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Boosie is ending a tough year (socially) on an even rougher note -- defending R. Kelly ... and doing so by suggesting the dude's just got a thing for young ladies, NBD. 😬

The Louisiana rapper recently sat for an interview with VladTV, in which Kelly's conviction was brought up ... and Boosie was asked about it. He didn't hesitate to let everyone know how he felt about the case -- and that feeling is ... bitter resentment.

Check it out ... Boosie says Kelly got railroaded on similar charges he was facing in 2008, and thinks much of that has to do with his race.

But, then Boosie took it a step further ... justifying Kelly's actions as it pertains to his victims, brushing it off by saying, "I just feel like R. Kelly like the young bitches." There's more ... Boosie goes on to say claims R. Kelly kept his victims under his thumb at all times is BS.

He adds, "If you leave a bitch at the house, and you go on tour for two weeks and she don't go nowhere -- that bitch ain't been kidnapped. She waiting on daddy to come home."

Boosie also claims a "bitch ain't been sexualized if she been in the bed with three, four women. You know, she hasn't been (taken) advantage of, because ... she is willing!" He ends by saying Kelly's only mistake was the "age part."

The host, DJ Vlad, finally stepped in and pushed back on Boosie's wild characterization ... pointing out that Kelly was dating -- and eventually married -- a very underage Aaliyah way back in the day ... and not just that, but had gone to court over this exact issue over a decade ago.

Tom Holland may be the biggest thing in Hollywood, because "Spider-Man: No Way Home" has just topped Sony's list of highest-grossing movies ever ... and it's not his only billion-dollar flick.

The latest Spider-Man installment gave Sony the biggest December opening weekend ever ... it's about to cross the billion-dollar mark worldwide. That's a big deal because no other film released during the pandemic came even close. And, although the anemic movie industry only produced $4 billion in box office receipts -- compared with 11 billion in 2019 -- 'Spider-Man' is responsible for a quarter of the total haul -- pretty impressive.

What's more ... this is the 5th movie starring Holland which crossed the billion-dollar level.

The latest installment is poised to break even "Spider-Man" records ... the current title-holder is "Spider-Man: Homecoming" which grossed $1.1 billion, and "No Way Home" is expected to crush that.

There will be more 'S-M' movies for sure ... so Marvel assures us.

P.T. Anderson's newest movie, "Licorice Pizza," is getting unleashed to the masses this weekend -- and with it, so are uncomfortable themes of racism and would-be pedophilia.

The esteemed director's latest offering got a wide release Saturday -- this after a multi-week run in very select theaters throughout L.A. and elsewhere -- and now that folks are able to catch it for Christmas ... some are walking away saying what early viewers also echoed.

One of the big takeaways, it seems ... the movie is problematic, not just for its premise about a 25-year-old woman in a cat-and-mouse love dance with a 15-year-old boy, but just as cringe-worthy -- the fact there's overt mocking of Asian culture, depicted at length twice.

First ... the weird relationship. The flick's about this teen, Gary, who falls head over heels in love with a gal 10 years his senior, Alana, who then go back and forth pursuing each other amid a ton of misadventures ... all with the backdrop of the San Fernando Valley in the '70s.

At one point, she flashes her breasts at him ... and by the end, it's implied they get together as a couple. Folks online are saying the age gap is grossly inappropriate -- and that if the shoe was on the other foot (adult male and female teen), it probably wouldn't fly in 2021.

Perhaps just as bad is the fact that a white restaurateur in the movie -- played by John Michael Higgins -- introduces two different wives of his, who are Japanese and look similar. In both scenes, he speaks to them in a caricatured Japanese accent ... which a lot of people also found offensive and unnecessary for the story. Indeed, it reeks of blatant racism.

The latter criticism has become quite loud, especially among those who belong to MANAA -- the Media Action Network for Asian Americans. They penned an open letter to the Academy and other governing bodies during this award season, asking that 'LP' be snubbed.

