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Bella Hadid nearly opened a can of whoop ass on a security guard protecting her when she thought the guy took his job too far with a female photographer vying for her pic.

Bella was leaving the Michael Kors Fashion Show Wednesday morning in New York when she was swarmed by a gang of paparazzi while getting into her ride. Bella's security detail was deep ... we counted at least 5 people escorting her and, in her defense, the guy comes through like a bulldozer.

You can't blame her for being on high alert, especially after her sister, Gigi, was manhandled leaving a Milan fashion show last year.

Modeling ... not just about good looks. You need muscle too.

Donald Trump's mouthpiece is calling for ESPN to fire anchor Jemele Hill -- claiming her tweets calling the President a "white supremacist" are outrageous and unacceptable.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders -- the White House press secretary -- was holding a news conference on Wednesday when a reporter asked if Trump was aware of Hill's comments.

Sanders replied, "I'm not sure he's aware but I think that's one of the more outrageous comments that anyone could make and certainly something that I think is a fireable offense by ESPN."

Hill has never hidden her disdain for Trump -- and went off about him on Sept. 11 saying, "Trump is the most ignorant, offensive president of my lifetime. His rise is a direct result of white supremacy."

"Donald Trump is a white supremacist who has largely surrounded himself w/ other white supremacists."

ESPN had issued a statement about the situation on Tuesday saying Hill's comments "do not represent the position of ESPN."

The helicopter crash that killed country singer Troy Gentry was caused by a faulty engine.

The NTSB has issued its preliminary accident report, obtained by TMZ ... which says the pilot "was unable to control engine rpm with throttle inputs." Translation ... the engine was not responding to the throttle inputs, so the pilot on the doomed aircraft had lost control.

The pilot elected to stop the engine and perform an autorotation, which he had done in the past. The main rotor is supposed to turn -- even without power -- which essentially glides the chopper to the ground. According to the NTSB, the pilot was told to autorotate the aircraft over the runway.

The pilot started the autorotation 950 feet above the ground. The RPM "decayed" to the point where the pilot could see the individual rotor blades. It then fell to the ground. A high-pitched whine was heard as it crashed.

It seems, based on the NTSB report and the audio transmissions (below) ... the pilot initially tried hovering until emergency vehicles arrived below him, but the situation got desperate enough that he turned off the engine and attempted an autorotation to the ground.

The NTSB says Gentry was on the chopper purely for pleasure.

L.A. Lakers rising star Larry Nance Jr. is officially off the market ... 'cause the NBA baller just proposed to his college sweetheart with a MASSIVE diamond ring!!

The 24-year-old and his longtime girlfriend, Hailey Pince -- a fellow U. of Wyoming alum -- announced the big news on social media Tuesday by showing off the huge rock.

LNJ and the aspiring model have been dating for over 3 years ... and he explained his decision to pop the question by channeling his inner Beyonce, saying "I liked it, so I put a ring on it."

Nance can reportedly make up to $7 million over the next 3 years ... so yeah, dude can afford to splurge on his girl.

XXXTentacion's new music video shows a 6-year-old boy getting strung up by a noose with the rapper himself doing the deed -- a disturbingly powerful image that created serious casting problems ... TMZ has learned.

The "Look at Me" video -- which XXXTentacion conceived and directed -- is centered around police brutality against black citizens, white supremacy and slavery. There's a scene where XXX himself is hanging -- but at one point the music cuts altogether and the scene with 2 young boys begins.

One kid is white and the other black ... and XXX slips the noose around the white child's neck.

Casting director LaShawnna Stanley tells us she went through at least 20 different kids, trying to convince the parents it was a good role with a strong message. One parent even showed up ready to have her son do it, but then backed out saying it was "too dark."

The shoot was pushed back a week before Stanley convinced another mother. She reassured her of the theme and safety measures -- stunt coordinators and a harness.

The video's striking a chord ... it already has over 5 million views after a day.

As for that message -- LaShawnna says XXX wanted viewers to see ... what if it had been white men and boys getting hanged for 150 years in America.

Scarlett Johansson is officially a single woman again.

She's finalized her divorce from Romain Dauriac ... according to court records submitted Tuesday in Manhattan. They also settled their custody battle, but the terms are sealed ... according to the NY Post.

Scarlett had asked for primary custody of their 3-year-old daughter, but Romain wasn't down with that ... reportedly because he wants to move back to his native France.

The couple got married in 2014, and Scarlett filed for divorce in March of this year.

Traffic is gonna be soooo bad.

The International Olympic Committee has officially announced what was all expected ... the 2028 Olympic Games will go down in Los Angeles.

Several high-powered celebs were part of the campaign to get the Games to La La Land including Dr. Dre and Magic Johnson.

The heads of the Lakers, Clippers, Dodgers, Rams, Warner Brothers, and Disney were all on the team as well.

Moments ago, the IOC announced L.A. will get 2028 ... and Paris will get 2024.

Prince George was in class at his brand new primary school when police say a woman in her 40s attempted to break into the building.

The woman was arrested Tuesday on the grounds of Thomas's Battersea, which the 4-year-old Prince just started attending last week. Cops say George was in class at the time, along with 560 other students aged 4 to 13.

According to reports ... the suspect was arrested on suspicion of attempted burglary. Cops say they're reviewing security arrangements at the school on the heels of the incident.

As we reported, Prince William and the school's headmistress walked George into his first day of classes.

