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Lori Loughlin just got a signal from the judge in her college admissions criminal case -- that the judge is about to open a can of whup-ass on prosecutors for allegedly coaching a key figure in the case to lie.

The judge just ordered prosecutors to get real over something prosecutors allegedly hid for months, but finally surfaced. TMZ broke the story, Lori claimed in documents that FBI agents were browbeating scammer and ringleader Rick Singer to lie, and when he wouldn't they screamed at him. Singer had told agents the money Lori and others paid were donations, but he claimed that agents -- including one named Liz -- told him he should say the money these parents paid were bribes. When he resisted, he says the started screaming at him.

The judge called the allegations "serious and disturbing," adding, "While government agents are permitted to coach a cooperating witness during the course of an investigation, they are not permitted to suborn the commission of a crime." The crime to which the judge refers is clearly that if Singer swore that which was not true, it would amount to perjury.

The judge is asking for answers from prosecutors. As we reported, Lori says they acted so corruptly, she wants the judge to dismiss the case outright.

Ranjit Chowdhry -- best known in the U.S. for playing Vikram on "The Office" -- has died in India ... according to reports.

The former Bollywood star lived in New York but reportedly traveled back to his home country to receive dental treatment months ago. According to Indian theater actor Dolly Thakore ... he was supposed to return to America, but couldn't due to the shutdown, and recently suffered a ruptured ulcer in his intestine.

Thakore says Ranjit underwent emergency surgery, but died Wednesday at a Mumbai hospital.

Chowdhry made a name for himself in Indian comedies in the late '70s and early '80s before moving to the U.S. for a Hollywood career.

He wrote the screenplay for the 1991 film, "Sam & Me" before becoming a successful character actor in the '90s.

Most notably, Ranjit played the role of Singh on "Cosby" and had a 2-episode arc on "The Office" as a telemarketer who worked with Michael Scott.

His other credits include "Prison Break," the Queen Latifah movie "Last Holiday," and most recently ... a guest spot on "Law & Order: SVU" in 2013.

Chowdhry was 64.

"One of the topics covered in a Major League Baseball course at Arizona State is this player who broke the color barrier in 1947."

COME ON -- EVERYONE KNOWS THE ANSWER ... right?

Wrong.

Because when Xiaoke Ying buzz'd in on "Jeopardy!" on Wednesday night -- she replied, "Babe Ruth!"

WHAT?! NOOO!!!!

It's Jackie Robinson. Obviously.

We thought everyone knew that ... but Xiaoke (from USC) blew it on an episode that coincidentally aired on "Jackie Robinson Day."

Whoops.

Some facts. Babe Ruth did not break the color barrier. He was white. Like super white. German ancestry white.

Jackie Robinson (who went to Xiaoke's rival school UCLA) famously broke the color barrier while a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.

Robinson made such an impact in the sports world and on society as a whole, there have been countless movies, documentaries and books written about him.

Also, his jersey #42 has been retired across MLB to honor the legend.

Carole Baskin took just about everything from Joe Exotic, but she didn't get the shirt off his back -- that belongs to one eBay user who's trying to hawk it for a quick (and pricey) buck.

Yes, one of Joe's own personal sequin tops (blouses?) is up for grabs on the famous auction site -- and the best part is that it was even featured on Netflix's 'Tiger King.' Cooool!!! The only downside ... it's going for a pretty penny. The opening bid right now is $650.

The shirt's owner, Vincent Baran, tells TMZ he came across the rare JE artifact surfing the web 2 weeks ago. He says he noticed Joe's old stomping grounds, The Greater Wynnewood (G.W.) Zoo, was offering a bunch of Joe's shirts on Facebook to whoever wanted 'em ... for a price. Way cheaper than what he's charging now though.

Vince says G.W. only wanted $100 for an article of Joe's clothing -- now, the dude's attempting to flip it on eBay for at least 5 times that amount ... and he thinks it'll go for way more than the listed price. The reason ... he says he's seen other Joe Exotic items sell well online.

VB tells us he recently spotted one of Joe's many hats hit the digital marketplace for a cool $800, so he believes he can get his money's worth for something worn on the man's own torso.

