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President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris had glowing things to say about the NAACP's contribution to America -- especially in the year of the pandemic -- as they kicked off the NAACP Image Awards.

The Prez and the Veep recorded their praise for the org at The White House for Saturday's event. Biden made it clear ... the NAACP has been a key player, if not THE key player, in the advancement of equality for more than 100 years.

Harris then talked about the contributions Black entertainers have made to the arts, but also to advance social justice in America. She talked about the advancements but then acknowledged a lot more has to happen to achieve true equality.

Chadwick Boseman won the Outstanding Actor Award posthumously for "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom." As we reported, Boseman died at 43 after fighting colon cancer for more than 4 years ... a condition he kept from the public until the end,

Demi Lovato says she should have died weeks before her near-fatal overdose, because she was using a frightening list of hard drugs when she relapsed in 2018.

Demi reveals the night she ended 6 years of sobriety, she began experimenting with drugs she'd never tried before ... including meth, and she mixed it with molly, cocaine, marijuana, alcohol and oxycontin. That's all in one night.

She says, "That alone should have killed me." But it didn't, and Demi says weeks later she was introduced to heroin when her dealer didn't have her usual "Coke and Xanax" cocktail for her.

Eventually, Demi says she was "physically dependent" on the drugs, while also abusing alcohol and hiding it all from the people around her.

It all led to her OD on July 24, 2018, which as we've reported ... left her 5-10 minutes from death.

Demi says she was smoking heroin that night, not injecting it, which added to her surprise when she woke up in the hospital. However, she admits she had used needles in the past too ... just not that night.

As you know ... heroin and fentanyl-laced painkillers likely caused Demi's OD, and in her new docuseries, "Dancing with the Devil," she and her family detail how a team of doctor's saved her life.

In fact, her stepdad says if not for Demi being placed on a dialysis machine ... she likely wouldn't be here today.

George Segal, famous for starring roles in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?," "Look Who's Talking" and most recently, "The Goldbergs," has died ... TMZ has confirmed.

The veteran actor died Tuesday morning following complications from bypass surgery ... according to his wife, Sonia Segal.

George's breakout role was playing Nick in the 1966 classic, 'Virginia Woolf' and his standout performance alongside Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

Segal has a ton of other notable movie credits in the '60s and '70s, including ... "Ship of Fools," "The St. Valentine's Day Massacre," "Where's Poppa," "The Hot Rock," "Blume in Love," "A Touch of Class" and "California Split."

In the '80s and '90s, he played Albert, the biological dad of Kirstie Alley's talking baby in the "Look Who's Talking" flicks.

George also starred on TV hits "Just Shoot Me!" and Pops Solomon on "The Goldbergs."

Tributes are already pouring in across Hollywood, with 'Goldbergs' creator Adam Goldberg remembering George as "a kid at heart with a magical spark."

In addition to a long acting career, George also played the banjo ... releasing 3 albums and performing in movies and on TV.

George tied the knot with Sonia back in 1996 for his third marriage. He was previously married to Linda Rogoff and had 2 kids with his other ex-wife, Marion Sobel.

He was 87.

When the "Fast & Furious" franchise revs up its engines again for the 9th installment, you might notice a familiar, but much younger-looking face ... because it's Vin Diesel's kid!!!

Vin's 10-year-old son, Vincent Sinclair, will be making his big-screen debut this summer in 'F&F9' ... as the younger version of Vin's character, Dominic Toretto.

According to docs, obtained by TMZ ... lil Vin's playing the role of Younger Dom and actually filmed his scenes way back in late 2019 when he was a budding 9-year-old Thespian.

It's unclear how much screen time Vin's boy will get, but his minor's contract says he got paid a daily rate of $1,005. Not bad take-home for a kid who, let's be honest, probably woulda done it for a pack of gum.

BTW -- there was a flashback to a younger Dominic already in 'Furious 7,' but the character was played by an actor named Alex McGee.

Robin Williams' cult classic comedy, 'Mrs. Doutbfire,' could indeed have been rated R if studio heads wanted -- so says the film's director ... but don't expect to ever see it in full.

Chris Columbus -- who was at the helm of the 1993 flick starring Robin as a man disguised as a female nanny -- confirmed to EW that, yes ... there are 3 different versions of 'MD' that exist in the universe, including an R-rated version that got left on the cutting room floor.

