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Bryan Cranston's one of the millions who've contracted the coronavirus, but he says he was lucky to have mild symptoms ... and now he's doing his part to help others.

The "Breaking Bad" star just shared a video of himself going through the process of donating plasma, which contains COVID-19 antibodies and can hopefully be of good medical and scientific use in the future.

Along with the vid, Bryan revealed he tested positive for the virus pretty early on and had some of the common mild symptoms -- headache, tightness in his chest and loss of taste and smell. He points out it affects everyone differently, though, and tragically ... has now resulted in more than 150,000 deaths in the U.S.

So, the actor's encouraging people to remain patient and vigilant -- and keep following the rules -- in order to prevail through this pandemic.

And, for other "lucky ones" out there like him, he's also providing a pretty great tutorial on how to contribute in the battle against COVID-19.

Here's Dave Chappelle hanging with David Letterman in Chappelle's hometown for what looks like a new episode of Letterman's show ... and possibly for one of Dave's socially-distanced comedy shows.

The two comedy giants shared a laugh and a cup of coffee Wednesday in Yellow Springs, Ohio, sitting on a bench outside Dark Star Books and Comics. You don't see this every day.

Chappelle and Letterman, who had a Chappelle-branded face mask hanging off his ear, were followed by a big camera crew -- which seems to indicate they're shooting an episode of Letterman's interview show, "My Next Guest Needs No Introduction."

However, Chappelle's been doing socially-distanced comedy -- which he's dubbed 'Chappelle Summer Camp' -- and Letterman popped up there too. It's unclear if Letterman actually did a little standup.

Chris Rock's already flown in for one of Chappelle's shows, which have featured Jon Stewart, Jon Hamm, Tiffany Haddish, Michael Che, Erykah Badu, Common, Donnell Rawlings, Talib Kweli and Michelle Wolf.

In any event, whatever Chappelle and Letterman are cooking up, it's sure to be funny!!!

The NCAA has voted to allow athletes to put social justice statements on their jerseys this upcoming season ... giving all students the opportunity to express their views.

The vote came down last week ... and follows the lead of the MLB, NFL, NBA, WNBA and more leagues in using jerseys to promote equality as they return to competition.

The org.'s playing rules oversight panel determined each student-athlete will be able to sport patches on the front and messages on the back of their uniforms "to express support and voice their opinions."

Of course, the NBA is allowing players to wear messages like "Black Lives Matter" and "Equality" when the season restarts Thursday ... and WNBA players are wearing Breonna Taylor's name on their jerseys.

The NFL also announced it will feature the names of police brutality victims on helmets for the 2020 season.

The Philadelphia Phillies have brought all team activities to a screeching halt ... after 2 members of the organization tested positive for the coronavirus.

Remember, the Miami Marlins announced a serious COVID-19 outbreak after playing a series in Philly over the weekend ... with at least 19 reported cases as of Thursday morning.

The problem -- some Marlins players reportedly found out they tested positive for COVID prior to Sunday's game against the Phillies ... but the rest of the team decided to play anyway.

Now, the Phillies are reporting 2 members of the team -- zero players -- have tested positive ... and are taking no chances at letting things get worse.

The team says it's shut down all team activities "until further notice" ... which also leaves the Phillies' weekend series against the Toronto Blue Jays up in the air.

The Phillies' series against the Yankees was postponed due to the COVID outbreak ... but MLB commish Rob Manfred says the outbreak is "no nightmare."

Erik Cowie, one of the ''Tiger King' stars who you saw caring for the zoo's animals, has a nice new set of chompers -- a gift from the man in charge, Jeff Lowe.

Sources close to the GW Exotic Animal Park in Oklahoma tell TMZ ... though Erik interacts with the public daily -- leading tours and answering questions about all the animals -- he has a hard time connecting with people, because he's always been self-conscious about his smile and felt bad about his teeth.

We're told Jeff and his wife Lauren wanted to do something nice for Erik -- who's still the head zookeeper like he was for Joe Exotic -- for all the hard work he does at the park.