There's a new Grinch among us this holiday season -- it's Neil deGrasse Tyson, whose party-pooping amounts to debunking the existence of Santa Claus ... with cold, hard physics.

The famed astrophysicist went on a tear in the days leading up to Christmas this year, tweeting out fact after fact after fact ... all of which were intended to clear up the reality -- namely, that there's no way in hell Old Saint Nick could deliver presents on Christmas Eve.

First, NDT tackled the North Pole and what every little kid imagines his workshop/village might look like based on storybooks. According to Neil, that's all rubbish ... due to basic geography.

He writes, "Since the Northern Arctic is just ocean, Santa’s North Pole workshop has only ever existed on a floating sheet of ice. Images that portray Santa’s workshop with pine trees and snow-capped hills on the horizon are geographically underinformed."

Here's another not-so-fun fact for all the boy and girls who were waiting on Papa Noel this year -- the guy apparently wouldn't be able to deliver gifts to all of them in one night, because he'd be going so damn fast ... he'd literally burn up and die. Reindeer, too.

As Neil delicately puts it, "For Santa to deliver gifts to all world's Christians in one night requires hypersonic speeds through Earth’s lower atmosphere, vaporizing his reindeer & sleigh. Just sayin’.

And, one more for the all-inclusive crowd ... which has to do with gender, and the assumed sexes of Santa's flying motors. It would seem that whoever came up with the Christmas mythology way back when didn't take into account the differences between male and female reindeer.

Neil explains, "Santa doesn’t know Zoology:  Both male & female Reindeer grow antlers. But all male Reindeer lose their antlers in the late fall, well-before Christmas." He adds, "So Santa’s reindeer, which all sport antlers, are therefore all female, which means Rudolf has been misgendered."

As you might imagine, his harsh read on the holiday got a ton of pushback online ... with folks telling him to kick rocks and that he deserved a lump of coal for keeping it too real.

The Pope has died while discussing Covid-19 -- at least that's what one broadcaster almost had her viewers thinking ... when she mistakenly said the guy had croaked.

Francis' Christmas day remarks were being recapped Saturday by ITV broadcaster Kylie Pentelow, who was plugging along nicely ... until a little slip at the end when she said, "His death was announced ..."

Pentelow caught herself before she said anything more, and then apologized briefly before doing a hard pause and moving on to the next story.

There didn't seem to be any explanation as to why she said that -- but the obvious answer seems to be that she was reading off of a teleprompter, which must've said something to that effect. Indeed, a true Ron Burgundy moment in real-time.

Of course, the Pope isn't dead -- he's alive and kicking. And as for what he had to say about 'rona during his speech at the Vatican ... it was all about praying the pandemic away, and lamenting those who've suffered through the era of Covid.

The NYPD rookie who was caught on video giving a lap dance to a married lieutenant at a holiday party is super emotional, apologizing to the lieutenant's wife and also saying if she were a man who did something similar it wouldn't be nearly as big a deal.

Vera Mekuli tells TMZ ... she hasn't spoken to the lieutenant since the party and hasn't been comfortable showing up at her precinct. She says her fellow officers at the station have been pretty understanding, allowing her to work from home. She wants to eventually return to the station house and then go back to duty on the streets.

The dance went down last week in a bar in Yonkers. The 26-year-old had only had worked at the 44th Precinct for 4 months before the incident. She says she had no idea the lieutenant was hitched and even apologized to him for the position he's now in.

Vera says she's often the life of the party and believes she can be 2 different people -- buttoned up at work and loads of fun off duty. She says she did the lap dance as a dare as the party was winding down.

She tells us she's so embarrassed she hasn't left her house since the video surfaced. Really sad, because she's really shaken to her core over this ... and for her, it was just a fun moment at a Christmas party.

Merry Xmas everyone, and let's celebrate with an insane fight that erupted for no particular reason.

It went down on a late-night Delta flight from L.A. to Memphis. An eyewitness tells TMZ ... the man in blue had been drinking and was loud. The eyewitness says he was only wearing his mask sporadically, which pissed off some of the other passengers.

