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The Island Boys are setting the record straight on a rumor swirling around the internet ... they say they are NOT the kids who took a photo with Jeffrey Epstein back in the day.

Here's the deal ... an old photo showing Epstein posing on a tropical beach with four young kids recently resurfaced online, with lots of folks claiming the kids flanking JE were the Island Boys.

Flyysoulja tells TMZ … he and his twin brother Kodiyakredd have seen the viral photo but the kids in the image are NOT them.

There's speculation the photo was snapped on one of Epstein's private islands in the Caribbean, and Flyysoulja says he and his brother never left Florida until they were 18, and the photo doesn't look like it's from their home state.

What's more, Flyysoulja says he looked exactly like his fraternal twin when they were growing up ... meaning they didn't have different colored hair like the boys in the Epstein photo.

Flyysoulja also points out that the boys in the photo appear to be Caucasian, while the Island Boys are Cuban.

The Dollar General cashier who took down an alleged shoplifter with her car says she's been fired after footage of the incident went viral.

The ex-Dollar General employee in the wild video is Jessie Sotto and she tells TMZ ... she's upset about her firing because she loved her job, and thought she was a good cashier who had her former employer's best interests at heart.

Jessie, who was a criminal justice major in college, says the alleged shoplifter had been a known problem at her Fresno, CA store ... ignoring prior warnings to stop stealing. She says she'd finally had enough, and decided to take matters into her own hands.

As we reported ... doorbell footage shows Jessie smashing her car into the alleged shoplifter while he was riding a bike down a residential street, with the crash scattering the alleged stolen items all over someone's front yard.

The incident went down earlier this month, and Jessie says once the video was on the internet she was canned.

Jessie claims the guy walked out with flowers, chips, donuts, bread, cheese, bologna and other items without paying ... and says she chased him down and asked him to give the stuff back. When he refused and called her a "bitch," Jessie says she tried to stop him with her car.

The guy in the video threatened to press charges against Jessie, but she says she hasn't seen or heard from him and police tell us they responded to the scene but the guy was nowhere to be found so no report was taken.

The frustration in her voice is clear ... and Jessie is now working for DoorDash.

Elizabeth Holmes has traded in her customary black turtlenecks for prison fatigues ... 'cause she just surrendered to authorities at a federal lockup.

The disgraced former Theranos CEO arrived Tuesday at the Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas, where she will serve her 11-year sentence after her 2022 conviction on four counts of wire fraud and conspiracy resulting from her phony blood testing scheme. She made several requests to stay free while appealing her conviction, but the judge denied her each time.

During her incarceration, Holmes will be far apart from her family ... making the prison experience that much harder.

Her husband, William Evans, lives in California with their 1-year-old son and 3-month-old daughter, which could make visiting Holmes a challenge.

On the flip side, Holmes will be in close proximity to another familiar face ... "Real Housewives of Salt Lake City" star Jen Shah is serving her 6.5-year sentence at the same facility for running a fraudulent telemarketing enterprise. The two will have plenty of time to get to know each other.

As we reported, Holmes was indicted for telling investors her company -- Theranos -- created a one-of-a-kind machine to streamline a full range of clinical tests using blood samples. But, her promise of conducting cheaper and easier blood testing was all just a ruse to get her investors to hand over hundreds of millions of dollars. A judge has ordered Holmes to pay $452 million in restitution to the victims of her scam.

A multi-day search for a Louisiana teen who jumped from a sunset cruise in the Bahamas has come to its tragic end -- and the last known sighting of him was caught on harrowing video.

Footage has surfaced showing 18-year-old Cameron Robbins -- who'd just graduated high school in Baton Rouge -- swimming in the open seas at night near Athol Island last week ... where he was on a sunset cruise with a bunch of his peers celebrating their achievement.

Word is Cameron went overboard on his own accord, and not just that -- but, apparently, it was on a dare. In the clip, you can kinda tell his buddies were getting a kick out of it.

That is until he vanished behind the boat and out of view of everyone, who began screaming at him to grab a life preserver that'd been thrown to him -- which was pretty far away, and he didn't end up reaching it. Once he disappeared, everyone began to panic.

Since he went missing, a multi-day search was undertaken by both Bahamian authorities and the U.S. Coast Guard -- but Robbins was never found, and the search has now been called off after several unsuccessful days of scouring the area for any sign of him.

