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Larry Elder is the victim of a hate crime -- that's how L.A. County Sheriff Alex Villanueva is viewing a woman's attempt to egg the gubernatorial candidate, and he's calling out "woke" politicians over the incident.

Villanueva hopped on the Sheriff Dept.'s Twitter account to sound off about Wednesday's campaign trail incident ... wondering out loud how it's not a hate crime?

If you missed it, Elder -- the conservative talk radio host-turned candidate -- was in Venice Beach when a white woman wearing a gorilla mask with pink hair threw the egg (she missed) and punched one of Elder's security staffers.

The Sheriff answered his own question, tweeting ... "'woke privilege' means a white woman can wear a gorilla mask and attack a black man without fear of being called a racist."

He also, mockingly, wondered why all the normally outraged politicians aren't speaking up in Elder's defense.

Villanueva clearly thinks it's hypocrisy, and there's no outrage purely because Elder is a conservative, who's also the leading Republican candidate in California's recall election.

As we reported, someone also fired a pellet gun Wednesday, hitting one of Elder's staffers. No one was injured, but cops are searching for that suspect as well as the egg tosser and a bald man ... also seen striking one of Elder's staffers.

We spoke to Elder at his next stop, and he chalked up the incident to folks being angry about the homeless situation. He also shaded Newsom.

Larry Elder didn't seem to win over any voters in Venice, CA where a campaign stop turned ugly as a woman tried to egg him, threw punches ... and someone even fired a pellet gun!!!

The conservative talk show host, and Republican leader in the CA Governor recall election -- made the trip to the beach community Tuesday to address the homeless crisis, but got a very hostile greeting from at least one woman wearing a gorilla mask.

Video shows the woman hurl an egg, just missing the back of Elder's head ... and then one of his staffers quickly got in her face. She didn't back down and loudly threatened the man, before hauling back and punching him. He did not retaliate, but then another man stepped up and barked threats at Elder and his team.

The nasty face-off continued until security whisked the candidate into a waiting SUV.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... someone from the crowd fired a pellet gun -- although it's not on video -- and struck a member of Elder's team. We're told cops are investigating, but no one's been arrested yet.

Larry's getting lots of attention as the top Republican candidate in a crowded field looking to replace incumbent California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is up for a recall.

Tuesday is the deadline to cast a vote, and it's getting hot coming down the home stretch.

"So you’re Patrick Mahomes??"

Dallas Cowboys cornerback Trevon Diggs' son, Aaiden had a priceless reaction to meeting star quarterback Dak Prescott ... by mistaking him for Patrick Mahomes!!

The whole interaction was absolutely adorable ... and thankfully, it was captured on the finale of HBO's "Hard Knocks" Tuesday night.

4-year-old Aaiden -- who refers to Dak as his "favorite quarterback in my whole entire world" -- was wearing a #4 jersey at an ice cream shop with his pops when none other than Prescott walks in the door.

And, Aaiden's reaction is incredible.

"So, you’re Patrick Mahomes??" he asked.

Dak played it off like a champ -- saying, "You think I’m Patrick Mahomes still?? Whose jersey is this??" he said as the whole room cracked up.

Aaiden then corrected himself ... and then said, "Good to see you."

Despite the confusion, Dak still hooked Aaiden up with some awesome keepsakes ... including 2(!!) jerseys -- one to wear and one to frame.

The best part -- Dak played along with Aaiden ... signing one of the jerseys as, "Not Patrick Mahomes" to prevent further mistaken identity!!

Of course, this isn't the first time Aaiden's made the mix-up ... in a previous episode, he thought his #4 jersey was actually a nod to Mahomes (also adorable).

Ross Mathews has a message for the high school kid who was attacked by a fellow student for draping himself in a Pride flag -- stay strong, because you are loved.

As we reported ... the high schooler in Valdosta, GA was violently pulled to the ground and had his flag ripped away and thrown in the trash by one of his peers, while other students looked on and laughed.

Ross is circumspect ... saying this sort of homophobia is nothing new, sadly ... but he's trying to lead the charge to rally around the student who was attacked, embrace him, and send him love.