Unfortunately for those hungry for an even raunchier cut, there is no NC-17 version -- contrary to what a now-viral tweet suggested earlier this week.

Chris explains the NC-17 quote he once gave in an interview was only made in jest -- but he did say that because of Robin's improv onset and the massive amount of takes they'd do for a given scene ... the team was left with a ton of material, including something just for adults.

He explained it this way ... "[T]here was a deal between Robin and myself, which was, he'll do one or two, three scripted takes. And then he would say, 'Then let me play.'" Chris adds they would go on to do 15 to 22 takes, with new lines and not-so-kid-friendly jokes.

CC doesn't quite recall all the details of Robin's material at the time -- since it's been such a long time since they shot -- but he does say it was funny stuff, in classic Robin fashion.

So the question then becomes ... is he ever planning to release the "true" version? The answer is no -- at least not how overzealous fans want it, anyway. Chris does say he's open to doing a documentary about the making of 'Mrs. Doubtfire,' which he suggested could include some of the R-rated outtakes so folks can watch them for themselves.

But, he's resolute ... the definitive version of 'Doubtfire' is out, and it's the one we all know and love. That's probably a bummer to the Snyder crowd -- but the OG creative has spoken!

Yaphet Kotto -- the longtime actor known for his roles in "Midnight Run," "Alien" and "Live and Let Die" -- died Monday near Manila in the Philippines ... according to his wife.

Yaphet's wife, Tessie Sinahon, announced his death on Facebook, saying ... "This is a very painful moment for me to inform you all fans, friends and family of my husband." No cause of death was given.

Kotto reportedly came from Cameroonian royalty on his father's side ... but was born in NYC and began studying acting as a teenager. He made his theater debut in the late '50s in "Othello" and appeared on Broadway's "The Great White Hope."

This led to his first film roles in the '60s in "Nothing But a Man" and "The Thomas Crown Affair," and a guest-starring role as Marine Lance Corporal on "Hawaii Five-O."

Then, Yaphet broke through in a big way by playing the famous Bond villain, Mr. Big, in 1973's "Live and Let Die" opposite Roger Moore.

He would go on to land tough-guy roles in several popular movies ... like the engineer, Parker, in the 1979 blockbuster "Alien."

Kotto's other big films include "The Running Man" with Arnold Schwarzenegger and "Midnight Run" with Robert De Niro. In the '90s, he co-starred on the TV series "Homicide: Life on the Street," and also had an appearance years later on HBO's "The Wire."

He and his wife, who is from the Philippines, wed in Baltimore in 1998. He had 2 previous marriages and 6 children.

Yaphet was 81.

Chadwick Boseman's earned his first-ever Academy Award nomination ... nearly 7 months after he died from colon cancer.

Chadwick was the second one named early Monday morning when the nominations for Actor in a Leading Role were announced. Riz Ahmed for "Sound of Metal," Anthony Hopkins for "The Father," Gary Oldman for "Mank" and Steven Yeun for "Minari" are the other nominees in the category. It's incredible this is his first nom considering the iconic roles he's played.

Chadwick died in August while "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" was in post-production and 3 months before the film's release. He played Levee Green, an incredibly talented trumpet player. The Netflix film is about Ma Rainey ... the influential blues singer during the 1920s.

He had already won a Golden Globe, also his first, for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Drama last month. Chadwick's widow, Taylor Simone Ledward, accepted the award on his behalf and gave an emotional speech too.

Taylor had said, "He would thank God. He would thank his parents. He would thank his ancestors for their guidance and their sacrifices. He would say something beautiful. Something inspiring."

James Cameron's blockbuster, 'Avatar,' has reclaimed its throne as the highest-grossing movie ever around the world, which appears to be kinda pissing off the 'Endgame' crowd.

Marvel fanboys/girls laid into Cameron Saturday on word that his 2009 behemoth of a flick had once again climbed to the top of the charts globally upon a re-release this weekend in Chinese markets, putting its new haul at just over $2.8B against 'Endgame's' $2.797B.

China's Film Bureau struck a deal that allowed for 'Avatar' to be re-released in theaters, seeing how they're testing re-opening cineplexes ... but are short on new material. Since 'Avatar' is an all-time great among viewers there, they greenlit its revival on the big screen.