So, our sources say Jeff surprised Erik and flew him down to Florida, where he'd arranged for him to get permanent teeth implants installed at Done In One ... which does the job in 48 hours.

We're told the dental center got his mouth all fixed up, and even decided the procedure was on the house. As you can see, Erik's one happy customer.

As you may recall ... Cowie was a sympathetic character in the 'Tiger King' docuseries, as he seemed greatly impacted by Joe's alleged mistreatment of animals. He later testified at his trial that Joe killed older tigers to make space for new animals, and expressed guilt he couldn't do anything to stop it.

Erik's also on record saying he doesn't believe Joe should get out of prison.

BTW, Erik's not the first 'Tiger King' star to get new teeth ... Exotic's ex-husband John Finlay blazed that trail months ago, and almost looked like a whole new person afterward.

Herman Cain, once a GOP Presidential hopeful, has died from COVID-19 ... Cain contracted the coronavirus after attending Trump's Tulsa rally.

The businessman and politician's death was announced Thursday on his website. A statement read, "Herman Cain -- our boss, our friend, like a father to so many of us -- has passed away."

Cain fell ill shortly after attending President Trump's rally in Tulsa on June 20 -- he was hospitalized for about a month ... getting oxygen treatments.

Cain posed for a photo, without a mask, at the rally with a caption that read, "Here’s just a few of the #BlackVoicesForTrump at tonight’s rally! Having a fantastic time!"

Remember, at the time of the rally, Oklahoma was in grips of a spike in coronavirus cases. Afterward, reports surfaced that the Trump campaign asked Tulsa venue organizers to remove social distancing signs.

Trump later canceled an Alabama rally out of fear of a COVID-19 outbreak.

Cain's Twitter account had kept his followers up-to-date on his condition, and a post on Monday -- just 3 days ago -- read, "doctors say his other organs and systems are strong" and that "re-strengthening the lungs is a long and slow process, and the doctors want to be thorough about it." The post added, "He really is getting better, which means it is working."

Cain, who Trump once considered to run the Federal Reserve, is one of the highest-profile public victims of the coronavirus.

He was 74.

The handwriting is now on the wall ... Donald Trump is revealing his plan to stay in office beyond January 20, 2021, and he wants to do so without even having an election.

Trump, who has made false claims about voter fraud, just tweeted, "With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history. It will be a great embarrassment to the USA. Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???"

So, Trump is trying to start a groundswell to put off an election where polls show him way behind Joe Biden. The claims of voter fraud have no foundation ... nevertheless, he's been beating that drum for months.

So, why would Trump want to delay the election? Well, we just got word on GDP for the second quarter, and it reached historic proportions, plunging more than 32%. It's pretty obvious Trump wants to stall, hoping for a vaccine and an economic rebound.

The big worry ... Trump might as well just come out and say it ... he's not gonna leave The White House willingly. Bill Maher has been saying that for months, and the evidence is mounting that he's right.

In fact, in 2018, Trump reportedly said this about Chinese President Xi holding the position for life ... "And look, he was able to do that.  I think it's great.  Maybe we'll have to give that a shot someday."  So scary.

LeBron James will be repping Kobe Bryant when the NBA season restarts Thursday night ... wearing a #24 finger sleeve on his left hand.

Bron has been honoring Kobe with the sleeve since Mamba passed away back in January ... but wanted his fans to know he's keeping the tribute alive in the NBA Bubble in Orlando.

"Stucc in the Grind! The Marathon Continues tonight and forever. Let’s Get It," James posted on IG with a photo of the finger sleeve.

The lyrics are a tribute to another late L.A. legend, Nipsey Hussle.

The Lakers will rebegin their season Thursday night against the L.A. Clippers -- both teams are favorites to win the NBA title.

Kobe and his daughter Gianna died on January 26th in a helicopter crash in Calabasas.

LeBron -- and really most of the NBA -- was devastated by the loss. With several high profile players getting tattoo tributes to honor the legend.

