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Ariana Grande's 2018 has been a roller coaster ... and her emotions about it came spilling out as she accepted a Woman of the Year award.

Ariana was honored at Billboard's Women in Music Awards Thursday night and went from smiling and joking to fighting back tears. She was thrilled about reaching new heights in her career -- culminating with the success of her "Thank U, Next" music vid. The singer said that might have people thinking she's on top of the world.

She quickly reminded the crowd it's been one of the worst years of her life, outside of music, adding ... "As far as my personal life goes, I really have no idea what the f*** I'm doing."

Ariana was clearly referring to her recent breakup with Pete Davidson ... and losing her ex-boyfriend, Mac Miller, when he tragically died in September. Not to mention dealing with the aftermath of last year's bombing at her Manchester concert.

Watch the video ... she also threw a jab at herself for giving away "love and forgiveness" to men. She says that's gonna change.

Another reason for Mac Miller's fans to celebrate his life and music -- the late rapper just got his first ever Grammy nomination.

The Recording Academy announced Friday morning Mac Miller's "Swimming" is nominated for rap album of the year. The album's got hefty competition ... going up against Cardi B (Invasion of Privacy), Nipsey Hussle (Victory Lap), Pusha T (Daytona) and Travis Scott (Astroworld).

"Swimming" peaked at no. 3 on the Billboard charts when it was released back in August. It returned to the top 10 following his death in September.

TMZ broke the story ... Mac died from an accidental overdose.

"Swimming" got rave reviews, including from Rolling Stone which said Mac revealed "himself to be a sympathetic, even winning presence."

BTW, Mac wasn't the only artist to earn a posthumous nomination. Chris Cornell -- nominated 4 previous times -- is up for best rock performance. Chris died by suicide in May.

9:13 PM PT -- Kevin just announced he will no longer host the show, saying, "I have made the choice to step down from hosting this year's Oscar's....this is because I do not want to be a distraction on a night that should be celebrated by so many amazing talented artists. I sincerely apologize to the LGBTQ community for my insensitive words from my past."

He continues, "I'm sorry that I hurt people.. I am evolving and want to continue to do so. My goal is to bring people together not tear us apart. Much love & appreciation to the Academy. I hope we can meet again."

Kevin Hart is firing back at critics who think he's unfit to host the Oscars due to old tweets that were extremely homophobic ... and by firing back, we mean he's laying in bed and refusing to apologize.

Kevin says in an Instagram video, the hateful response to his old tweets illustrates just how PC-crazy our world has become ... and he says he's not going to let the haters bring him down.

As Kevin put it -- in a video he shot with his head still on a pillow -- he's approaching 40 and it's stupid for people to think his views haven't evolved. Basically, he's claiming he's more mature than he was when he was gay-bashing on Twitter -- including using the f-word several times.

The Academy announced this week that Kevin would host next year's Oscars, and the backlash began almost immediately.

Jared Leto wasn't having it when a bunch of security guards roughed up a Thirty Seconds to Mars fan -- in fact, he stopped his concert to make 'em chill out.

Jared's band was playing Thursday night in Sacramento when he spotted an apparent beatdown in progress. Watch the video ... Jared was right in the middle of a song when he brought the concert to a screeching halt and went OFF on security.

You can see Jared's frustration ... he told the band to wait several times, repeatedly yelled for the crew to turn on the lights. He said there were 7 security guards on top of one fan -- "ridiculous" in Jared's opinion.

He told security to quit being so aggressive and stop escalating the situation. He made a crack about the security and, without skipping a beat, went back to the set.

Olivia Munn knows first hand about the drama between Aaron Rodgers and his parents -- and tells TMZ Sports it's "amazing" the two sides are finally patching up their relationship.

Munn has previously talked about the Rodgers' family feud, which has been going on for YEARS -- and said, "I don't think either side of the road is clean."

The actress said she believed there were jealousy issues between Aaron's father and brothers -- who had all dreamed of the kind of NFL success Aaron has already achieved.

But earlier this week, Aaron said he spent his birthday with his parents over the weekend -- suggesting the ice is finally thawing between the two sides ... and Olivia seems genuinely happy for the QB.

