RIP

Shahdon Winchester -- international soccer star from Trinidad and Tobago -- died on Thursday at the age of 27 ... after the car he was riding in crashed and caught fire.

Winchester -- a soccer vet who made his international debut in 2010 (he has 23 international caps) -- died alongside a highway in Trinidad on Thursday morning.

The soccer star was reportedly riding with his girlfriend and 2 other men when the car crashed and became engulfed in flames ... killing all 4 passengers.

Firefighters responded to the scene ... but none of the passengers could be saved.

Legendary high school football coach Herman Boone -- portrayed by Denzel Washington in the movie "Remember the Titans" -- has died at age 84, his school announced Wednesday.

Boone was the head coach at T.C. Williams High School in Virginia where he led a group of integrated players to a 13-0 record and a state championship in 1971 ... as well as national championship runner-up honors.

"It is with great sadness that we share the sad news of the passing of former Head Football Coach Herman Boone who lead the Titans to the State Championship in 1971," the school said on Wednesday.

The accomplishment was turned into a Disney flick in 2000 and starred Washington as the Titans head coach.

Washington received a Black Reel Award for Best Actor in 2001 for the role ... as well as Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture at the NAACP Image Awards.

Boone's team gained national attention in 1971 ... when President Nixon dubbed the Titans "the team saved the city of Alexandria."

Boone continued to coach the Titans until he was let go in 1979.

Brian Tarantina -- famous for playing a comedy club emcee on "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" -- died from an overdose of multiple drugs, including what has become the most dangerous drug of all -- fentanyl ... TMZ has learned.

The actor died from acute intoxication due to the combined effects of fentanyl, heroin, cocaine and Diazepam -- otherwise known as Valium ... this according to the NYC Chief Medical Examiner. They've ruled his death accidental.

We broke the story ... the veteran actor died back in November when cops said his body was discovered early one morning in his Manhattan apartment with a white powdery substance nearby.

Chuy Bravo -- Chelsea Handler's longtime TV sidekick and hypeman -- died from a heart attack after a brief hospitalization ... according to a rep for the late comedian.

The Mexican-American actor -- famous for his frequent appearances on "Chelsea Lately" -- suffered the fatal heart attack Sunday morning in a Mexico City hospital after being rushed to the emergency room Saturday afternoon due to a stomach issue.

We're told Chuy went to the ER with a Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage (GI Bleed) and after complications, he suffered the fatal heart attack.

As we reported ... Chuy's family announced his death Sunday afternoon, and Chelsea wrote a heartfelt tribute to her longtime collaborator.

Chuy's funeral services took place Monday in Mexico, according to his rep, and his body will be cremated. We're told his family is devastated and his remains will be transported back to Los Angeles for a memorial service, but a date has not yet been scheduled.

Bravo was 63.

RIP

Juice WRLD was properly honored Sunday night at Rolling Loud, where his girlfriend and at least one of his rap friends shared some kind words of remembrance.

At one point during Day 2 of the L.A. music festival, a DJ brought out Juice's GF, Ally, who told the crowd what she loved most about JW ... his ability to turn any negative into a positive, and his adoring love for his fans. Sounds like she was fighting back tears too.

Rapper YBN Cordae also spoke during the onstage tribute, and said he felt people use the word "brother" too much without much thought. He says Juice was a true brother to him, as well as a counselor and healer to everyone in the crowd. The audience seemed to agree.

Juice's reported music video director, Cole Bennett, was another person who got on the mic ... and he said while many go underappreciated while they're alive, he insisted Juice wasn't one of them. The tribute ended in one of his songs, "Lucid Dreams," and collective prayer.

You'll recall ... rapper Tyla Yaweh was another Rolling Loud performer who paid tribute to Juice WRLD during his set. He was one of a few expected to shout out JW at the show.

TMZ broke the story ... Juice WRLD died last week after suffering a seizure at Chicago's Midway Airport. Witnesses told cops they'd seen Juice ingest a bunch of pills at some point during the feds' search of his private jet, which resulted in drugs and guns being found.

Chelsea Handler's longtime TV sidekick and hypeman, Chuy Bravo, has died ... TMZ has confirmed.

The Mexican-American actor -- best known for his many appearances on "Chelsea Lately" -- passed away Sunday, according to his family. We're told Chuy was hospitalized Saturday in Mexico City, where he's been visiting family for the past month.

His family members say he came down with a terrible stomach ache Saturday and had to be rushed to an emergency room in town, where he stayed overnight. On Sunday, the family says they were told Chuy had passed away. His exact cause of death is unclear.

Chuy was born in Mexico and immigrated to the U.S. at age 15. According to Hollywood lore, he wandered onto the set of 'Three Amigos' and decided to get into entertainment. He says he started taking classes and eventually got cast in "Austin Powers in Goldmember."