It sounds like Cameron is presumed dead, as the Coast Guard issued a statement saying ... "We offer our sincerest condolences to Cameron Robbins' family and friends." His family flew into the Bahamas last week, and prayer vigils have been held for him for a few days now.

His family has also spoken out ... "The Bahamas government has called off the rescue for Cameron and we are returning to Baton Rouge. We want to thank the Bahamas government, the U.S. Coast Guard, the United Cajun Navy, and Congressman Garrett Graves for everything they have done for us. In this time of grief, we thank our family, friends, and well-wishers for granting us the privacy we need to properly remember our son and mourn his loss."

The husband of a recent beauty pageant contestant was in an all-out rage after his wife was named the runner-up ... rushing the stage and chucking the winner's crown on the floor!!!

Here's the deal -- Emannuelly Belini, representing Várzea Grande, was being crowned at Brazil's Miss Gay Mato Grosso 2023 on Saturday when the husband of 2nd place-winner Nathally Becker rushed on stage with some obvious qualms.

Check out the insane clip ... the husband grabs the crown just as it's being placed on Belini's head and slams it on the floor! As folks are in pure shock, he throws it down again before trying to walk off with his wife -- ultimately getting stopped by security.

The event put out a statement after the sore loser incident -- reiterating that Belini was indeed deemed the winner of this year's event, while also condemning the actions of Becker's hubby ... claiming the org's camp will be taking appropriate legal action after the ordeal.

A North Carolina bus driver got into a shootout with a passenger while traveling along a designated route ... and the violent encounter was caught on video.

David Fullard was behind the wheel of a Charlotte Area Transit System bus when Omarri Tobias approached and asked to be let off between stops. The two began to argue after Fullard said Tobias would have to wait until the next stop, prompting each to whip out guns.

Check out surveillance footage from inside the bus, which shows the men aiming their firearms at one another and squeezing off shots at close range.

Tobias was hit in the stomach, but he managed to crawl to the back of the bus. Fullard, who was struck in the arm, stopped the bus and continued to fire at Tobias. But, Tobias was able to slither out the side door to safety.

Both men were treated for their injuries and expected to make a full recovery. Two other passengers aboard the bus were unharmed.

Charlotte Mecklenburg Police arrested Tobias and charged him with assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injuries, communicating threats and carrying a concealed firearm.

Fullard has not been criminally charged ... but he was fired by RATP Dev, which employs transit system bus drivers in the region.

The Charlotte Area Transit System said Fullard failed to follow proper procedure, explaining he should have de-escalated the situation by allowing Tobias to exit the bus before arriving at the next stop.

Jane Fonda isn't chasing award show glory anymore, and she certainly wasn't about to chase the winner of one France's after a director took top honors ... see for yourself.

The actress was on hand Saturday at Cannes, where the the Palme d'Or was awarded to French filmmaker Justine Triet for her flick, 'Anatomy of a Fall' -- with JF announcing her as the winner and there to give her the actual prize ... a scroll/certificate with her name on it.

Watch ... after Triet accepted the award and gave a heartfelt speech, she started heading back to the nearby bleachers onstage where the rest of her team was, as she was prepared to give a round of hugs. Only problem -- she forgot the actual award at the podium!

Jane was right on it, grabbing the certificate and briefly running after Triet to flag her down so she could take her paper hardware with her, but it doesn't look Triet heard her at all.

After quickly realizing it was a lost cause and that Triet wasn't coming back for it anytime soon, Jane stopped in her tracks and chucked the thing at her ... and it made contact. 😅

Everyone in the audience saw it, and the moment was actually captured as part of the broadcast. Funny enough, a gent standing right there picked it up and also tried to giving it to Triet -- but even he was unsuccessful in getting it back to her. She was in the zone!

No harm, no foul -- the certificate is as light as a feather and it doesn't appear she even felt it hit her back when Jane threw it at her. All in all, it was hilarious ... and oh so very Jane.

Selena Gomez was caught on camera yelling at a security guard while heading into a Beyoncé concert this week -- and it certainly has strong echoes of Taylor Swift.

The pop star/actress was one of several stars who hit up Bey's show in Paris Friday -- just one of many stops on her Renaissance tour -- and while she was crossing the main stage area ... you can see she had a heated confrontation with one of the dudes trailing her.

He's with security, no doubt, and it seems he might've done something to piss Selena off -- 'cause she was definitely chewing him out. You can see he comes over closer to talk to her and then points in another direction. As for what this was about ... there are some theories.