"If that's true, it's amazing," Munn told us outside of Rolling Greens on Thursday ... "It's long overdue."

So, what brought the two sides together?

Aaron's brother, Jordan (who appeared on "The Bachelorette"), had publicly shamed Aaron for not calling their mother while she was about to be evacuated during the California wildfires.

Guessing that sparked a phone call -- and the rest is history.

Aaron and Olivia dated from 2014 to 2017 and while she previously said she tried to get Aaron to make peace with his family, it just didn't happen during their relationship.

Better late than never ...

Forget the 'Hotline' -- Pretty Ricky member, turned 'L&HH' star, Baby Blue allegedly put a guy in line at the ER when a fight broke out while shooting the reality show.

Eyewitnesses tell TMZ ... Baby Blue brawled with a guy named Dante Wednesday in Miami. Dante was helping BB's ex-fiancee, Michelle Carolus, move her stuff out of Blue's house. We're told Michelle -- who's one of the Double Dose Twins -- recently called off their engagement and wanted to bolt ASAP.

Blue wasn't cool with that, and our sources say things got physical and after the fight, Dante was left with a nasty gash. It was so bad, he needed to go to the hospital for stitches.

Cops were called, but law enforcement sources tell us both men were gone by the time they got there.

Sources close to the production tell us VH1 crew members were present to shoot a confessional with BB, but were not rolling when things got violent.

Count Kevin Kline among the people who was totally fine with Kevin Hart hosting the Oscars, because he thinks it's time to cut him, and all comedians, some slack for jokes from the past.

The Academy Award-winning actor was leaving Michael's restaurant in NYC Thursday when we asked what he thought about KH landing the gig. This was several hours before Hart backed out of hosting -- but KK defended him against the backlash over old, but blatantly homophobic, tweets.

The way Kline sees it, stand-up comics have been mocking all groups -- gays, blacks, Jews and more -- for decades. He admits times are changing now, and comedians are too, but he was willing to give Hart a pass on his past remarks.

As you know, Hart posted a video Thursday, claiming he had evolved since the offending tweets, but did not apologize for them. Hours later he stepped down, saying he didn't want to be a distraction -- and, at that point, he did apologize for his "insensitive words from my past."

BTW ... Kline's stance on jokes from days of old might not be that shocking considering his own "In & Out" role from 1997. Would this scene be kosher today?

Trippie Redd's ready to clock in and do some serious work with this insane new piece of bling.

We're told the rapper dropped $200k on this incredibly detailed chain and pendant. Yes, it's a clock, and all due props to Flavor Flav ... but Trippie's timepiece is a major upgrade. He's even given it a name -- Wicked the Clock.

We don't wanna speak for Flav, but ... yeahhhh, boyyyyyyyyy!!!

Our sources say the pendant features 90 carats of VVS diamonds -- jewelry-speak for high quality -- on 14 karat white and rose gold.

Trippie's going all out to celebrate his debut album, "Life's a Trip." He commissioned Eden and Izzy over at NYC Luxury to design his latest piece.

Brett Favre -- a three-time NFL MVP -- has weighed in ... and Drew Brees is killin' it ... but he's not the league's current most valuable player.

"I would say right now, I'd probably have to give it to Mahomes," Brett tells TMZ Sports.

It's not exactly a nuclear take from the Packers legend -- most have Brees and Patrick Mahomes as the top 2 candidates for the award -- but Favre says the younger QB gets his nod.

"What Mahomes has done in his first year is incredible."

You can tell it kinda pains Brett to say it -- Brees IS, after all, one of the last old dudes standing in a young man's game -- but Favre still showed Drew some major love anyway.

In fact ... Brett also shouted another old QB who's killin' it this season -- saying Philip Rivers deserves some praise for his huge season too!

As for Mahomes ... Brett didn't go all Dick Vermeil on us and say the Chiefs superstar can be one of the greatest to ever play -- but he also didn't exactly disagree with the ex-coach!!

Trippie Redd has pulled the plug on the rest of his opener performances on Travis Scott's Astroworld Tour ... citing production issues and interrupted set times as the reason.