Larry King had part of a lung removed after doctors found a spot of lung cancer.

Larry says the cancer was in very early stages, and it was discovered during the summer when he got a chest X-ray. He says the doctors told him it would have been very serious if they'd found it 2 or 3 years later.

He says the cancer is all gone now after having 20 percent of the lung removed. Larry told Us Weekly, "It was fun to see where that spot was and there is no spot now. "

83-year-old Larry says he was back to work after just 2 weeks of recovery, and tells Extra ... “I feel good, I get my checkups, I stay healthy and I’m active.”

When it comes to retiring jerseys, the Lakers are taking two steps forward with Kobe Bryant -- and two steps WAY BACK with Paula Abdul!!

Here's the deal ... did you know the Lakers retired Paula's legendary Laker Girl uniform back in the day?

Of course you don't because for some reason, it's not hanging in the rafters at Staples Center next to the other greats like Magic, Shaq, Kareem and Jerry West.

When we saw Paula at LAX on Tuesday, she told us the Lakers had initially hung it up next to Kareem back when the team played at The Forum ... but when they moved, Paula's old outfit was relocated to a wall somewhere in the arena instead of up with the rest of the legends.

C'MON LAKERS!!!! PUT PAULA BACK IN THE RAFTERS!!!!

Paula became the HEAD of the Laker Girls when she was only 19 years old and led them to become the greatest cheerleading squad in pro sports during an epic 6-year run!

Plus, if Taylor Swift has a banner up at Staples Center, Paula should too.

Too Short's got big plans for the new iPhone X ... we're just not sure the women in his life will be down with it.

We got Short leaving TAO in Hollywood with 2 smoking hot chicks -- which is totally relevant to what he says about Apple's new $1,000 rollout. We asked him about what everyone agrees is its coolest feature -- the 3D facial scanning.

If you think Steve Jobs was a genius -- wait until you hear how Short plans to use the phone.

If Apple's smart, they'll get this guy a cubicle. Now!

Here she is ... the first kid to ever win a major tennis tournament from inside the womb!!!!

Serena Williams and baby daddy Alexis Ohanian just revealed the first pic of their brand new daughter -- Alexis Olympia Ohanian, Jr.

That's right ... she's got the same name as her daddy -- and she's a junior!

Serena says Alexis Jr. weighed 6 lbs 14 ounces when she was born on Sept. 1.

And she's already crediting the kid with winning a Grand Slam title, since Serena won the Australian Open while she was pregnant with A2.

But the delivery wasn't exactly smooth sailing -- 35-year-old Serena says there were "a lot of complications" at the hospital that required them to stay there for 6 or 7 days.

The good news ... everything seems fine now and Serena says, "Look what we got! A baby girl!"

Congrats!

Michael Bennett and his lawyer are making it very clear -- their plan is to sue the Las Vegas Metro Police Department over that August 27 incident where he was detained at gunpoint.

The NFL superstar and his lawyer, John Burris, sat down with ABC News where they doubled down on claims he was racially profiled when 2 officers ordered him to the ground during an investigation into a possible active shooter at a Vegas hotel.

The Seattle Seahawks star is still adamant he was detained because he's a black man who was in the wrong place at the wrong time -- and says he was physically and verbally abused until cops realized he was an NFL player.

In fact, Bennett says it was only when cops Googled him, the abuse stopped.

"I went from being a black man to a football player."

Burris has laid down the gauntlet with the LVMPD -- saying, "Unless something changes drastically that we don't know of, we're gonna file a lawsuit."

O.J. Simpson will be playing a cat-and-mouse game with the media when he's released, and it involves his safety.

We've learned the media has a 1 in 18 chance of spotting the famous convict when he's released from Lovelock Correctional Center in Nevada. That's because there are 18 release points and our prison sources say they are keeping the actual release site and date on the DL.

As for why the clandestine release ... we're told it's because prison officials are concerned for Simpson's safety. You'll recall, just after Simpson was granted parole, he was moved to a protective wing of the prison.

Prison sources tell us they're not just concerned about Simpson's safety. They worry a chase could ensue and prison staff, bystanders and Simpson himself could be injured or even worse. As one prison official told us, "We don't want another chase on our hands."

And, we're told, Simpson himself has made it clear to prison officials, he wants nothing to do with the media when the prison doors open. We're guessing it's part of a bigger plan for him to cash in with a splashy interview. The more he's seen, the more the value goes down.

Our prison sources wanted to make it clear ... the secrecy and conditions of Simpson's release will be made by the prison ... not O.J.

Jesse Williams is basking in bachelorhood after settling his child custody feud with his estranged wife.

Paps spotted the actor Wednesday at a gas station in Los Feliz, where he was rockin' a free t-shirt -- literally. The rest of his outfit also says as much.

We broke the story ... Jesse struck a custody deal with his wife, Aryn Drake-Lee, where they'll both share joint legal custody over their 2 little ones ... with conditions, of course.

Eric Benet is AWESOME ... and this clip proves it.

It's the first time we've seen him since Jay-Z dropped his name in "Kill Jay-Z," so obviously we wanted to know how it sat with him. Jay made Eric the poster child for cheating men who screw up their relationship with women -- "You almost went Eric Benet/Let the baddest girl in the world get away."

Eric laughed it off ... clearly amused by reports that he banged down Jay's door to express his dismay.

He's so cool about it ... and sees a silver lining.

And his parting shot at Ted Cruz is epic!