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10/5 5:45 AM PT -- Bette deleted the tweet and apologized, saying, "The too brief investigation of allegations against Kavanaugh infuriated me. Angrily I tweeted w/o thinking my choice of words would be enraging to black women who doubly suffer, both by being women and by being black."

She finished by saying, "I am an ally and stand with you; always have. And I apologize."

Bette Midler chose to make a point about women in a very provocative way ... and people are PISSED about it.

Bette tweeted Thursday -- in the midst of protests in D.C. by women who strongly oppose the Supreme Court confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh -- "Women, are the n-word of the world."

She added to her point by saying women are ... "Raped, beaten, enslaved, married off, worked like dumb animals; denied education and inheritance; enduring the pain and danger of childbirth and life IN SILENCE for THOUSANDS of years."

Midler ends her tweet by saying women "are the most disrespected creatures on earth."

In 2 hours, her tweet has elicited almost 7 thousand replies, many of which are blasting her for minimizing racism while at the same time hurting the feminist movement.

Others are pissed that Midler, a rich white woman, is comparing the plight of women to the history of mistreatment of black people.

And, there are some just demanding she delete the tweet immediately. She hasn't ... yet

Zac Brown is separating from his wife, Shelly, after a dozen years of marriage.

The Zac Brown Band lead singer and Shelly made the announcement in a joint statement to People.

“We feel blessed to be on such an incredible journey in life and sometimes the journey begins to lead in different directions. It is with deep love and respect that we announce we are separating as a couple."

“We have led a whirlwind life together growing into a beautiful family with five amazing children and while life will be rearranging a bit, our love and commitment to our family will always be there. This was a difficult decision, but we’ve done plenty of tough things together and this is our next venture — love, mutual respect, and care for each other are what we are moving forward with.”

“Family comes in all different forms. We would like to ask that rather than commenting or spending any energy towards this, that you take this moment to send love to your family, in honor of ours.”

Zac and Shelly got hitched in 2006. They have 5 kids together: son Alexander, 4, and daughters Joni, 7, Georgia, 8, Lucy, 10, and Justice, 11.

Post Malone made it clear the only spirits he's messing with this October are gonna be in bottles ... 'cause he's had enough haunted adventures to last a lifetime.

We got Post Thursday at LAX and asked if he's planning to conjure any more entities on Halloween ... and, based on his answer, the rapper had booze on the brain.

Can't blame him. Post looks a bit stressed signing a seemingly endless amount of autographs as he's being mobbed by fans.

Then again, Post could still be on edge after his scary encounter with the world's most haunted object ... even though he swears the supposed curse is behind him.

Regardless of what's really stressing him out, Post shares his master plan to cut down on giving out his John Hancock.

Gladys Knight was right ... Kelly Rowland IS the perfect person to play the legendary singer, and TMZ got the video and photos to prove it.

We've obtained the first images of Kelly playing Gladys in the new BET series, "American Soul" ... which chronicles the rise of "Soul Train" creator and iconic host, Don Cornelius. If you didn't know ... Gladys was one of the first singers booked on the hit show.

As you can see from this scene filmed last week in Atlanta ... the resemblance is uncanny -- Kelly's in 2 outfits for the scene she shot with Sinqua Walls, who's playing Don. The video's great too ... Kelly's on the piano with all eyes fixed on her as she delivers a soulful and breathtaking rendition of "Midnight Train to Georgia."

We caught her out Thursday night and she was all smiles when we brought up the iconic role. Talking about how she studied up for the part, she told us about what it's like to step into such big shoes -- but it sounds like she's not letting the nerves get to her.

It's no wonder Gladys gave her seal of approval back in 2016 when she said on Instagram, "It's no secret that I love my @kellyrowland So many people have said that Kelly would be the perfect person to star in my biopic. What do you think, #Knights?! #stunning #kellyrowland."

Snoop Dogg's going full "Hamilton" with a brand new play -- his first time doing theater -- and he's telling a story very close to his heart that could take him all the way to Broadway.

We got the Doggfather Thursday on "TMZ Live" and he told us about his new stage production, "Redemption of a Dogg," in which he stars alongside Tamar Braxton. Snoop says the play is all about his life and struggles ... covering his rise to fame, his missteps and most importantly, his redemption.

The legend doesn't seem the least bit worried about making the jump from a rapper to a true Thespian. In fact, he's got big plans for the show which is debuting in Houston this week.

With rumors swirling that AC Milan has interest in bringing 37-year-old Zlatan Ibrahimovic back to Italy ... we had to ask the L.A. Galaxy star straight-up -- true or false?