The guy he was fighting had apparently said something like, "You must be from L.A. because you think you're better than everyone else" ... whatever that means.

One of them said to the other, "You're a really horrible person," and that apparently triggered the fight.

They really went at it ... causing chaos in the cabin.

Strangely, police were nowhere in sight when the flight landed. The 2 men both went to baggage claim but kept their distance.

Happy holidays, everybody.

A woman committed the cardinal sin in the wedding world -- she apparently looked better than the bride, and says that's why she became persona non grata at the ceremony.

Alena Yildiz from Germany shared her story ... "My close friend uninvited me to her wedding because she thought I looked too good in the dress she chose for me," immodestly adding, "Still took some fire pics in it though."

Now here's the thing ... it ain't the usual ugly bridesmaid's dress, so what gives? Yildiz opened up to Insider, saying she's being treated differently from the other bridesmaids ... "all of our other friends wore extravagant dresses as well, but she only had a problem with me."

We'd call it a humble brag, but the fact is ... she pulls off the look in spectacular fashion!

Yildiz claims the bride was honest and insecure, saying the dress was "too attention-grabbing." She thinks it's all the bride's screw-up ... if she thought the dress would be too sexy on any of the 6 bridesmaids, she should have chosen an uglier garment ... certainly not one with a thigh-high slit.

BTW ... the friendship between Lildiz and the bride is kaput ... "It made me feel like I had no value to her as a friend."

Kate Middleton kicked off Christmas on the keys and on key ... for the first time ever, she played the piano publicly ... backing up Tom Walker's Xmas performance.

The Duchess of Cambridge showed off some pretty serious skills as she played, "For Those Who Can't Be Here" at Westminster Abbey ... which, BTW, looked awesome.

The vid was released Friday, though it was recorded a few days back at a royal Christmas carol service called "Together at Christmas" -- which Kate hosted. She had tweeted... "I’m so excited to be hosting #TogetheratChristmas here at @wabbey, a place that’s really special to William and me."

She was dressed in red, giving Walker the spotlight, although most eyes were on her. Walker dedicated to those who "can't be at Christmas."

Tom raved about the night they shared the stage ...  "WHAT A NIGHT🤯 I can’t thank enough for being a part of this performance. This is dedicated to those who can't be here this Christmas including my grandad."

Kris Jenner is no threat to Mariah Carey for sure, but she did a respectable job with her rendition of "Jingle Bells," with an assist from her future son-in-law.

KJ posted her version of the Xmas staple, as Travis Barker, who produced the tune on "Kravis Records," kept the beat on his drum set. Not bad to have Blink-182 as your backup.

Kourtney Kardashian contributed by playing the song's title.

As for the art on the album cover ... well, it's a back-in-the-day photo, and a good one at that.

It's not the first Kris Jenner release ... back in '85 she recorded "I Like My Friends" to the tune of Randy Newman's "I Love L.A."

If there's one thing Chevy Chase's Clark Griswold character in 'Christmas Vacation' inspired, it's lots of holiday shenanigans ... just ask one man who created a decoration prank based on the movie's most popular scene.

In a now viral TikTok, the decoration's creator shows how he constructed the homemade decoration to look like Clark dangling from his roof as he hung Christmas lights. The prank even comes complete with audio, making it sound like the struggling man is shouting for help.

In another video, you see the local fire department racing to the scene -- seemingly to help out the fake decorator -- though it's unclear if they were part of the gig as well.

"Wheel of Fortune" fans can rest easy knowing all their outrage toward how one contestant's show ended has actually paid off ... in the form of a new Audi!

If you missed it, a woman named Charlene made it to the final round and caught a nice break when the standard "RSTLNE" and her guessed letters "GDHI" nearly filled out the entire puzzle.

The winning phrase was, "CHOOSING THE RIGHT WORD." At first, Charlene guessed, "CHOOSING THE RIGHT CARD," but when that was wrong, she shouted out "CHOOSING THE RIGHT" before taking a 4-5 second pause and yelling out "WORD!"