James "Radio" Kennedy -- the inspiration behind the movie, "Radio," starring Cuba Gooding, Jr. -- has died.

James, who was mentally challenged, was a true inspiration for decades. He was an unofficial 11th grader at T.L. Hanna High School since 1965, where he attended football games and often led the team onto the field

Radio -- he got his nickname because he was rarely seen without his rusty, trusty transistor radio -- got national attention back in 1996 when Sports Illustrated ran a story about Radio and the football coach, Harold Jones. The story highlighted how the town of Anderson, South Carolina accepted him.

The story was the catalyst for the movie, "Radio," which debuted in 2003.

Jones confirmed Radio's death, saying, "He was just a fine man. We all loved him. We will miss him incredibly."

Radio had been ill and had been in the hospital for quite a while. He had been recently moved to a hospice facility.

Radio became an inspiration to the players and the town ... truly spreading joy. A few years ago, the Salvation Army was struggling during the x-mas season and when Radio learned of it, he braved the bitter cold with Jones, stood outside a Sam's Club and got hundreds of people to deposit cash in the kettle.

Radio, who was inducted into T.L. Hanna Athletic Hall of Fame in 2016, struggled with various health issues, including pancreatitis, diabetes and kidney issues.

Tyla Yaweh got the crowd going Saturday at Rolling Loud by dedicating part of his set to the passing of Juice WRLD and XXXTentacion.

People crammed into the Banc of California Stadium in L.A., where he played Juice's "Armed and Dangerous." TMZ broke the story ... Juice died last Sunday after suffering seizures.

The tributes didn't end with Juice. Tyla said, "Let's also turn up for my brother, XXXTentacion," and the crowd was more than happy to oblige.

Juice WRLD's closest relatives and friends are paying their final respects to the late rapper at his funeral in Illinois.

Juice WRLD -- born Jarad Anthony Higgins -- had an open-casket funeral Friday at Holy Temple Cathedral Church of God in Christ in Harvey, Illinois ... about 45 minutes south of the rapper's hometown of Chicago.

The program included a collage of pictures featuring Juice WRLD. His mother, Carmella Wallace, also paid tribute to her son. His siblings and grandmother also shared some words.

Several staffers and execs from Interscope -- his record label -- attended, as did Juice's friend and fellow rapper, Ski Mask the Slump God.

Veteran actor Danny Aiello -- known for his scene-stealing supporting roles in many acclaimed movies since the '70s -- died Thursday night ... TMZ has learned.

According to his family ... Danny passed away at a medical facility in New Jersey where he was being treated for a sudden illness. We're told he suffered an infection related to his treatment. Danny's family had come to visit him Thursday, and we're told he died shortly after they'd left that evening.

Aiello, a native New Yorker, broke into movies in the early '70s by landing a small role in the Robert De Niro baseball drama, "Bang the Drum Slowly." He followed it up by playing Tony Rosato in "The Godfather: Part II" ... in which he delivered the famous line, "Michael Corleone says hello!"

Danny would go on to earn praise in several hit films in the '80s, like "Fort Apache the Bronx" with Paul Newman, "Once Upon a Time in America," "The Purple Rose of Cairo" and "Moonstruck" opposite Cher.

Rip Torn died after a years-long battle with Alzheimer's disease ... according to his death certificate.

The Emmy Award-winning veteran actor and comedian died at his Connecticut home in July, and according to the doc -- obtained by TMZ -- the cause of death is listed "due to (or as a consequence of) Alzheimer's dementia." Translation ... there were complications resulting from Alzheimer's that caused his death.

It says he was diagnosed "years" before he passed. Torn was then buried at a cemetery in Poughkeepsie, NY a few days later ... according to the certificate.

Rip was perhaps best known for his role as Artie on HBO's "The Larry Sanders Show," for which he won an Emmy and was nominated 6 more times. He was also an Oscar nominee in 1984 for "Cross Creek."

Torn's career spanned decades after his film debut in the 1956 film, "Baby Doll," and included memorable roles in the 'Men In Black' films and "Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story" ... along with TV shows like "Will & Grace" and "30 Rock."

He was 88.

Juice WRLD's family is breaking their silence on the death of the 21-year-old rapper, shedding light on his battle with prescription drug abuse and his fight to help others beat their addictions.

In an exclusive statement to TMZ, the late rapper's mom, Carmella Wallace, says, "We loved Jarad with all of our hearts and cannot believe our time with him has been cut short. As he often addressed in his music and to his fans, Jarad battled with prescription drug dependency."

Juice rapped about drugs often, something his family says wasn't to promote using ... but instead to help those battling addiction who may have felt alone in their fight.