Good news -- we got an answer!

Bad news -- well, here's what he said ...

"There is always rumors. The whole world wants me. It's okay."

Keep in mind, reports suggest Zlatan has serious interest in going back to Milan -- where he scored 56 goals between 2010 and 2012. But, he didn't seem like he was bursting with excitement when we asked him about it.

The issue ... most people thought Zlatan came to L.A. to wind down his career with the Galaxy, where he's got a pretty good thing going -- 20 goals in 24 games.

So, think he's ready to give it up for one last ride in Serie A?

There's more ...

Remember that 7-year-old singer Malea Emma who impressed Zlatan with her national anthem performance before a Galaxy game last month?

We asked Ibra if he considered her a "lucky charm" and wants to bring her back.

Martellus Bennett wants Kanye West to keep Colin Kaepernick's name out of his mouth -- saying, "Why you trying to drag everybody else down into your sh*t hole?"

The ex-NFL star was at LAX rocking some Yeezy combat boots -- so, we had to ask if it was a show of support for the rapper who's been getting criticism for his support of Donald Trump.

Turns out, Marty B is anti-Kanye -- but he ain't about to light his shoes on fire.

Instead, Bennett says he simply won't buy another pair.

As for Kaepernick, we asked MB if he thinks Colin should take Ye up on his offer to meet with President Trump to hash out their differences.

Again, Marty was against the idea -- telling Kanye, "Don't try to drag other people in to make yourself feel like you're correct."

"Don't try to bring public figures who fight for black rights to help you and the foolishness that you're doing."

But, what about the spirit of reaching across the aisle?

"You wanna reach across the aisle to grab a bear? Or should you reach across the aisle to grab some greatness?"

Suge Knight gave everyone in court -- including his victim's family members -- something to remember him by ... one last steely glare as he was officially sentenced to 28 years in prison.

The ex-music mogul was in the L.A. courtroom Thursday morning to hear Terry Carter's family read their victims impact statements. Suge sat quietly through the hearing, but when it was all said and done ... the judge gave him a few instructions and then it was time to say goodbye.

Before he was walked out in shackles, Suge turned to the gallery and stared for an uncomfortable number of seconds ... and then he was gone.

Knight will be held in L.A. County Jail until he's transported to a state prison. We don't know yet which one he'll be calling home.

TMZ broke the story ... Suge struck a plea deal last month with prosecutors, agreeing to a 28-year prison sentence, while getting credit for time served. Due to prison overcrowding, he could be out in a little more than 10 years.

Rick Ross can rap all he wants over 50 Cent's "In Da Club" and Fiddy can't do a damn thing about it ... according to the federal judge who just dismissed the case.

50 sued Rick, way back in 2015, for using the music from 'Club' on the mixtape, "Renzel Remixes." The rappers already had plenty of beef -- remember, 50 had to fork over $7 mil for posting Rick's baby mama's sex tape.

So, you can see why 50 Cent would be pissed about da Boss using his 2003 hit track.

However, Rick's attorney Leron Rogers says the judge in the case tossed the whole thing because, basically ... 50's got no dog in this fight.

The judge said Fiddy does not own the copyright or master recordings for the song. Those all belong to Shady/Aftermath Records, so it was dismissed without merit.

A Houston cop working the Drake and Migos concert got caught in the act ... of snapping a cell phone pic of a woman's ass.

Little did the officer know another concertgoer was recording him during the show at Houston's Toyota Center -- and you can see him take the shot of the woman wearing a striped mini dress. Even worse for him ... moments later you can see the cop admiring the creepy shot on his phone.

Appropriately, you can hear Migos in the background performing "Slippery."

Talk about revenge courtesy of the Clintons -- the former POTUS and almost-POTUS met up with Christina Aguilera this week, which looked like a way better time than some folks are having in D.C. right now ... *cough* Brett Kavanaugh *cough*.

Bill and Hillary decided to catch Christina's show Wednesday night at Radio City Music Hall as part of her Liberation Tour and ended up getting a little meet-and-greet with CA herself backstage afterward. It's a good-looking trio, if we do say so ourselves.

When you're as famous as this couple is -- especially in NYC -- we imagine it ain't all that difficult to get a little VIP access every now and then. We know they tend to get special treatment when they hit the town together in the Big Apple ... even post 2016.

Can't blame 'em for enjoying themselves, especially after they're still getting dragged through the mud to this day. In case you missed it ... Judge Kavanaugh threw the Clintons under the bus during his boisterous opening statement last week while denying Dr. Ford's allegation, saying the entire episode was orchestrated as retaliation for them.

