RIP

It took almost 6 months, but Prince's final tribute was a monster of a show with huge performances ... despite some big name dropouts.

Stevie Wonder, Chaka Khan, Tori Kelly, and Jessie J ... were just a few of the names that put on the marathon show -- it went for more than 4 1/2 hours inside Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

The sold-out show overcame last minute cancellations from John Mayer, Anita Baker and Christina Aguilera.

The show ended with "Purple Rain" ... and an ominous recording of Prince's voice saying, "I love you."

Tommy Ford -- who played Tommy on the '90s hit show "Martin" -- has died ... TMZ has learned.

Tommy passed away Wednesday in an Atlanta hospital surrounded by family and friends.

As we reported, Ford had been on life support after an aneurysm ruptured in his abdomen. He was initially hospitalized Sunday, and his health had declined since. Family made the decision to turn off support this afternoon.

Ford played Martin Lawrence's best friend for all 5 seasons of the show. Co-star Carl Payne arrived at Ford's bedside on Wednesday morning. He tells us, "On behalf of the family, we would like to thank everyone for their love, support and prayers." He says the family will announce funeral arrangements at a later date.

He was 52.

Jim Carrey's late girlfriend had a broken relationship with her mother and they were estranged for years ... according to Carrey's lawyer.

Marty Singer claims Cathriona White received a message from her mom a few days before her suicide that was so demoralizing ... Cat cut off all contact with her. He also says Cat was forced to leave home at the age of 15 because of the way her mom treated her.

Singer says the wrongful death suit filed by the mother, Brigid Sweetman, is headed down the "same dark path" as Cat's estranged husband's lawsuit ... which he refers to as a sham.

Carrey's lawyer says Sweetman is directing her grief and rage over the loss of her daughter at his client ... but it's just another attempt to capitalize on her death.

Sad news from the bayou ... LSU's beloved live tiger mascot Mike VI has died following a 4 month battle with cancer.

The school announced the 11-year-old Bengali-Siberian tiger was "humanely euthanized" Tuesday morning after entering hospice care at his "night house" on the LSU campus.

Mike was diagnosed with a rare form of incurable cancer back in May -- and developed a tumor bigger than a baseball behind his eye that specialists say would have eventually killed him.

LSU says Mike's caretakers kept a close watch during his final hours to make sure he did not suffer.

Jim Carrey has been slapped with a lawsuit by the mother of his ex-girlfriend, claiming she OD'd after she realized he had given her 3 STDs and when she confronted him he dumped her.

Cathriona White's mom, Brigid Sweetman, claims in a new lawsuit ... Jim did more than just infect her. The suit alleges he shamed her by calling her a "whore" and threatened her with the help of "fixers" who tried to silence her.

Sweetman says in the suit her daughter learned from a doctor in 2013 she had contracted 2 types of herpes and chlamydia. Sweetman says Carrey was first dismissive and then claimed she contracted any disease she might have from someone else.

The mom says when her daughter persisted, Carrey ended the relationship and said, "You have become too much drama."

According to the lawsuit, the "fixers" scared her daughter into silence. The suit claims Cathriona struggled emotionally before OD'ing on Ambien, Propranolol and Percocet. The drugs were allegedly Carrey's ... the prescription filled under a pseudonym.

We reached out to Carrey's people ... so far no comment.

The bible Tupac read while serving time at a maximum security prison is up for sale ... and it's expected to command a pretty penny, thanks to the rapper's John Hancock.

We're told a member of Tupac's family put the bible in the hands of online dealer Moments in Time -- which set the price at a cool $54k. The late rapper signed it along with his inmate number from the 9 months he spent at Clinton Correctional Facility in 1995.

You'll recall Tupac famously gave his "homeboys in Clinton Max" a shout-out in "Hail Mary."

Important note ... we're told Tupac's estate is not behind the sale. But when the bible sells we're told the family will get a bulk of the cash.

He floats like a butterfly ...

He stings like a bee ...

Which is why Antonio Brown's new custom cleats are paying tribute ... to Muhammad Ali!!!

The Pittsburgh Steelers superstar is planning to make another statement with his feet on Sunday -- with cleats featuring images of the legendary boxer.

They've even got images of a bee and a butterfly, thanks to artist Corey Pane -- the same guy who designed AB's Arnold Palmer cleats from last weekend.

Anton Yelchin's death was his own fault because he misused the Jeep that ended up rolling back and killing him ... at least according to his local dealership.

The Valencia, CA Chrysler dealership filed its response to the wrongful death lawsuit filed by Anton's parents ... listing a slew of reasons why it should not be on the hook for anything related to Anton's fatal accident.

Most damningly in the docs -- the dealer says Anton's death was the result of his own "misuse, misapplication, or damage" of the Jeep Grand Cherokee that rolled and crushed him. It's not spelled out, but the dealer seems to be hinting Anton made aftermarket changes that damaged the SUV.

The company also believes his parents didn't preserve the vehicle as it was at the time of the accident ... which would compromise critical evidence in the case.