Time will tell if people are buyin' what Vince is sellin' ... so far, he's got zero bids. Hang in there, bud ... just like that shirt did for a damn good while in Joe's abandoned closet. 😅

Matt Simmons, the star of Animal Planet's docuseries "Wolves and Warriors" got busted for allegedly hoarding a massive cache of guns and ammo ... a big no-no for convicted felons.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... Ventura County Sheriff's deputies served a search warrant Monday at Simmon's home for illegal possession of firearms and ammunition. We're told cops detained Simmons as he drove away from his residence, and deputies found a loaded .45 caliber handgun in his car and more guns and ammo in his home.

Our sources say deputies discovered 14 firearms inside Simmons' residence, including assault rifles, a sawed-off shotgun and thousands of rounds of ammo.

We're told Simmons is a convicted felon, meaning he's prohibited from owning or possessing any firearms or ammo.

Our sources say Simmons was arrested on a slew of charges ... including felon in possession of a firearm, felon in possession of ammunition, possession of an assault weapon, carrying a concealed firearm within a vehicle, carrying a loaded firearm in a vehicle, unlawful transfer of a firearm, and possession of substance, material, or any combination with intent to make any destructive device/explosive.

We're told Narcotics and Gangs Units assisted Ventura County Sheriffs in serving the warrant, as well as California State Parks.

Joe Exotic's antics on 'Tiger King' have already made him a pop culture icon, but don't forget ... he's also a musician -- sort of -- and the popularity of his tunes is soaring too.

A rep for Spotify tells TMZ ... ever since Joe's track, "I Saw a Tiger," was added to the platform on March 30, he's gained listeners in every single one of Spotify's 79 markets.

As for which market's clamoring for the song the most ... the answer is Denmark!!! Yeah, go figure. We're told the Danish folks are streaming it at a higher rate than any other country, followed by people in the UK, Ireland and Iceland.

Americans, however, have listened to it the most times ... primarily thanks to a much larger population, but ya gotta believe it's because Joe is one of our own.

North Dakota's ranked as the state listening to Exotic at the highest rate, followed by Mississippi, Montana, Kentucky and West Virginia. For what it's worth ... Nevada, Hawaii and California are listening the least.

Spotify says along with his vast reach increase over the past 2 weeks, Exotic's averaging an 18 percent DAILY increase with his share of streams. We're told millennials are his biggest fans -- ages 25-29 are consuming Joe's music at the highest rate, followed by the 30-34 age range.

Of course, all of this is besides the fact the infamous imprisoned tiger breeder doesn't even write or sing his own songs ... that's all done by The Clinton Johnson Band. As we first told you ... the band's hoping to cash in on Joe's success too.

For more on 'Tiger King' ... check out a 'TMZ Investigates' special tonight on FOX at 9/8c.

Danny Goldman -- the actor best known for voicing Brainy Smurf in "The Smurfs" -- has died ... TMZ has learned.

Goldman died at his home Sunday night in front of friends and family while in hospice after suffering a couple of strokes around New Years ... this according to his longtime agent, Doug Ely. His death is not related to COVID-19. Ely took to Facebook to give his decades-long friend a touching tribute.

Ely wrote, "Danny was truly one of a kind. He always had strong opinions and didn't mind telling you about them. He was incredibly funny. He loved to root for the little guy and help wherever he could. He had a huge heart. We lost a good one today. He will be missed."

Goldman's acting credits date back all the way to 1963 with a stint in "General Hospital." He later landed roles in "Young Frankenstein" as a young medical student who questioned Gene Wilder.

Goldman also landed roles in "MASH" and "Busting Loose" but he reached stardom voicing Brainy Smurf when "The Smurfs" debuted in 1981 as a Saturday morning cartoon series on NBC. Brainy Smurf -- easily one of the most identifiable characters with his trademark thick glasses -- was known to never back down from sharing his smarts.

He'd hold on to that role until the series ended in 1989 but the show's popularity kept the series on the air via USA Network, the Cartoon Network and now the Boomerang channel.

The biggest mystery in Netflix's 'Tiger King' is whether Don Lewis was murdered and, if so, who did him in.

Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister tells TMZ, he's convinced one person could NOT have committed the 1997 murder ... he says someone must have helped and someone got paid.

Although Hillsborough says Don's wife, Carole Baskin, is NOT a suspect or person of interest, he tells us he's suspicious of her and he's also suspicious of others. Watch FOX Monday night at 9 PM for our special, "TMZ Investigates, Tiger King: What Really Went Down?" He explains exactly why he's suspicious.

