RIP

Linkin Park released a new music video on the same day frontman Chester Bennington committed suicide.

The American rock band released its "Talking To Myself" video at 9:01 AM ... minutes after Chester's body was discovered Thursday at a private residence in Palos Verdes Estates.

The single off the band's "One More Light" album was released a while back but the video just hit the band's Twitter page and YouTube channel.

TMZ broke the story ... Chester hanged himself on the day his good friend, Chris Cornell, would have turned 53. Chester was 41.

Another one of Cecil the Lion's sons has died the same way his father did -- shot and killed by trophy hunters in Zimbabwe.

Xanda -- a 6-year-old in his prime and himself the father of several young cubs -- was reportedly killed by professional hunter Richard Cooke ... the same guy who killed Xanda's brother.

Cecil was killed 2 years ago and his death -- at the hands of American dentist Walter Palmer -- sparked international outrage. Xanda was found dead still wearing an electronic collar just outside the Hwange National Park.

Jada Pinkett Smith was all about the thug life when she first met Tupac Shakur -- maybe more than he was -- because she was the one slinging drugs.

She made the confession Wednesday on "Sway in the Morning" after Sway asked her to clear up the real nature of her relationship with the legendary rapper. He's said they hooked up, but she's always said they were just best friends.

Ex-NFL player James Hardy III's death has been ruled a suicide by officials in Indiana ... TMZ Sports has learned.

As we previously reported, Hardy -- who spent 4 years in the NFL with the Buffalo Bills and Baltimore Ravens -- was found dead in a Fort Wayne river on June 7.

Officials said his family had reported him missing a week earlier and that it appeared his body had been in the water for several days.

The Allen County Coroner said the cause of death is "Asphyxia due to drowning."

Legendary actor Martin Landau has died ... TMZ has learned.

We're told Martin died at 1:30 PM PT Saturday at UCLA Medical Center after a short hospitalization where he suffered unexpected complications.

Landau is one of the most enduring actors of our time. Among his credits are Alfred Hitchcock's "North by Northwest", Tim Burton's "Ed Wood" and "Cleopatra."

Landau had been a cartoonist before starting his acting career in the '50s. He appeared in nearly 200 films and TV shows during his illustrious career and worked until his death. His big break came in 1966 when he was cast as Rollin Hand in the "Mission: Impossible" TV series alongside his then wife Barbra Bain. The role got him repeatedly nominated for Emmys and helped him nab the Best Male TV Star Golden Globe in 1968.

Landau was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award in 1988 for his role in Francis Ford Coppola's "Tucker: The Man and His Dream." He didn't win but clinched another Golden Globe win for the role. He was nominated for another Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Woody Allen's "Crimes and Misdemeanors" and finally won in 1994 for his portrayal of Bela Lugosi in Tim Burton's biopic "Ed Wood."

Landau was 89.

John Bernecker died when a planned fall on the set of "The Walking Dead" went horribly wrong, but there are conflicting accounts as to who, if anyone, is to blame ... TMZ has learned.

Here's what we know ... John and another actor, Austin Amelio, were shooting a scene on a balcony, and the script called for John to plummet 22 feet to the ground. According to police, there was a safety cushion in place below the balcony. Assistant director Matthew Goodwin told cops he missed the cushion "just by inches."

According to Goodwin ... John didn't appear to get good separation from the balcony when he started falling, and even "attempted to abort the fall by grabbing onto the railing with both hands." He told cops John's momentum slammed him into the bottom of the balcony and then he released his hands and fell ... landing on his head and neck ... right next to the cushion.

Production staff placed cardboard next to the safety cushion to cover the blood left after John's fall.

John's girlfriend, Jennifer Cocker -- who is a stuntwoman herself, but was not on set -- tells TMZ she's extremely upset with the production, saying, "Sets need to be safer. There has to be a prerequisite not to put a super professional stuntman with an inexperienced actor who doesn't know what he's doing."

Other stunt people we spoke to tell us there was a very experienced and respected stunt coordinator for the scene and it was completely safe. According to the cops ... John even gave a thumbs-up to signal he was ready to begin filming.

Amelio told cops he and Bernecker chatted before the scene and John said he'd never done a stunt fall from that height. He also said John "seemed a little nervous."

John Bernecker, a 'Walking Dead' stuntman has died ... TMZ has learned.

As we reported, Bernecker fell off a 25 foot high balcony Wednesday afternoon on the set of the show. He was airlifted to Atlanta Medical Center where he was placed on a ventilator.

The Medical Examiner tells us the 33-year-old died in the hospital Thursday evening. He was surrounded by friends and family, including his girlfriend who is a stuntwoman on the show when a ventilator was turned off. A source tells us earlier the swelling in his brain seemed to go down at one point on Thursday, but then it swelled back up again.

John had been on the ventilator since Wednesday, and the ME's Office tells us his date of death is that day ... July 12. The cause of death is accidental blunt force trauma.

The accident occurred at Raleigh Studio in Georgia and AMC shut down production shortly after the fall.

John put in nearly 10 years of stunt work in Hollywood and had most recently worked on huge movies like "Black Panther," "The Fate of the Furious," and "Logan."

10:00 AM PT -- Sint Maarten police tell us government and airport officials will be meeting to discuss new safety measures. Currently it's not illegal to stand at that fence at the end of the runway, but with this fatality -- the first ever -- we're told officials will consider making changes.