In fact, the "RuPaul's Drag Race" judge says if he were still in high school ... he'd ask the kid to prom to show him he's got his back.

Tori Spelling's heard all the buzz from folks comparing her new look to Khloe Kardashian, and she has just one word ... honored.

We got the '90210' star out at the Malibu Chili Cook-Off on Monday night and we wanted to get her take on fans raving about her resemblance to Khloe during a recent lunch outing.

As they say, flattery will get ya everywhere with Tori, because, as she put it to us, Khloe's gorgeous. We asked if she intentionally went for a Khloe-look, and you've gotta see her reaction. We'll just say ... she was amused.

ICYMI ... Tori posted a pic last week wearing a denim jumpsuit and black leather boots. The glam look had everyone losing their minds about how much she looked like Khloe in her blonde days.

One fan tweeted, "Who Wore It Better Khloe Kardashian or Is It Tori Spelling... Khloe Spelling." In fact, fans said Tori's exact look was eerily similar to a Khloe outfit she wore back in February 2020.

We also asked Tori about the Scott Disick-Amelia Hamlin drama, but Tori wouldn't bite.

Paul Pierce is NOT sorry for posting a bunch of booty-shakin' women on his Instagram Live earlier this year ... saying he was just having some harmless adult fun.

The 43-year-old NBA legend posted a kinda NSFW video from inside a friend's home after a night of drinking and smoking back in April ... showing a group of barely-clothed ladies twerking and dancing.

The video went viral on social media ... and ESPN parted ways with The Truth shortly after.

Now, Pierce is opening up on the days following the incident ... saying his agent recommended he apologize -- in case it would affect Hall of Fame voting -- but he elected not to.

"Come on, I didn’t do anything illegal," Pierce told Sports Illustrated. “These motherf***ers in the Hall of Fame, some did [cocaine], f***ing battery. What the f*** did I do? I was just having a good time."

"All the people coming after me, half you motherf***ers do the same s***. You’re just hiding it. And, you all are married while you’re doing it. I’m divorced. I’m retired. I’m having fun."

Of course, the vid had zero impact on getting Pierce into the Hall -- he's set to be enshrined alongside Chris Bosh and Chris Webber this weekend -- but if it did, he says it would have been "the biggest stiff job in Hall of Fame history."

Pierce had previously told us he's poised to make a BIG comeback ... but as for now, he's remained off the TV.

A high school student draped in a Pride flag had it violently ripped from him and thrown in the trash by one of his peers ... who's facing charges for his seemingly homophobic attack.

Video of the disgusting incident comes from Lowndes High School in Valdosta, GA, where a male student in a black shirt was filmed running up to the student with the rainbow flag and taking it from him ... knocking him down in the process.

One of the student's friends tries to ward off the attacker, but he pulls the flag away and forcefully shoves it in the trash before the video cuts off.

According to Lowndes County Sheriff, Ashley Paulk, a juvenile has been charged in the incident. The charges include disorderly conduct, simple battery and disruption of a public facility.

The school's assistant principal, Rodney Green, says, "We take the well-being and safety of our students seriously. Our staff works hard to provide a safe environment where all of our students feel valued."

A woman who seemingly got kicked off a flight for wearing a revealing outfit believes she was also harassed and discriminated against because of her weight ... and possibly other aspects of her appearance.

Ray Lin Howard shared a video on TikTok of the apparent aftermath of getting booted from her Alaska Airlines flight Friday, in which police are questioning her about what went down.

She tells the cops she was wearing a sports bra -- she shows them too -- and was told by the flight attendants to cover up ... so she says she did with a pink leopard print shirt.

According to Howard ... that didn't satisfy the airline staff and she kept getting harassed because her stomach was showing, and she was ultimately removed from the flight.

The cops imply she was booted for violating the airline's dress code -- something she rebuts -- but tell her it doesn't look like she acted criminally in any way.

In a follow-up TikTok, Howard says she was eventually released and the airline contacted her to apologize and offered her a discount on future purchases.