In fact, Bron and his Lakers teammate Anthony Davis got similar Kobe Bryant tattoos on their legs in the weeks following Bryant's death.

The Lakers -- and every other team in the bubble -- will play 8 "regular season" games before the playoffs begin.

Breonna Taylor posthumously made history by landing on the cover of Oprah's Magazine ... the first time EVER in the magazine's 20-year history O herself was not front and center.

Oprah stepped aside for one of her final print editions ... dedicating the September cover with Breonna's image, declaring, "If you turn a blind eye to racism, you become an accomplice to it." These words are emblazoned on the cover ... "HER LIFE MATTERS."

O dropped the news on Insta ... where she gave a touching tribute to Breonna ... "She was just like me. She was just like you. And like everyone who dies unexpectedly, she had plans. Plans for a future filled with responsibility and work and friends and laughter."

All eyez will be on Drake with his new twin Tupac Jesus pendants.

Mr. OVO is the new owner of what soon will become 2 of America's most wanted ... these Tupac pendants dripping with diamonds and gold. The rapper commissioned the celeb jeweler, Jason of Beverly Hills, to pull off the twin pendants depicting Pac with white and yellow diamond crowns of thorns.

Each pendant comes with a diamond chain with a total of approximately 70 carats of flawless white and yellow diamonds, plus ... over a HALF KILO of gold in total. Total price for each piece was $300k!!!

We're told Jason and his crew spent about 5 weeks completing the Pac-Jesus pieces. Drake initially came to Jason with an idea about what he wanted ... and they worked together to come up with the final tribute.

Kanye West's self-proclaimed running mate -- though she's yet to confirm this herself -- has returned online with her "spiritual coaching" site ... but gives no indication she's campaigning for West/Tidball 2020.

Michelle Tidball was name-dropped by Kanye as his VP pick in his Forbes interview -- following his surprise July 4 announcement that he's running for Prez -- but very little was known about her ... and her website got yanked shortly afterward.

As we first told you ... Michelle's site, Yarash.org, touted her as a "Biblical life coach" but also included some odd takes on mental health -- such as doing your dishes and making your bed to combat mental illness.

The Yarash site is back up, and though it's been revamped and edited ... it STILL doesn't mention anything about Kanye, being his Veep, or anything political at all really.

Instead, the site is gussied up with new animated graphics, an autumnal color scheme, Hebrew-style font, and tighter copy ... but features her same smiling portrait.

Michelle's old teleconferences and Bible study sessions -- where we discovered her mental health advice -- have been taken down. Her bio has been toned down quite a bit too ... but she's still advertising 50-minute life-coaching sessions for $65.

The Wyoming woman recently stated Kanye was doing "fine" and there was nothing to worry about ... amid his erratic behavior and wild Twitter rants, but she dodged any VP talk.

Dr. Anthony Fauci's finally talking about that DISASTER of a first pitch at the Washington Nationals game ... and doc's got EXCUSES!

Sore arm. Poor training. Misjudging the distance.

COME ON FAUCI!!!

The Doc opened up about the debacle on the ESPN Daily podcast -- admitting he hadn't thrown a baseball in decades and wasn't properly prepared for the honor.

"I had been practicing for 2 days before at a walk down that I thought was 60 feet, but it was really probably 45 feet," Fauci said.

"I was throwing and throwing and throwing and I got it right but only it was at 45 feet!"

"And I kind of hurt my arm because I haven’t thrown a baseball literally in decades."

Fauci continued ... "So, as I was getting ready to go out on the mound, my arm was killing me -- but I said hell, I could suck it up and just throw it the way I had been practicing."

But, when Fauci got to the mound, the doc says he panicked -- "I said, 'Oh my god, Sean Doolittle looked like he was 200 feet away!"

Fauci says he changed his throwing motion to try and overcompensate for the distance and soreness ... but it backfired.

"I wound up and threw it like a bullet, only it just went way off to the left."

"So it was my bad, all the way."

Tekashi 6ix9ine sees the light at the end of the tunnel, but before he can be truly free, he's gotta give back to the community ... and he wants to make sure he survives it.

