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Stormy Daniels has taken the media by storm this week, while James Franco is licking his wounds after getting passed over for an Oscar nom. So, we gotta ask ...

Don't let these almost identical images of Lena Waithe and Jada Pinkett Smith stump you ... pick yourself up and lean in to see if you can spot the differences between these two tricky pics.

French Montana can now add Global Citizen Ambassador to his already stacked resume for his incredible efforts in Uganda.

The "Unforgettable" rapper received the honor at a ceremony in NYC Friday night. French filmed the music video for his 2017 hit with Swae Lee in Uganda where he witnessed the country's healthcare hardships first hand.

French donated $100k to help build a hospital that provided appropriate resources to women who are pregnant.

His donation led to a chain reaction of others ... The Weeknd, Diddy and Diddy's Ciroc venture all matched his $100k and Global Citizen estimates some 260,000 people will benefit from the money raised.

Way to go, French!

Meghan Markle's on her way to joining the Royal Family, but before that, she had her sights set on becoming queen ... of the lollipop biz.

According to docs obtained by TMZ ... Meghan and a friend filed trademark paperwork back in 2012 for the term "Lali" -- with the apparent intention of selling their own line of lollipops and drops.

It evidently never panned out, because a little more than 2 years later they abandoned their trademark application ... and haven't filed anything since.

Good news for Markle, though -- if she ever wants to revive the "Lali" pops ... Royal protocol won't get in her way.

Sean McVay had a GREAT first season with the Rams.

He's having an even better off-season.

The 32-year-old wonder coach flew to Hawaii for a little R&R with his insanely smokin' hot girlfriend Veronika Khomyn ... and the vacation photos are excellent.

Seems the two are just blowing off some steam in Maui after a long NFL season -- and it's well deserved. McVay led the Rams to an 11-5 record, 1st in the NFC West.

As for Veronika ... she's 28, she's from Ukraine and she met McVay when he was just a lowly tight end coach for the Washington Redskins back in the day.

Good move ... on both their parts!

Lainie Kazan's not going to jail for pulling the ol' five-finger discount at a supermarket, but she will have to attend a support group for petty thieves.

The L.A. City Attorney tells TMZ the mom from "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" has accepted an offer to participate in the Neighborhood Justice Program. Attendees discuss their crimes and take responsibility ... instead of going to court or pleading guilty.

We broke the story ... Kazan was busted for petty theft at a Gelson's on Christmas Eve. The store claimed she had stolen before. Her lawyer told us the arrest was a misunderstanding, because Gelson's didn't give her a chance to pay for her items.

Aaron Schwartz -- whose first acting role was playing Dave Karp in "The Mighty Ducks" way back in 1992 -- is stoked the Quack Attack is coming back, and says he wants a piece of the action.

Aaron tells TMZ he's been in contact with some people involved with bringing the 'Ducks' back, and now that it's reportedly green-lit for a TV series reboot ... he's holding out hope he can play a part.

As for who should play the new group of young, misfit hockey players ... Schwartz has a suggestion that shouldn't seem too strange.

Oh and by the way, Aaron is ripped now ... so he could definitely hold his own on the ice.

Nelly is firing back, as promised, at his rape accuser with a countersuit ... claiming she came on to him, and then lied about their sexual encounter to get him criminally prosecuted.

Nelly filed the suit in Seattle Friday, and in the docs says ... Monique Greene made her way into his VIP section of the nightclub where he was headlining, and started enthusiastically flirting with him. He says he invited her to join him and others back on his tour bus.

Nelly insists they had consensual sex, and Greene only got pissed when one of his performers -- he told police it was a backup dancer -- entered the room to use his bathroom. He describes Greene as "aggressive and disruptive" and says she was asked to leave at that point.

As we've reported, Greene called for an Uber and then called police to report the incident ... leading to Nelly's arrest for rape.

According to the docs, obtained by TMZ, after Nelly's arrest ... Greene and her attorney made several statements on the Internet that falsely accused him of raping her. He says the statements were a clear and malicious attempt to get him prosecuted.

Nelly adds her claims cost him money -- he was forced to cancel a scheduled performance -- and also damaged his reputation in the music biz.

We broke the story ... the criminal case against the rapper was eventually dismissed when Greene refused to cooperate with prosecutors.