Marvel was gracious in defeat, tweeting ... "Congratulations to @JimCameron, @JonLandau, and ALL of Na'vi Nation for reclaiming the box office crown! We love you 3000." Cameron responded with a blue heart emoji, y'know ... 'cause of the blue forest people.

While the studio is bowing down ... fans aren't. Many are pointing out 'Avatar' appears to be gaming the system with yet another re-release more than a decade later, and seemingly juking the stats in its favor. Yes, the movie has had a handful of re-releases over the years, including a significant one right after its OG one-month theatrical run in late 2009.

Here's the thing ... if 'Avatar' "cheated," so did 'Endgame' to get its huge numbers. That movie was in theaters for a whopping 20 weeks or so, which comes out to about how many months 'Avatar' has been left in theaters total on re-releases (give or take a couple months).

HBO Max subscribers looking for some family fun were instead treated to an early look at Zack Snyder's "Justice League" ... with the streaming service leaking the film 10 days early.

Here's the deal ... folks who wanted to watch the PG-rated "Tom and Jerry" movie Monday on HBO Max were, instead, greeted with the R-rated "Justice League" thanks to a glitch on the streaming service.

HBO Max confirmed the accidental leak, saying the movie was "temporarily available" and "the error was addressed within minutes."

It appears a decent number of folks were able to catch a sneak peek of the highly-anticipated film ... including several Twitter users, who were quick to rub it in and crack jokes about staffers getting fired.

While HBO Max says the error was fixed "within minutes," some people say they were able to watch about an hour of the film before the feed was cut.

Snyder's version of the 2017 flick isn't set for an official release until March 18 ... so this is a pretty big oops.

Pepe Le Pew's problematic behavior appears to have been something Warner Bros. was well aware of before he was called out anew ... because he reportedly doesn't make a single appearance in the new 'Space Jam.'

A new Deadline report explains that the Looney Tunes character actually had a scene written into the movie early on in the production, when director Terence Nance was still at the helm. Apparently, there was a 'Casablanca'-like scene in which Pepe played a bartender and tried kissing the arm of a human character, portrayed by actress Greice Santo.

Deadline says Santo pulls back and slapped Pepe silly ... and LeBron James actually gave him a pep talk of sorts, letting him know it wasn't cool to get grabby without consent. The outlet also says Pepe referenced his longtime muse, Penelope Pussycat, and said she'd taken out a restraining order against him ... at least that's what was going to be in the flick before it was scrapped when Malcolm D. Lee took over as director.

Word is, the Pepe scene was axed entirely in the final cut of the film -- which is set to debut this summer -- and according to folks who've seen a screening of the movie, per Deadline, they say there's no trace of Pepe anywhere in what people will see on HBO Max.

Remember, Pepe IS in the original ... and has a few moments of screen time where he stinks up the place to score points -- and even jumps on an old woman to kiss her.

Now, whether this decision to lose Pepe altogether was made because of the NYT controversy -- in which a writer said the skunk normalized rape culture -- it would seem the two things are unrelated ... or so says Deadline. It's unclear why exactly he got nixed.

The sound mixer from the award-winning movie, "Nomadland," has died after taking his own life ... and his father thinks the coronavirus pandemic may have played a part.

Michael Wolf Snyder had not been heard from for several days, when his dad, psychiatrist Dr. David Snyder, went to check on him in his Queens apartment. David discovered his son's body.

Dr. Snyder says his son had battled severe depression for years.

35-year-old Michael, who went by his middle name, Wolf, had achieved a lot professionally. In addition to the Golden-Globe winning "Nomadland," he worked on the Emmy-nominated show, "Good Omens." He also worked on the 2017 sci-fi flick, "Imitation Girl," and the 2018 movie, "The Amaranth."

Frances McDormand, the star of "Nomadland," said, "Wolf recorded our heartbeats. Our every breath. For me, he is 'Nomadland.'"

Wolf worked as a boom operator and sound mixer with filmmaker Chloe Zhao for "The Rider," and Zhao said, "I always looked at Wolf after each take. I didn't wear headphones on the set so I heavily relied on Wolf to be my ears. He would nod at me with a happy grin, or tears in his eyes, or sometimes he would discreetly signal, 'one more.'"

Wolf's dad said he didn't know how deeply his son had been struggling with depression, saying, "I am a psychiatrist who was not able to save his own son, partly because he would not share the depth of his pain," adding, "For most people, this is an illness that waxes and wanes over the years. I'm sure it was difficult for Michael that he spent most of the last year alone in his small, Queens apartment, being responsible about dealing with the coronavirus." He went on ... "In spite of this, we all believed he was doing well, and for most of this past year I think he was."