However, she tells Jam Press that this was about more than her outfit, saying ... "I felt like I was being discriminated against for being a fat, tattooed, mixed-race woman, which in turn left me full of emotions like anger, disappointment, helplessness, humiliation and confusion."

She also described the incident as the worst example of "fatphobia" she's encountered in her life.

We reached out to Alaska Airlines, who say they're in contact with the guest and "committed to finding out what happened and taking the appropriate actions." Alaska adds, "It's our goal to provide caring service to all of our guests. When we don't live up to that goal, we do everything we can to make it right."

Scott Disick had to know the other shoe was gonna drop, and it did in pretty spectacular fashion, as his current girlfriend dragged him for dragging his ex, Kourtney Kardashian.

Amelia Gray Hamlin showed her apparent displeasure by posting a photo of a tank top with the words "Don't you have a girlfriend?" emblazoned in the front.

The 20-year-old broke her silence after her 42-year-old BF expressed his displeasure over Kourtney and Travis Barker kissing on a boat in Italy ... sending a DM to another Kourtney ex, Younes Bendjima, saying "Yo is this chick ok!??? Broooo like what is this. In the middle of Italy."

Scott, who had shaded Younes when he was dating Kourtney, didn't bank on Bendjima putting Scott and his DM on blast. Younes wrote ... "Doesn't matter to me as long as she's happy."  And then the parting shot ... "PS: I aint your bro."

For Kourtney's part ... she's clearly unhappy about her ex's DM, posting a pic of 2 people sharing a kiss with the caption, "Relax ... this is going to hurt forever. How to get over someone who treated you badly."

It's unclear how this whole thing will affect the co-parenting of their 3 kids.

People sure do love them some Mark Hamill -- even if it just means the guy's name getting mentioned ... by either him or anyone else, which is turning into a viral game of sorts.

The "Star Wars" vet is trending right now ... and it's all because he name-dropped himself in response to a Twitter user suggesting (or daring?) that he could garner well over a thousand "likes" on the platform by merely writing "Mark Hamill." That's how much he's adored.

Welp, he caught wind of her theory ... and decided to put it to the test, which ended up in staggering results -- not to mention others getting in on the fun as well.

Dude quote-tweeted this chick and did exactly what she said ... writing simply, "Mark Hamill." As of right now ... that same tweet is on its way to 100k likes, and over 4k retweets!!!

Sure enough, the Internet took notice ... and wanted to try it out themselves -- almost like a Candyman thing, where if you say his name ... Twitter likes will appear. Some are finding success -- like George Takei, who did the same and has racked up over 4k likes.

Ditto for actor Ken Olin ... who openly wondered if the rule would apply to any Schmo who tried this -- and yes ... his "Mark Hamill" tweet is also taking off, with well over 3k likes.

Of course, normies (AKA, non-blue checkmarks) are having a harder time getting the "like" love on their own timeline ... which just goes to show, a little Twitter notoriety goes a long way. Followers help too ... but it seems this "challenge" is reserved for the bird app elite.

As for the OG poster for this trend ... she's basking in the Hamill glory, especially since he digs her "Star Wars" memes and mega-fandom. He's even commenting on her other tweets.

Comedian Fuquan Johnson died this weekend of an apparent overdose -- along with two others -- while a fourth person is in the hospital ... the recent girlfriend of one Darius Rucker, TMZ has learned.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... there was a get-together Friday night at someone's house in the Venice neighborhood of L.A., where Johnson was in attendance -- as was Kate Quigley ... a comedian/model who has been, of late, dating the Hootie & the Blowfish lead singer -- this after the guy split with his longtime wife just last summer.

Darius' rep, however, confirms to TMZ ... he is not dating Kate, and hasn't been for a while. They were reportedly going out for a good chunk of last year -- and there's photos of them on her IG page as a couple from this past May. Seems there's no affiliation now, though.

As for who owns the place where this went down -- there's a few owners listed ... and we do know Quigley was a resident (and perhaps still is) at what appears to be an adjacent property right next door to where the 911 call was directed to. Could be a duplex.