As for the show ... it looks like it was a sweet concert. Christina had Lil' Kim come on stage with her, and we're sure they did their usual numbers. Can't hold 'em down, those two ... Clintons neither.

Tekashi69 is already working on his defense after a gun turned up when federal agents raided his home ... and he sounds confident there's no way the feds can pin the firearm on him.

Tekashi's defense attorney, Lance Lazzaro, tells TMZ ... a gun charge would be a very difficult case to prove because the rapper doesn't even own a piece.

We broke the story ... Tekashi's Brooklyn home was raided by federal agents, assisted by the NYPD, last week and they discovered a gun. It's not clear what prompted the search, or who owns the recovered items.

Tekashi wasn't home when feds busted through the front door, and 6ix9ine claims he moved out weeks before the raid ... so his defense thinks it's gonna be hard to link anything to him.

We know Tekashi hasn't been in NY much over the past few weeks ... he was recording music in Colombia with Kanye West, and he had a show in Russia, where a fan got beat up by his crew.

Cardi B had a little photo shoot for her baby girl, which gives us our first real glimpse of her ... albeit from long distance.

Cardi was looking comfy in a robe on a balcony in Miami, and got her daughter Kulture dressed up in a tutu to snap some adorable pics Wednesday.

The rapper had a helper to hold her baby girl for the shoot, but we're not quite sure who she is. It looks like Kulture's in good hands though.

As we reported, Cardi and Offset have been very private with their daughter, only giving us a tiny tease of what she looks like back in August. There was also an extreme closeup of Kulture's lips on Cardi's Instagram story.

8:50 PM PT -- A spokesperson for Lil Peep's family denies Jones having any connection to the rapper.

6:57 PM PT -- In a joint statement to TMZ from Matt Miller (Wicca Phase Manager), Tom Chiari (Run For Cover Records) and Adam Mcillwee (Wicca Phase Springs Eternal) we're told "Michael Jones is not and has never been a member of Gothboiclique. Any statements to the contrary are 100% false."

Lil Peep's death was not a wake-up call to at least one of his fans, according to cops who arrested the guy for giving a young woman a fatal dose of drugs ... shortly after Peep's funeral.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... the DEA, assisted by NYPD, arrested and charged Michael Jones Wednesday for distributing heroin and fentanyl. We're told the drugs resulted in the death of a woman named Diana Haikova.

Jones, who was part of Peep's group called Goth Boi Clique, was ID'd in a newly unsealed federal indictment.

Law enforcement sources say Jones and many other friends of Peep were in Long Island for his funeral on December 2, 2017. They partied in Manhattan for 3 days to honor their friend and on Dec. 5 we're told Mike met Diana -- who wasn't a member of the crew -- at a hotel party ... then allegedly gave her heroin and fentanyl back at her apartment.

Cops say she was found dead at her place a couple days later, and they believe Jones was the one who supplied the drugs. We're told an indictment against him also claims he distributed heroin a couple months later.

As you'll recall ... Peep died after overdosing on Xanax and fentanyl. Many other drugs were discovered in his system as well. He was only 21.

Desiigner got into a heated exchange with a fan who was egging him on during his concert, and even took a healthy swing ... after being called a knock-off version of Future!

We've obtained video of the incident ... and it's pretty wild. You see Desiigner beefing with the trash talker before trying to grab the man's shirt, and then throwing a left hook!

We're told the heckler kept yelling at Desiigner during the set, calling him a Future rip-off. When the NYC rapper reaches his boiling point, he gets in the man's face and pulls a punch -- but it's a swing and miss.

Justin Bieber and Hailey Baldwin might be married under the eyes of the law -- but they don't think they'll truly be until they proclaim it under the eyes of God.

Our Bieber/Baldwin sources tell us Justin and Hailey don't consider themselves "officially" married ... because they haven't cemented their vows with the man upstairs. We're told they believe a church ceremony is necessary to make the marriage meaningful in the eyes of God.

We broke the story ... Justin and Hailey walked into a marriage license courthouse in NYC last month where, as it turns out, they also got the document that made them man and wife ... despite denying -- both publicly and behind the scenes -- they were hitched.

What's unclear ... if they don't really feel "married" until they have a church wedding, why did they even bother to do it at the courthouse?

As we reported, Justin and Hailey inquired about a prenup and even contacted lawyers, but they never followed through. They could get a postnup -- which is like a prenup only after they're married -- but our sources say at this point it's the furthest thing from Justin's mind.

We're told the plan is to have a big ceremony early next year ... either in upstate NY or Ontario, Canada.