A New Zealand tourist in Sint Maarten died during a thrill-seeking escapade as she tried to withstand the blast of a jet engine.

The scene was horrifying ... people in Sint Maarten tell TMZ, the woman was hanging on to a fence at the edge of the runway, while an airliner revved its engines before rolling down the runway for takeoff.

We're told she couldn't hold on to the fence and was catapulted backward into a concrete barrier on the edge of the beach.

People on scene tried in vain to resuscitate her but it appears she died on impact.

A similar incident occurred in 2012 when a woman was blown into the same barrier, but she survived.

Fresh Kid Ice -- founding member of 2 Live Crew, and a pioneer for Asian rappers, died in Miami ... TMZ has learned.

Fresh Kid formed the legendary hip-hop crew with DJ Mr. Mixx and Amazing Vee in 1984, and hooked up with Luther Campbell later when they signed with his record label. According to the group's manager he died at 7:50 AM Thursday in a Miami hospital ... due to a medical condition.

Fresh Kid's real name was Chris Wong Won ... and he and the group became poster children for First Amendment Rights after their "As Nasty As They Wanna Be" album was the first to be labeled legally obscene by the government.

He and Campbell were arrested in 1990 after a live performance police deemed obscene and lewd.

Fresh Kid served in the U.S. Air Force for 4 years before getting into music. He went on to form his own label ... Chinaman Records.

Uncle Luke tweeted condolences ...

Fresh Kid was 53.

The smeared blood found on the floor of Chris Cornell's hotel bathroom does not indicate foul play as some have suggested ... TMZ has learned.

After photos of Chris' suicide scene were released Tuesday, people speculated foul play was involved because a significant amount of blood was under the singer's body, where he hanged himself.

We contacted several medical examiners and other professionals who say it's common for hanging victims to bleed from the mouth or nose from a buildup of blood and tension in the head.

Emergency responders found Chris' face "covered in blood spatter" ... this according to the police report. According to the Wayne County Medical Examiner's report, there was "pronounced congestion of the head and neck above the ligature furrow mark" ... which means significant swelling under the skin above the neckline created by the noose.

As for why the blood was smeared ... Chris' bodyguard and paramedics moved the body during a failed attempt to revive him.

When police entered Chris Cornell's Detroit hotel room they found his belongings, his prescriptions ... and the exercise apparatus he used to commit suicide.

Detroit PD just released the photos they took of the room during their investigation, and they reveal the bathroom scene where Chris died. The exercise band he rigged on the bathroom door was on the floor, surrounded by a streak of blood.

There were 3 prescription bottles -- prednisone (anti-inflammatory), omeprazole (antacid) and lorazepam (anti-anxiety).

In the room itself ... one of Chris' guitars was on a chair, and his iconic shades were on the unmade bed.

"America's Got Talent" contestant Dr. Brandon Rogers was a gem of a talent before his tragic death ... as you can see in his audition episode, which just aired.

Dr. Rogers' family wanted the audition to run, showing the young doc humbly taking the stage only to wow the crowd and all 4 judges with a fantastic cover of Stevie Wonders' "Ribbon In The Sky."

He gets a standing O from the judges -- even Simon Cowell.

We broke the story ... Rogers was killed in a car accident last month after his friend fell asleep at the wheel and veered off the road.

First responders to Chris Cornell's Detroit hotel room were delayed in their efforts to save him because they had to get him down from the door he used to hang himself ... according to the 911 call.

On the just-released call you can hear an MGM Grand Detroit employee tell the dispatcher staffers had been unable to give Chris CPR due to the exercise band around his neck.

As we reported ... the Soundgarden frontman used common exercise equipment attached to a carabiner to take his own life.

The toxicology report later revealed Chris had several prescription drugs in his system. He was 52.

Ricki Lake plans to honor the memory of her late ex-husband, Christian Evans, by spreading his ashes at the same place they got engaged.

Ricki posted a pic Friday of herself near a beach in Ibiza, with the caption ... "Es Vedra and me. #magical #Ibiza. Bringing my beloved home. #christianevans #loveiseternal."

Sources close to the former talk show host tell TMZ she's there to spread Christian's ashes because that's where he popped the question to her, and it's a place they visited often as a couple.

We're told Christian introduced Ricki to Ibiza years ago, and they went there every summer since. They were still very much in love, despite getting divorced in 2014.

Nelsan Ellis' heart failure was triggered by alcohol withdrawal complications.

The "True Blood" star's family said Nelsan -- who died Saturday -- struggled with drug and alcohol abuse for years and his latest attempt to withdraw from booze on his own led to his death.

The family said, "During his withdrawal from alcohol he had a blood infection, his kidneys shut down, his liver was swollen, his blood pressure plummeted, and his dear sweet heart raced out of control."

The family went on to say Nelsan "was ashamed of his addiction and thus was reluctant to talk about it during his life. His family, however, believes that in death he would want his life to serve as a cautionary tale in an attempt to help others."

Nelsan Ellis -- known for his role as Lafayette Reynolds on HBO's "True Blood" -- has died after complications from heart failure.

Ellis also appeared in "The Help," and starred in the TV show, "Elementary." He also appeared in the moves, "Get On Up" and "The Stanford Prison Experiment" ... and played Martin Luther King, Jr. in "Lee Daniels' The Butler."

HBO issued a statement saying Ellis will be dearly missed.

So far no word on the underlying problem that triggered the heart failure.

He leaves behind a son.

Ellis was 39.