In any case, we're told cops were summoned a little after midnight, and when they arrived ... they found 4 people who appeared to be either deceased or close to it. Our sources say Johnson and 2 others were pronounced dead on the scene ... while Quigley was transported to the hospital in critical condition. Unclear how she's doing now -- we've tried reaching out to her team for comment, but have come up short on contacts for the woman.

We're told cocaine laced with fentanyl appears to be what was ingested by all. Autopsies will be done for the three bodies -- which are with the L.A. Coroner's Office now. We're working on getting the IDs of the other two victims ... who might also be comedians themselves.

Our law enforcement sources also tell us this ... the LAPD's homicide unit was notified about this case -- but no word on whether they're getting directly involved just yet, although LAPD is investigating. It's unclear who originally supplied the coke, who bought it or under what circumstances it might've been passed around/used by the four individuals.

Because of that ... we're told it's hard to tell if any charges might come of this -- as our sources say they don't know, for now, where the drugs came from. Still, it could spell trouble ... and possibly mean Uncle Sam gets involved, a la Mac Miller -- whose death spurred federal charges after an investigation ... with indictments for the alleged dealers.

Fuquan and Kate are buddies, they've been photographed together dating back a few years now. FJ is knee-deep in the L.A. comedy scene, as is Kate -- they kick it with the likes of Joey Diaz, Donnell Rawlings, Jay Pharoah, Jeff Ross, Chaunte Wayans and others.

Fuquan was 43.

RIP

A guy waded through waist-deep waters just to deliver grub to a hungry New Yorker during Hurricane Ida's massive flooding -- and one photog wants to ID him ... and get him paid!

The man in this video was filmed by Johnny Miller, who runs a freelance photography business -- among other ventures -- and who couldn't believe this dude got stuck on a food run for someone who might've used GrubHub, or any number of other delivery apps.

He wrote ... "And through it all! @Grubhub delivery still out there bringing your dinner #ida #flooding #brooklyn. Miller says this was in Willamsburg, around 10 PM on Wednesday.

The next day, Miller set out on a mission to actually find this dude, and give him some dough ... because the guy seems to need it if he's putting himself at risk for a gig job like this during a dangerous storm. And so, JM hit the streets ... using context clues he picked up on.

After a hard search in the same area, Miller says he came up empty -- this upon realizing he might've been using a generic Chinese takeout bag ... making it virtually impossible to pin him down. He even talked to other delivery bikers there, and they too had no clue.

Miller didn't give up ... requesting the help of the NYT, plus the general public. He's determined to locate the man and bring his story out in the open. Looks like he might've made some groundwork with an org called the Workers Justice Project, which dabbles in this field and might be able to assist in identifying the gig worker. Even AOC got in it!

She noted that now is NOT the time to be ordering delivery in NYC ... because some of these "deliveristas" might not have a choice but to work in these harsh conditions, and they shouldn't have to be subjected to that. The video has sparked larger talks about this type of work in general, with some pointing out these folks are legitimately underpaid and exploited.

BTW, this is far from the only bike food courier who's roughing in the flood ... there are other stories and images of workers doing the exact same thing -- and it's tough to see.

Drake appears to have leaked an unreleased Kanye West "Donda" track that didn't make the cut, which actually takes shots at the former ... a bizarre move that seems to have backfired.

Drizzy was guest hosting a session of Sound 42 on Sirius XM early Saturday morning -- which plays a ton of OVO-affiliated tunes ... and which Drake announced he'd be hopping on around 2 AM to mix in a few of his own selected tracks for listeners. He wasn't shy about it.

Sure enough, he did it ... but folks noticed that during his time, Drake actually dropped a Ye song that hadn't been heard before -- and which sounded like it was a missing "Donda" cut.

It's called "Life of the Party," and it features Andre 3000 -- who raps about his own late mother over a melancholy soul beat, killing his verse and kinda the whole song in the process. People are saying it's the best "Donda" song ... and wondering why it wasn't included.

Meanwhile, Kanye jumps on after for a couple verses, and takes some direct shots at Drake.

