe's "Revenge" collection with streetwear brand Odaingerous ... and they come with all the usual Exotic flair, like animal print, gold and Italian leather.

Oh, and there's also a thinly veiled dig at Joe's nemesis, Carole Baskin. Would you expect anything less?!?

As you can see, Joe's coming in hot with 3 different shoes ... there's the Dapper Don Trainer with its wedge heel and padded straps, plus a low-top Dapper Don sneaker and the pièce de résistance, a traditional tennis shoe dubbed the Revenge Exotic 1.

The Dapper Dons are a play on Carole's missing husband, Don Lewis, and the Revenge Exotic 1 is covered in gold and 3 types of animal prints. Joe's hawking the kicks at $219, $249 and $252, and they all come in a tiger print box.

The shoes drop online Saturday, the one-year anniversary of the 'Tiger King' premiere on Netflix.

Joe's REVENGE collection has already released an underwear line and a fashion line ... and each drop has sold out immediately.

Father Time is undefeated ... even against the skateboarding G.O.A.T.

Tony Hawk has completed what he's calling his "last ever" Ollie 540 ... and the moment will hit you right in the feels.

Of course, 52-year-old Hawk first nailed the move in 1989 ... and has spent the past 32 years perfecting his technique.

Naturally, there were a bunch of wipeouts along the way ... and Hawk says the failed attempts have especially taken a toll on his body over the past 10 years.

As a result of that, TH decided to officially retire the trick ... but first, he wanted to land it one last time.

In true Tony Hawk fashion, the skater was able to step up to the challenge and complete the trick ... and the video is pretty emotional.

"Kinda sad," Hawk said while choking back tears. "I'm like a little sad. I've never had much finality to anything but that was definitely the last one I'll ever do."

"F*** it. Happy I made it. Thanks guys for hanging in there with me."

Now, Hawk is using the monumental moment to rake in some serious cash ... announcing the footage of his final Ollie 540 will be sold as an NFT.

Hawk didn't leave the pipe unscathed, however -- he still did some damage to his pinky.

Mike Tyson is coming back ... again!!!

The 54-year-old fighter has confirmed he's got another HUGE boxing match lined up for the end of May at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami ... but the big question, who's the opponent?!?

Mike made the announcement while talking with Canelo Alvarez and UFC star Henry Cejudo on his "Hotboxin' with Mike Tyson" podcast ... saying he's looking at a May 29 fight date.

Mike didn't expand on the details -- but we already know Tyson has been eyeing a long-awaited rematch with Evander Holyfield.

In fact, Tyson has previously told us he'd be down to run it back with Evander -- as long as the two can raise a bunch of money for charity in the process.

We recently spoke with 58-year-old Evander Holyfield in December who told us "it looks like" the fight with Mike was going to happen.

The guy's been training like a maniac lately -- so, it would make sense.

Evander and Mike last fought in 1997 ... and it ended with Tyson biting a chunk out of Evander's ear. Holyfield's last pro fight was in 2011, when he earned a TKO victory over Brian Nielsen.

Former heavyweight champ Lennox Lewis has also told us he's down to scrap with Mike ... but only "if the people want it."

Mike last fought 52-year-old Roy Jones Jr. back in November and both men put on one hell of a show -- showing off incredible agility, power and stamina during their 8-round exhibition.

But, when we spoke with Roy just a few weeks ago, even RJJ was convinced Holyfield would be Mike's next opponent.

Jon Cryer and Lisa Joyner are joining forces with a non-profit doing all it can to tackle the homeless crisis in Los Angeles ... by providing tiny homes for shelter.

The "Two and a Half Men" star and his wife are spearheading a fundraising effort with the Hope of the Valley Rescue Mission, which opened the first Tiny Home Village in North Hollywood last month.

Along with donating $30,000 to the org's ongoing mission to fight homelessness and poverty in the L.A. area, Jon and Lisa will also be running 2 miles of the 125-MILE ultra-marathon to raise money for the cause.

Hope of the Valley hopes to raise over $200k, which will go toward opening another 500-bed Tiny Home Community across the San Fernando Valley.

Jon and Lisa will also serve as Tiny Home Village sponsors. A rep for HOTV also tells us it’s important to note that city councilman Paul Kerkorian, made it possible to build these homes in the city.

According to Hope of the Valley, the Tiny Homes initiative is an "innovative, affordable, and scalable solution to the humanitarian crisis known as homelessness" ... and with Jon and Lisa's support, it's ramping up in the best way.