The dealership is asking the judge to cut them loose from the lawsuit.

8:59 AM PT -- The Broward County Coroner has now confirmed Samman passed away at 7:20 AM on Wednesday.

As for cause of death, the coroner told us, "It would be hard to suggest anything other than drugs" based on the conditions in which Samman and Kirkingburg were found.

An autopsy is scheduled -- but there could be delays due to the hurricane in the region.

UFC middleweight Josh Samman -- who appeared on "The Ultimate Fighter" -- has died after spending several days in a coma ... this according to his 'Ultimate Fighter' castmate Gilbert Jamal Smith.

Samman was found unresponsive early Friday morning at an apartment in South Florida. His roommate, Troy Kirkingburg -- an MMA announcer -- was pronounced dead at the scene.

It's unclear how the two men died.

There were rumblings that heroin played a role -- but Samman's mother came out and said doctors found no traces of the drug in his system. There were also no signs of foul play according to reports.

Samman was 28.

Rod Temperton, the songwriter behind several of Michael Jackson's hits, including "Thriller" ... has died after a brief battle with cancer.

The chairman of Warner/Chappell made the announcement Wednesday morning ... though it appears Temperton died days earlier. His family has already had his funeral.

"Thriller" producer Quincy Jones brought in Temperton to write or co-write "Thriller," "Baby Be Mine" and "The Lady in My Life." He also penned "Off The Wall" and "Rock With You" for MJ.

The Brit was an established hitmaker before Jackson, writing hits for Heatwave, George Benson and Patti Austin and James Ingram.

He won a Grammy for Quincy's "Birdland" in 1990. He was also nominated for 2 Oscars for the 'Color Purple' soundtrack.

Temperton was one of those guys who might not have been a household name -- but he was a legend in the industry, and you know all his hits.

#RIP

Model Damaris Lewis -- who was a Prince backup dancer -- wants the opening of his museum to be pushed back out of respect for those who are still mourning ... like herself.

Damaris was one of Prince's muses in his final months and says she's not against the Paisley Park Museum altogether because she believes Prince's legacy needs to be honored. Her issue is timing.

She kinda got her wish. Paisley Park's gates were originally set to swing open to the public Tuesday, but the local city council put the kibosh on it out of fears Chanhassen, MN would be overrun with tourists. The council's now granted temporary approval for limited tours.

The families of Jenni Rivera's entourage members killed in her plane crash are tired of waiting for the multimillion dollar judgment they were awarded, so they've called in the big guns to collect.

We're told 7 family members of Jenni's publicist, makeup artist, hairstylist and lawyer have retained a firm to get the $70 million Starwood Management -- owners of the doomed Learjet -- was ordered to pay 2 months ago.

Attorney Danny Abir tells us his firm plans to go after Starwood assets, which include at least two airplanes.

Abir's firm is the one that already squeezed one settlement out of Tyga -- and is currently working on another.

Atlanta rapper Shawty Lo's funeral ended just the way he would have liked ... with a pit stop at the local strip joint.

Friends and family remembered Lo Friday with a memorial service followed by a procession straight to The Blue Flame Lounge ... one of Shawty's favorite strip clubs.

The video is fantastic.  Lo's hearse pulls up to the club and a mourners/patrons observe a candle-lit moment of silence.

40-year-old Shawty was killed a few weeks back when his 2016 Audi hit a tree -- he was posting videos from The Blue Flame hours before his death.

Talk about a happy ending.

Ryan Dunn from "Jackass" is tweeting bizarre messages -- which is weird due to him being dead -- and his family's on a mission to stop the "disgusting" hackers, stat.

The tweets started posting a few days ago and were written as if it were Ryan from beyond the grave. One of them joked Ryan had met Harambe the gorilla in heaven -- and another references Tupac.

Ryan's mom, Linda, tells us the posts aren't coming from any friends or family ... and she has no idea how the account got hacked. They never took it down after his death.

You'll recall, Dunn died in a 2011 car crash -- he plowed his Porsche into woods at 130 MPH following a night of heavy drinking.

Linda's reached out to Twitter to have the hacked tweets removed, but so far she hasn't heard back.

It wasn't just fans and teammates who came out to mourn Jose Fernandez on Wednesday -- the pregnant girlfriend he left behind also attended the funeral procession.

Jim Carrey posed for intimate Valentine's Day photos with his then-girlfriend -- and the timing of the shots prove her marriage was a total sham and a "green card marriage"... according to Carrey's attorney.

TMZ obtained the shots of Jim and Cathriona White from February 14, 2013. They show your standard romantic couple -- dinner, rose petals, kissing. What's odd about the scene is ... Cathriona had married Mark Burton on January 15 ... according to their marriage certificate.

Jim's attorney says this flies in the face of Burton's claim he suffered loss of companionship when White died from an overdose ... which is part of the wrongful death suit.

Carrey's camp and witnesses say Cathriona had asked 5 other men, including Jim, to marry her to avoid deportation to Ireland-- and she didn't even live in the same state as Burton when they wed.