His mom continues, "Addiction knows no boundaries and its impact goes way beyond the person fighting it. Jarad was a son, brother, grandson, friend and so much more to so many people who wanted more than anything to see him defeat addiction."

Juice WRLD will be getting multiple shout-outs at the music festival where he was supposed to perform this weekend -- and they'll be coming from 3 of his closest friends in the biz.

Sources familiar with the plans tell TMZ ... Lil Pump, Lil Mosey and Tyla Yaweh are all planning to pay tribute to Juice during their sets at Rolling Loud Los Angeles. They're all scheduled to perform Saturday.

Juice himself was supposed to be taking the stage as well -- in fact, he was one of the bigger names headlining Saturday's show.

We're told Pump's tribute will involve performing some of Juice's songs and/or displaying a video of him behind the stage at Banc of California Stadium. It's still unclear what the other artists will do to honor their friend.

Aside from those 3 we know about ... it's a safe bet several other artists will have something to say about Juice when they get on the mic.

The fact cops were all over Juice WRLD multiple times -- including an NYC bust last year -- pisses off his friends, who think cops were merely profiling a 20-year-old rich black man who dares to fly on private jets.

Sources who regularly interacted with Juice and were close to him tell TMZ ... all of the run-ins he had with cops are more than suspicious. The fact feds just happened to show up at multiple airports where he and/or his private jet were searched is enough for Juice's inner circle to believe this might well have something to do with race and rappers.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... Juice got arrested in 2018 at NYC's LaGuardia Airport after officers responded to a call for "prohibited items" found inside one of his checked bags. We're told the items included a small amount of marijuana and bottles of codeine cough syrup.

Juice WRLD's death resonated with the fans everywhere, but his music might be having an even bigger impact right now ... because it's flooding almost every chart imaginable.

The rapper is running the board on digital platforms in the wake of his death Sunday in Chicago ... with several of JW's songs and albums claiming top spots on Amazon, Apple and Spotify -- seeing exponential surges of several thousand percentage points, in some cases.

Let's start with Amazon's Movers and Shakers list ... where Juice's single, "Legends," has risen in the ranks by a whopping 84,954% to reach #1 in just a couple days. Two of his other tracks -- "Lucid Dreams," both the explicit and clean versions -- are sitting at #2 and #3.

For albums, Juice's "Death Race For Love" and "Goodbye & Good Riddance" also claim the top 3 spots on Amazon's CDs and Vinyl list. In short, folks are swooping up his content.

On the Apple side of things, Juice WRLD is also toppling some of the hottest names in the game this past week -- including Roddy Ricch, The Weeknd, DaBaby and Trippie Redd. On the service's Top 100 songs chart, Juice claims 8 spots ... including #1, #2, #5 and #6.

And, if you thought your 2019 Spotify Wrapped list was set, it might just change this week based on how dominant Juice has been there too ... he's got 9 spots locked in alone.

Juice's Top 10 tracks on Spotify have also been getting tons of love (and plays) -- we're talking hundreds of thousands, especially "Lucid Dreams," which got streamed over 990k times since Sunday. Of course, Juice is no stranger to chart success -- 7 of his songs have made on Billboard, and 3 cracked the Top 10. He'll probably be up there again next week.

TMZ broke the story ... Juice suffered a fatal seizure early Sunday morning at Chicago's Midway Airport. Federal agents were there waiting for him and his entourage, and after conducting a search ... found tons of weed and a few guns on board.

We're told at some point in the search, Juice was seen ingesting multiple pills believed to be Percocet. Juice suffered a seizure shortly thereafter and died soon after that.

He was 21.

Juice WRLD had a habit of taking up to 3 potent Percocet pills a day and would mix them with lean ... this according to his ex-girlfriend who claims the rapper became physically abusive when he tried to get clean.

Alexia Smith says she was in a relationship with the rapper for nearly a year in 2018 ... and in that time she'd see him pop pills with lean as he struggled with depression, which she says stemmed from previous heartbreaks and the feeling of being misunderstood.

Smith claims Juice also used weed, Xanax, Ecstasy, morphine and coke ... but Percocet and lean were his go-to vices. She says she tried helping WRLD get clean but, during his withdrawals, their arguments turned violent. In one instance, she claims Juice picked her off the ground and slammed her into a wall ... squeezing her so tight she came away bruised all over her arms.

Smith told the Daily Mail she started dating him in early 2018 ... and when he flew her out to L.A. where he was taking meetings with music labels, she noticed the new drug world surrounding him.

She claims that within days of arriving in L.A., someone from a label gave him morphine and cocaine. Smith says WRLD didn't use coke at the time but it wasn't long before he did.

As we first reported ... the feds were on Juice WRLD's tail long before Homeland Security agents searched Juice WRLD's private jet last week when it landed at Chicago's Midway Airport.