T69's attorney, Lance Lazzaro, tells us his client will be released from home confinement by Saturday -- which will allow him to move into the next phase of his sentence ... community service. We're told 6ix9ine hasn't done a single hour since he's been stuck at home.

Now that he'll be able to get out again ... Lance says there's a new problem his legal team is circling -- namely, where the hell to put the guy so he can complete 300 hours of community service.

It's gonna take him a while to complete that, and his team's concern is Tekashi could be a sitting duck for anyone seeking revenge ... while he's doing good to make good on his sentence.

Luckily for him ... Lance and co. are already making arrangements to keep their client safe. One of the ways they plan to do that is by asking Tekashi's probation officer to let him do his time at a highly secured facility, like a VA hospital or even a learning institution of some kind.

Anywhere where there's lots of people and maybe even armed guards and/or cops around would be the ticket in their eyes.

We're told Lance feels the probation officer assigned will take these pleas into consideration and act appropriately -- otherwise, it could spell trouble for Tekashi.

Rosa Parks' handwritten letter remembering Martin Luther King Jr. as someone she admired and respected is going up for sale ... and as you'd expect, this kinda history won't be cheap.

Rosa honored her fellow Civil Rights icon in a letter she sent to an autograph collector way back in 1979 -- 11 years after MLK's assassination, and the high regard in which she held him is obvious.

The letter, a response to the autograph collector's question about what Rosa thought of MLK, has been sitting in a private collector's hands for the last 15 years, but now it's going up for sale through Moments In Time ... and being sold for a cool $54,000.

Rosa wrote in cursive ('memba that) ... "I admired and respected him as a truly great man committed and dedicated to freedom, peace and equality for all oppressed humanity."

She also remembered MLK as "the leader of the masses in Montgomery, Alabama and the nation ... a devoted husband, and father to his wife and children. A loving and loyal son to his parents."

MLK famously organized the Montgomery Bus Boycott after Rosa was thrown in jail for refusing to give up her seat on a public bus to a white man -- a violation of the city’s racial segregation laws.

Dana Stubblefield says he plans to fight his rape conviction -- claiming the COVID pandemic ruined his shot at a fair trial and now he plans to appeal.

As we previously reported, the ex-NFL player was found guilty of rape by force, oral copulation by force and false imprisonment stemming from a 2015 incident at his Northern California home.

Officials say Stubblefield had lured the victim to his home under the guise of interviewing for a babysitting job -- and then sexually assaulted her.

The victim -- 31-years-old at the time -- has developmental disabilities, according to prosecutors.

Stubblefield has denied the allegations for years -- and despite the conviction, his attorney Allen Sawyer tells TMZ Sports the former football star will continue to fight.

"He's going to fight to clear his name. He's innocent. He believes in the judicial system," Sawyer says.

"He's not happy where this is right now but he's going to keep fighting."

Currently, Stubblefield is facing 15 years to life in prison. He's due back in court for sentencing later this year.

But, Stubblefield's lawyer tells us the trial was "littered with errors" -- and he expects to win his appeal.

First, Sawyer says the COVID pandemic led to MONTHS of delays -- causing the trial to last nearly 9 months from start to finish.

"Once they halted the jury trial for months, we asked for a mistrial because how the jury supposed to remember evidence from a witness from 7, 8 months ago when they've had a 2 month break and other breaks?"

Sawyer explains ... "They started the trial and then the pandemic hit. We already had a jury, the government got to present a lot of evidence and then they halted the trial for 2 months because of the pandemic."

When the trial restarted, Sawyer says jurors were anxious and distracted by possible COVID exposures which led to more delays.

"Then they started letting witnesses testify remotely, we weren't allowed to sit next to our client. We continually asked for a mistrial because it wasn't a fair environment because of the COVID circumstances."

But, Stubblefield's requests for a mistrial were denied and he was ultimately convicted.

Sawyer says there were several other MAJOR flaws with the way the trial was conducted -- but he'll spell out those gripes in his appeal papers.