Chadwick Boseman won a Golden Globe, and his wife gave a touching and emotional acceptance speech on behalf of the late actor.

Taylor Simone Ledward accepted Boseman's Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama Sunday night during the COVID-cautious ceremony. Ledward was emotional and ran through a list of everyone her husband would have thanked if he was still alive to accept the honor.

Ledward opened her speech saying Chadwick would thank God and his parents ... she also mentioned Boseman's team, both on and off the set of "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom." In closing, Taylor said, "We have to take all the moments to celebrate those we love, so thank you HFPA for this opportunity to do exactly that."

Grace VanderWaal isn't seeing stars, she's seeing dollar signs ... because we've learned she's getting paid a nice chunk of change for her lead role in "Stargirl."

The 17-year-old singer is off to a pretty strong start financially in her acting career after securing top billing in the Disney+ movie, "Stargirl." According to her minor's contract, obtained by TMZ, Grace took home a base salary of $125,000 for the first film, and it looks like she's got a bigger payday on the horizon for the upcoming sequel.

Grace is in line to double her earnings for the second 'Stargirl' movie ... the contract says she'll get paid a cool $250,000 to reprise her role as Stargirl Caraway, and Disney says the sequel is already in development.

We'll do the math for ya ... Grace will earn at least $375,000 just in base pay for both films. And, if there's a third film, she'll rake in $500,000. Yes, it pays well to be a Disney star.

She's gone from "Twilight" to "Charlie's Angels," but now she's taking on her biggest role yet ... and it looks like Kristen Stewart royally nails it.

The actress is in full Princess Diana mode in Germany this week on set of the upcoming film "Spencer" ... rocking a vintage Lady Di look, with glasses and without.

Obviously, Kristen's Adidas kicks are just for getting around on set and not what the Princess of Wales wore back then ... at least we don't think so.

As for the movie ... the title is Diana's maiden name -- for the young'uns not in the know -- and the plot revolves around a weekend she spends with the British Royal Family before deciding to divorce Prince Charles.

Josh Richards is as happy as can be to go from in front of the camera to behind-the-scenes with his new production company ... something Mark Wahlberg is making a reality.

We got the TikTok star Tuesday on the streets of West Hollywood where we asked about his new joint venture with Mark's Unrealistic Ideas -- which is going to help create programming and content that Josh and co. come up with via their new project, CrossCheck Studios.

As for what exactly may end up on camera ... check out what Josh has to say. Sounds like he and the team will focus on unscripted content at first -- but he eventually wants to dive into full-blown scripted stuff ... movies and shows.

Of course, we had to ask about the prospect of filming with Marky Mark one-on-one -- and while it might be a ways away, Josh doesn't hide his enthusiasm at the idea. He'd love a shot to co-star in something.

Bam Margera is off the "Jackass 4" project for good -- and it's all because he couldn't stay in line when it came to his addiction issues ... TMZ has learned.

Sources close to Bam tell us he was informed last week by producers that he would no longer be part of the movie going forward. The reason is he essentially broke his contract.

We're told the 'Jackass' family wanted Bam to be part of the movie from the get-go, but were worried things would go left because of his past substance use and erratic behavior.

So, in order to achieve what everyone wanted -- at first, anyway -- our sources tell us Bam was presented with a handful of conditions/restrictions he was told he needed to abide by in order to stay on the project. Long story short ... we're told he failed to meet his end of the bargain.

As for what he was supposed to do ... our sources say there would be routine drug tests -- including urine samples -- plus committing to staying sober, blowing into a breathalyzer, taking his medication and seeing a psychologist while on the job. It's unclear which specific condition was the final straw.

Bam alluded to some of these conditions in his OG rant, when he called for a boycott of "Jackass 4" and seemed visibly upset -- only to turn around 24 hours later and say he was getting help. Despite him suggesting things were fine again, we're told he's still fired.

Our Bam sources tell us they're quite worried about him, as the prospect of working on "Jackass 4" seemed to be keeping him on the straight and narrow for a good while -- now he seems to be off the rails again. We are told he now feels like he is being cut out of what he helped create. He's been posting/deleting disparaging "Jackass 4" posts on and off.