KW raps, "I put Virgil and Drake on the same text // And it wasn't about the matching Arc'teryx or Kid Cudi dress // Just told these grown men stop with the funny s***."

He goes on to name drop Drake again in the same verse, saying he told him to stop playing with him -- and then saying Drake "sent that message to everybody." It's unclear what exactly Ye's talking about -- he might be alluding the group text he sent, but that was Kanye who sent that warning shot ... not Drake. In any case, just more fuel to the fire for their beef.

It also seems like Kanye might be having problems with Cudi too -- because he name-dropped him as well ... and suggested that Drake and KC wear matching dresses. Funny enough Cudi is featured on both of these guys' albums -- just like Jay-Z and other rappers.

There's more that Kanye touches on in his part of the song -- including avoiding the over-sexualization of children in his household (an issue that's been addressed with North before) ... and he even makes a "red hat" mention toward the end. This onion's got unlimited layers.

The remnants of Hurricane Ida led to fatal flooding and destruction in New York and New Jersey, and the area's under a state of emergency Thursday as everyone deals with the aftermath.

The National Weather Service issued a flash flood emergency in NYC for the first time -- not to mention a tornado watch -- as torrential rains flooded streets and subway lines, swept away cars, suspended flights, and destroyed buildings and homes overnight.

Sadly, the storm has also resulted in 9 reported deaths, including a mother and her 22-year-old son who were killed when a building partially collapsed in Queens.

NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio called the storm a "historic weather event" and warned citizens to stay inside and away from the dangerous conditions on the city streets. A travel ban was also imposed until 5 AM to keep people safe.

Photos and videos from the storm show just how terrifying and dangerous things got, with cars almost completely submerged on the streets and passengers standing on the seats of a bus trying to make its way down Broadway in Queens.

The severe storm conditions weren't limited to the Northeast either ... Cardi B's also dealing with flooding hundreds of miles south in her 22,000-sq-ft Atlanta-area mansion.

Todrick Hall's got a straightforward way of dealing with the Nashville wedding venue that turned away a gay couple -- don't give it any business, and keep fighting injustices ... because it's working.

We got the "American Idol" and "RuPaul's Drag Race" star at LAX and asked how he felt about Barn in the Bend's owner rejecting the same-sex ceremony request, citing religious beliefs as her reason.

Todrick believes it's actually an example of privilege -- heterosexual privilege -- and he's giving a shoutout to Mike Gill and his partner, Coty, for shedding light on it.

While Todrick acknowledges this sort of unfair treatment is still happening in 2021, his point is that people don't have to stand for it anymore ... and he hopes Mike and Coty find the wedding venue of their dreams that makes them feel welcome.

TMZ broke the story, Mike and Coty had reached out to a Nashville wedding venue in hopes of planning their big day. However, after some awkward emails, the venue owner revealed she wouldn't host a gay wedding ... citing her religious beliefs.

Dog the Bounty Hunter says he has more Black friends than Eminem, claims "the brothers" gave him a pass to use the n-word and says using the term doesn't make him racist.

The reality TV star made the comments during an interview with ET's Kevin Frazier, pushing back on allegations from his daughter, Bonnie Chapman, who claimed her dad is a racist, homophobic cheater.

Dog says he's never been a racist and says he gets labeled as such because of an "Achilles' heel" from back in the day ... a leaked phone call with his son where he used the n-word at least 6 times in a rant that got him canceled at A&E.

Dog says he used the n-word so freely because, "I thought I had a pass in the Black tribe to use it, kind of like Eminem."

Kevin, who is Black, asks Dog point-blank who gave him the pass ... with Dog saying "the brothers." When pressed, Dog says "the brothers" were Black inmates he interacted with when he was behind bars way back in the day, when the n-word got tossed around in what he saw as a "compliment."

Dog admits his alleged pass expired, but says no one told him so. He also says he's got tons of Black friends, more than even Eminem, and then gets ripped by Kevin.

As we reported ... Dog's daughter claims she didn't get invited to his wedding because she supports BLM, but Dog says he supports the movement too and says he's not a racist just because he uses the n-word.