The Sheriff's looking for someone to come forward -- maybe someone who helped who wants to clear his or her conscience -- and spill the beans.

Sheriff Chronister also makes it clear ... he's willing to deal with anyone who has info, and immunity is on the table.

Carole has strongly maintained she had nothing to do with Don's disappearance.

Tracy Morgan's Easter is off to a hopping mad start ... after an alleged run-in between one of his exotic sports cars and an NYC pedestrian.

TMZ obtained this video of Tracy -- next to his red Lamborghini -- and a man yelling at each other near Times Square ... on the corner of 42nd and Broadway. Eyewitnesses tell us Tracy had a green light and started to make a right turn when he nearly hit the dude on foot.

You can hear the guy explain to Tracy where he was walking to and from, while Tracy vehemently disagrees. Seems the debate is about whether he was jaywalking and who had the right of way.

Police drove by, but didn't get involved ... we're told they basically gestured to both men to keep it moving. Tracy checked his Lambo for damage, and the pedestrian walked off, slightly limping.

For what it's worth, they appeared to be nearly 6 feet apart during the dispute. We've reached out to Tracy's reps for comment ... so far, no word back.

Even though NYC's streets are nearly empty during the quarantine ... Tracy's got pretty bad luck in the Big Apple. Last summer, he got into a fender bender on an NYC street in a new Bugatti he'd literally just driven off the lot.

He was ultimately not found at fault in that case.

"Saturday Night Live" is figuring it out too -- how to keep the show going from home ... with self-shot skits, and the perfect host, too, in Tom Hanks.

The first celeb survivor of the coronavirus hosted the special 'SNL from Home' episode ... delivering a full monologue that did NOT use a laugh track (thankfully) but did pump in a little studio applause during his intro.

Right off the bat, Tom said the show wasn't live -- hence the multiple camera cuts during his monologue -- but was instead shot by the whole cast at home, and later edited.

Everyone was waiting to see who would play Dr. Anthony Fauci in a skit -- he had wisely opted for Brad Pitt -- but it didn't happen. Let's face it, they didn't have the services of hair and makeup to pull off those kinds of transformations.

Fauci did get a shoutout though during Kate McKinnon's hilarious skit about Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's home workout sessions. While pumping iron -- meaning AA batteries -- 'RBG' begged Fauci to slide into her DMs.

Other skits included Weekend Update with Colin Jost and Michael Che -- complete with the usual graphics -- and Alec Baldwin doing a Trump "on-the-phone" skit (again, no hair & makeup).

Pete Davidson did his version of a Drake's "Toosie Slide" music video, but the home tour was slightly less fabulous, and it was directed by Pete's mom. Remember, he lives with her in Staten Island ... even when NOT quarantined.

WWE's newest champ Drew McIntyre is giving a sincere shoutout to The Rock for believing in his potential before he ever dreamed of getting a belt ... and the video will hit you right in the feels.

Let's take you back to July 2019 when TMZ Sports posted a video of Dwayne Johnson being asked to name a wrestler who could be the next big thing.

The Rock quickly shouted out McIntyre -- explaining, "I think he's got a great look, great build" and insane potential!

Well, the video made quite an impact on Drew -- who says it came out of the blue at a time where he was still trying to find his identity in the ring.

And, to hear someone like The Rock publicly talk about his talent gave him a huge boost to his confidence and his career.

Ya gotta watch the clip ... Drew is incredibly humble and grateful for the support -- and he'll never forget it.

The death of James King, who starred on "My 600-lb Life" was NOT related to the coronavirus -- instead, the big guy's family says his heart gave out.

James got very sick back in early February, and his liver and kidneys were shutting down due to his weight ... one of his family members tells TMZ.

Remember, James actually gained weight following his debut on the reality show. He was 791 pounds starting out on the show, but by the end of 2018 his weight got up to a whopping 840 pounds.

We're told James, who lived in Paducah, KY, was initially transported to a local hospital on Feb. 10. Shortly after that, he had to be transferred to a Nashville hospital that was better equipped to treat a patient his size.

The family member says after the liver and kidney issues, though, James' heart gave out under the stress. He died April 3 in the Nashville hospital.

James also battled other health problems in the past, including cirrhosis of the liver and sepsis.

He leaves behind a large family. James is survived by his wife, Lisa Raisor King, 4 daughters, 2 sons and 19 grandkids.