The crowd thought she had won, but Pat Sajak delivered the tough news ... telling her she took too long to say the word "Word," and that the phrase needed to have been said all at once to be a winner. It was then revealed Charlene lost out on a $40,000 Audi Q3.

Lucky for Charlene, both "WoF" and the people at Audi took notice of her blunder ... and Charlene is getting an Audi after all!

Actor Alicia Witt's lost both of her parents in very mysterious circumstances -- the couple was found dead in their home ... but cops have no clear indication on how they passed.

The 'Walking Dead' star says she asked a relative to check on her folks -- Robert and Diane, who are 87 and 75, respectively -- after not hearing from them for a few days, and on Monday, their bodies were discovered by police in Worcester, MA.

Cops tell us the deaths are not considered suspicious at this time, and while the fire department checked the home with meters -- presumably for carbon monoxide -- there weren't any abnormal readings.

Local reports say the Witts had recently been having issues with their furnace and were using a space heater, but without an abnormal carbon monoxide reading ... their cause of death won't be determined until after autopsies are completed.

Alicia is obviously devastated, saying, "the outcome was unimaginable" and she needs "time to grieve and to wrap my head around this turn of events and this surreal loss."

Gross scene at the Idaho Potato Bowl on Tuesday ... a Kent State offensive lineman got so sick during the game, he puked all over the field.

... and he got flagged for it!!

The nasty play went down early in the second quarter of KSU's bowl game with Wyoming ... when the Golden Flashes were facing a third-and-goal situation.

In video of the scene, you can see left tackle Bill Kuduk -- wearing a No. 71 jersey -- vomited right before the ball was snapped ... causing defensive players on Wyoming to flinch across the line of scrimmage.

Of course, the refs threw a flag on Kuduk for a false start penalty ... which was assessed after the up-chucking happened during the snap count.

To Bill's credit, he stayed in the game and seemed to play well ... and was a good sport over it all afterward, tweeting, "Puke and Rally!!! Appreciate the shout out #MACtion."

Packers and Ravens fans got into an all-out brawl during the teams' game Sunday -- and the action got so violent, one fan left the melee with his jacket covered in blood.

The wild scene all went down in the stands at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore ... when Green Bay supporters began jawing with men in Ravens jerseys.

Unclear what initially started the arguments -- but video from the scene shows a guy in a cheesehead hat appeared to ignite the physical fracas after he struck a Baltimore fan in the face.

Check out the video, as soon as the man was hit -- fists flew everywhere, with roughly half a dozen people getting involved in the skirmish.

At one point, a Ravens fan wanted to insert himself so badly into the fight -- he left his feet to jump on top of the crowd.

As security came to separate the combatants, you can see in the clip a woman appeared to have been struck in the cheek during the commotion, which caused one Ravens fan to yell, "Who the f*** punched her in the face?! I swear to f***ing God I'll kill you!"

Eventually, security was able to gain control of the situation -- though it's unclear if any arrests were made. We've reached out to cops, but so far, no word back yet.

Of course, this is far from the first act of violence at an NFL game this season -- fans have been fighting all year, including at the Rams vs. Bears game earlier in the season.

Danielle Bush -- a dancer for the Utah Jazz -- got the surprise of a lifetime during Monday night's game ... when she got an epic marriage proposal during her on-court routine!

The amazing and romantic moment went down at the Hornets vs. Jazz game, when the Utah dancers were performing during a break.

In the video, you can see Danielle and the rest of the team were hitting synchronized moves, when suddenly, the routine changed and Danielle had no idea what was happening.

A few seconds later, though, her boyfriend popped out with a ring ... and asked her to marry him!

Danielle said "yes" as Bruno Mars' "Marry You" played over the speakers ... and it was all super sweet.

The dancers provided background moves while the whole thing went down ... making the whole thing all the more magical.

Amazing moment -- congrats!!