Some on social media are claiming the bodyguard -- who was seen following Selena at other points in the show, leading sleuths to believe he might actually work for her personally -- aggressively shut down a fan who was trying to reach/talk to Selena as she was passing by.

There's no evidence of that from what we can see, but it's plausible -- she was getting pretty close to the front row crowd as she was heading to her VIP area ... and was even high-fiving several along the way. Maybe somebody got a little too handsy past the barricade.

There's one video circulating that purports to show a group of people attempting to mob her on the stadium floor ... but, to be honest, it's hard to make out what's what in the clip.

Of course, right on cue, there are some haters who are criticizing SG over this -- suggesting she overreacted to a tactic used in her best interest -- and others who are praising her. But, again, nobody seems to actually know what this was all about -- it's pure speculation.

Now, if there's any truth to the security/fan story ... you'd naturally compare it to what Taylor recently did at one of her shows -- where she stuck up for a concertgoer who had a run-in with security down on the floor. That incident was much easier to parse, though.

Reports of bomb threats made to several Target stores over three different states have now been classified as a hoax -- and it seems someone was trying to plant a false flag.

Target locations in Utah, Ohio and Pennsylvania -- spanning the greater Cleveland, Salt Lake City and Pittsburgh areas -- reportedly received correspondence Friday threatening to blow up several sites ... and all the emails sent referenced the Pride Month display controversy.

At first, it seemed the threats were coming from folks boycotting Target for supporting Pride Month -- but, Cleveland 19 News published a screenshot of the email in question, and it actually appeared to come from an LGBTQ+ ally angry about Target's decision to back down.

The note -- which was sent by someone named Alsan Akhmedov -- reads in part, "Target is full of cowards who turned their back on the LGBT community and decided to cater to the homophobic right wing redneck bigots who protested and vandalized their store."

It continues, "We won't stand idly by as the far right continues to hunt us down. We are sending you a message, we placed a bomb in the following targets." Four Targets in OH and one in PA were referenced ... the Utah stores were not mentioned in this specific message.

All of those stores -- plus some in Utah, which also received bomb threats -- were evacuated ... but after preliminary investigations, cops are now saying this whole thing is fake.

Some law enforcement agencies have reportedly said the email looks to have originated from overseas, and that there was no credible threat upon inspection at the Targets mentioned. Cops in Utah -- where the stores also appear to have been sent a similar email -- said the same thing ... calling the bomb threats "bogus." In other words, disinformation.

It was as terrifying as it gets on a flight over South Korea Friday ... after a passenger opened an emergency exit door mid-flight ... triggering chaos and fear in the cabin.

An Asiana Airlines Airbus was cruising high during its 1-hour flight when a passenger somehow was able to open the emergency exit just behind the wing. Other passengers tried to thwart the effort but failed.

The plane -- which normally cruises at around 500 MPH -- became a wind tunnel inside the cabin, and the video graphically shows the force of the gusts that enveloped the 194 passengers.

The plane landed safely and the passenger who opened the door was taken into custody. The motive is unclear.

Miraculously, none of the passengers suffered any injuries -- however, some were taken to the hospital for observation.

Here's how insane the culture wars have gotten ... people are now vandalizing Target stores and destroying Pride signs, and that's not all.

A guy named Ethan Schmidt, a radically right-wing internet personality, paid a visit to a Target store and ripped down a "#TakePride" sign around an LGBTQ clothes rack.

His anger and hatred are palpable in the video.

Target has been just that -- a target for featuring LGBTQ apparel and other items. In addition to the boycott which has already cost the chain $9 billion, employees have been harassed. That led to a decision to move some of the LGBTQ items, which infuriated people from the community. It's the proverbial rock-and-a-hard place.

There have been other, more subtle gestures, like someone who left a case of Bud Light next to an LGBTQ display.

Now there are folks attacking the store for not having a display honoring the military on Memorial Day. One of the protesters proclaimed, "You're going to go down like Budweiser."

About a dozen travelers got into an all-out brawl at Chicago's O'Hare Airport with lots of fists flying, hair pulling and rolling around on the floor.

Check out video, posted to Twitter, which shows guys and girls getting into the knockdown, drag out fight Monday night at the baggage claim area of Terminal 3.

Unclear what triggered the violence ... but the scene quickly turned chaotic, and the participants started wailing at one another.