Sources close to Trippie tell us the rapper has become frustrated over the course of the tour with Travis' production crew. We're told Trippie feels the crew takes too long to assemble Travis' elaborate stage -- and because of that -- show start times have been pushed back ... resulting in shorter performance time for Trippie.

Our sources say Trippie's beef isn't with Travis directly -- in fact, we're told Travis has become frustrated with the delays too -- but it's just not worth touring to only perform a couple songs.

The judge who closed out Tekashi69's child sex case now admits there was a major screwup with his original sentence, but she also suggests it's a moot point now that he's locked up.

A spokesperson for Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Felicia Mennin -- who sentenced Tekashi in October for his 2015 child sex case -- tells TMZ the error was in the plea deal prosecutors struck with 6ix9ine's attorneys.

According to the spokesperson, "The original sentence was the result of a negotiated plea. All parties involved, the prosecution, defense and the [trial] judge (not Mennin) signed off on it." Now, here comes the big BUT ... "As an error was made, the case was placed back on the calendar and the sentence corrected."

Translation: Judge Mennin dropped Tekashi's probation Tuesday, and gave him credit for time served to correct an oversight -- namely, that the terms of the plea deal were unlawful.

Remember, Judge Mennin handed down a light sentence of 4 years probation as opposed to jail time. Sentencing guidelines for a class C sex assault felony -- for which 6ix9ine was convicted -- call for a minimum of 10 years probation, and a max of 5-15 years in prison.

What's unclear is how Tekashi's time served -- less than 3 weeks in jail -- equals that minimum of 10 years probation. We asked Menin's spokesperson what the judge's sentence would have been had she initially noticed the plea deal screwup.

Dog the Bounty Hunter allegedly shoved a teenager at the airport -- at least that's what the teen's father claims -- but Dog's side denies the assault and says the kid was verbally abusive.

A police report was filed in Denver ... by the father who claims he and his family ran into Dog and Beth Chapman at the Denver airport last Friday. He says his 17-year-old son approached Dog and asked for a photo. He claims Dog got upset and put a closed fist into the kid's chest and pushed him away.

The father got pissed and got into a verbal altercation with Dog. Beth eventually calmed things down, and she and Dog got on an elevator.

A source close to Dog says when the teen walked up to Dog, he said, "I have a bounty on my head, what are you gonna do about it motherf***er?" Dog admittedly told the kid to get back and he didn't want to deal with it ... because his wife is sick.

We're told the teen's response was, "Tell that fat bitch to get out of her chair. I'll cut her in half." Beth was in a wheelchair at the time.

Dog and Beth had just flown to Denver from L.A. ... where she had emergency surgery last week for a throat blockage. Doctors discovered her cancer had returned.

Gene Simmons is getting sued by a woman who claims he inappropriately touched a woman's vagina during a photo op.

The woman -- who is suing under the name Jane Doe -- said she was working as a dishwasher at one of Simmons' Rock & Brews locations in 2016. In the docs -- obtained by TMZ -- the woman says Gene was visiting the restaurant, and Gene's manager and the woman's coworkers encouraged her to take a photo with the KISS star.

According to the lawsuit -- the woman claims Gene's manager encouraged her to move closer -- and when she did, Gene allegedly, "reached over and forcefully placed his hand on her vagina completely covering it."

The woman says she tried to stop Gene, and once the photo was taken, she showed it to coworkers.

Cardi B might not be showing signs of heartbreak from her breakup with Offset, but Ray J seems pretty bummed about it. Really bummed.

We got Ray J at Craig's in WeHo Wednesday night and wanted to get his take on hip-hop's huge news earlier this week after Cardi broke things off with Offset amid allegations he cheated and tried setting up a threesome with a Cardi wannabe.

Ray J -- who earlier that evening hit up the Lakers game -- hopes Cardi and Offset get back together because he's adamant they belong together. Our guy also straight-up asks Ray J how bad of a look it is for Offset to try and finagle a threesome WITHOUT Cardi. In short, Ray J says it's no bueno.