David Otunga says Jennifer Hudson is simply a liar when she grouses to the judge in their custody war that he needs to get a job, because he says she knows he already has one.

Otunga just fired back in legal docs, responding to Hudson's claim he essentially sits on the sofa and needs gainful employment so she doesn't have to pay support.

He says her claim is ironic because 5 years ago, she gave him an ultimatum ... telling him he had to either choose wrestling or his family. Translation ... she was the person who stopped him from wrestling full-time.

Otunga says he IS employed ... with the WWE, in addition to working on other entertainment projects.

He also says it's nervy for Hudson to grouse about money when she makes between $8 million and $13 million per season just for "The Voice."

The clerk of the court where Meek Mill was sentenced to prison for violating his probation slipped a note to Meek during the hearing, asking for money for her son's college tuition.

TMZ has obtained a note written by Wanda Chavarria and addressed to Mr. Williams (Meek's real names is Robert Rihmeek Williams) during his probation violation hearing. Chavarria says she has bad credit and can't scrape together money for her son's tuition for his last semester at Virginia Commonwealth University.

She says, "This will probably be my son's last semester at VCU if the tuition isn't paid for this year and unfortunately with my bad credit, I am unable to secure a loan or cosign a loan for my son. Anything you can do is very much appreciated."

The court clerk adds, "Every little helps -- please donate what you can to keep him attending VCU."

Chavarria tells TMZ she did indeed slip Meek the note during the hearing, adding the judge didn't know about it. She says since Meek's from Philly and so is she, she thought he might do her a solid.

Chavarria says Meek didn't give her any money, but her son stayed in school and will graduate in May.

Eddie Van Halen ain't talkin' 'bout love, but he is talkin' 'bout a videographer who's allegedly trying to make a quick buck by selling old band footage ... according to a new suit.

The Van Halen guitarist claims he invited videographer, Andrew Bennett, to film music rehearsals with his son, Wolfgang, and his bro, Alex Van Halen, back around 2006 with the purpose of using the footage for a DVD or video project.

Eddie claims he didn't like the footage and scrapped it ... but Bennett threatened to release it years later and claimed he never got paid. According to the docs ... Eddie says they settled the matter in 2015, and Eddie got the rights to the footage after the settlement.

However, Eddie claims Andrew's back at it and is now trying to sell the old footage ... and even released a trailer for it on his website, 5150vault.com.

According to the docs ... Van Halen got the site suspended for copyright infringement, but Bennett launched another one with a similar name and is currently linking to a preview video of the music rehearsals.

The man who shot and killed ex-NFL RB Joe McKnight has been found guilty of manslaughter and now faces up to 40 years in prison.

Ronald Gasser, 56, learned his fate today in a Louisiana courtroom ... not far from where he gunned down McKnight during a road-rage incident on December 1, 2016.

Gasser's attorneys filed motions that McKnight was the aggressor, and their client was acting in self defense when he fired off 3 shots.

The jury took just over 7 hours to deliberate the verdict.

McKnight was only 28.

Jesse Williams is firing back at his estranged wife, saying she's poisoning their children toward him ... and he insists she's all wet when she claims he has a girlfriend.

Aryn Drake-Lee has claimed Jesse is romantically involved with a woman the kids call Mama C. She claims it's in violation of their custody arrangement which requires them not to introduce a significant other until the relationship has lasted 6 months. He says she's a longtime mutual friend of theirs and that's it.

Jesse just filed legal docs saying Aryn has been interrogating their 2 children, trying to find fault with things he does.

She claimed in earlier docs his inconsistent schedule was disrupting their lives, hurting their development, but he calls BS, saying the kids eat their meals and get plenty of sleep while they're with him.

Jesse says it's rich for Aryn to complain about his work schedule, saying, "This is how I always supported our family and Aryn has no problem enjoying the financial benefits, including the $50,695 per month I pay her in temporary spousal support."

"Battlestar Galactica" star Tricia Helfer is pulling the plug on her marriage ... TMZ has learned.

Helfer filed legal docs citing irreconcilable differences to end her marriage to Jonathan Marshall.

The couple has been married for more than 13 years. They have no minor children, so custody is not an issue.

According to the docs, they have a prenup separating their property, so it sounds like a pretty clean divorce.

She wants the judge to reject any claim for spousal support Marshall might make.

The docs say they separated back in May.