You see 3 men wildly throw punches on the luggage carousel. Women try to pull out each other's hair while grappling on the ground. One woman is barefoot, having lost her shoes during the WWE-like Battle Royal.

Thankfully police arrived to break up the fight before anyone got seriously hurt.

Several Yankees fans nearly got a lapful of peanuts, Cracker Jacks and squirrel out at the old ballgame Tuesday night -- and the Pinstripes supporters couldn't have been more mortified by it!!!

The Animal Planet-like scene all went down during New York's tilt against the Baltimore Orioles ... when, somehow, a squirrel broke into Yankee Stadium and took an in-game jaunt around the outfield.

First, it was seen posted up near the Yanks' bullpen ... then it was spotted in the center field grass. But, when it made its way near the stands, that's when all hell broke loose.

Check out video of rodent's run across an outfield wall -- fans were absolutely terrified to be so close to the creature!!

You can see most of the guys in the area had alarmed looks on their faces -- which is not too surprising ... considering New York is, after all, known as a concrete jungle.

Don't worry, no one was bit by the creature -- and as far we know, no squirrels were harmed during the game. Plus, the Yanks seemed to get some good mojo by it all ... going on to beat the O's, 6-5, in a walk-off thriller.

There's something strange happening in our sky ... new footage shows a mass UFO sighting in the California desert, and it's eerily reminiscent of a famous UFO event.

Experts Jeremy Corbell and George Knapp revealed the startling footage Tuesday morning on their podcast, "Weaponized," saying the video and photos were shot back in April 2021 over Twentynine Palms, CA.

Jeremy says the UFO was hovering over the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center at Camp Wilson ... and he says the event lasted for 10 minutes, with more than 50 eyewitnesses, including dozens of Marines being trained at the sprawling base.

Ya gotta see the footage ... the triangular formation of lights looks like California's version of the famous "Phoenix Lights" sighting from March 1997 in Arizona.

Jeremy says the UFO appeared at 8:20 PM and after hovering over the base for 9 minutes, the Marines launched a significant air and ground response.

He says the Marines fired flares at the UFO, and the mysterious craft disappeared just before the flares got close enough to expose the UFO.

Based on the footage, Jeremy estimates the UFO -- which was silent -- could be as big as a 3-bedroom, 2-story house.

Tom Sandoval is NOT dating Texas influencer Karlee Hale despite media reports to the contrary, TMZ has learned.

A rep for Tom tells us ... the "Vanderpump Rules" star is just friends with Karlee and recently hung out with her because he happened to be in Austin performing with his band. The rep noted there were other people in their group at the time they were seen together.

The Sun published a TikTok video of Tom and Karlee seated at a table in a hotel restaurant last Wednesday. Tom was apparently trying to fly under the radar, wearing a white baseball cap with the brim covering his face.

The sighting reportedly came on the heels of Tom and his 'VPR' co-star Raquel Leviss calling it quits on their seven-month affair. According to Page Six, Raquel pulled the plug on their romance, quoting a source as saying, "Raquel dipped out. Sandoval is not for her." However, PEOPLE reports Tom and Raquel's relationship status hasn't changed as they were never a couple.

Since that report last week, Tom and Raquel have yet to comment on the status of their relationship.

Back in April, Tom told paparazzi ... Raquel was getting treatment at a mental health facility after the fallout from Tom's much publicized break up with longtime girlfriend Ariana Madix.

The security guard who went viral for being an undercover Swiftie says it was a simple process to get the job working Taylor Swift's Eras Tour, but he admits things didn't go as he originally planned.

Davis Perrigo, whose day job is accounting, joined us Monday on "TMZ Live," and explained he just had to fill out a form in order to work "security" at Nashville's Nissan Stadium for Taylor's concert -- and even did a test run by working a Luke Combs' concert at the same venue the week before.

ow-pressureOnce Davis was in the stadium he figured out how to get himself as close to the singer as possible ... and ended up doing a very basic, l security detail while havin' the time of his life.

ICYMI, clips of Davis have blown up online, showing him singing to his heart's content as Taylor's performing over his shoulder.

Many fans expressed love for him after seeing him go all out -- in true Swiftee fashion -- but Davis also gives us the deets about a "real" security guard who had to tell him to tone it down.

And BTW, Davis had a completely different plan for sneaking in before he found the spot up front. Originally, he was gonna ditch his uniform altogether and have fun in the audience.