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Mark Salling's suicide isn't just a tragic ending for him and his family, but it also screws over the victims in his child porn case ... TMZ has learned.

Under Salling's plea deal, the former "Glee" star agreed to pay victims $50k each in restitution. In order to impose such a penalty, the judge must first sentence the defendant. Salling's sentencing was scheduled for March but since he hanged himself prior to the sentencing ... the plea deal was not complete and the judge lost the power to order payment to the victims.

There is a saving grace. The victims could sue Salling's estate for damages they suffered from his transgressions.

As we reported ... Salling pled guilty to possession of child pornography involving a prepubescent minor in December, and was facing 4 to 7 years in prison with 20 years of supervised release as part of his plea bargain.

Drool of thumb ... if you're gonna give a nationally televised speech, GO EASY ON THE CHAPSTICK ... or you'll be mocked endlessly like Rep. Joe Kennedy.

JK3 learned the hard way after social media went HAM on him for his extra shiny mouth during the Democratic response to the State of the Union.

In fact, someone even started a "Joe Kennedy's Lips" Twitter account.

The good news for Joe ... he's taking the mockery in stride -- even joking about his over-chapstickeration on 'GMA' early Wednesday morning.

"Oddly enough, I decided to go a little bit light on the chapstick this morning," Kennedy said ... "More on the coffee, light on the chapstick, which was probably a wise choice."

True.

Sarah Silverman rolled her eyes at PETA for pissing on the puppy gag at the Grammys.

We got the funny lady Tuesday at LAX and asked about PETA bitching that James Corden handed out pups as a consolation prize. PETA thinks it was wrong to put the dogs under bright lights and it sent a bad message that dogs are prizes rather than family members.

Donald Trump used the State of the Union to take a not so thinly veiled shot at Colin Kaepernick and the NFL ... telling Americans they should all STAND for the national anthem.

Trump was praising 12-year-old Preston Sharp for putting flags on the graves of American military veterans when he pivoted and brought up the anthem.

"Preston’s reverence for those who have served our nation reminds us why we salute our flag, why we put our hands on our hearts for the pledge of allegiance and why we proudly STAND for the national anthem!"

The line drew a roar from the crowd. Trump smiled and pointed.

Of course, Trump's been on a tear against Colin and the NFL for months -- and previously said any player who takes a knee during the anthem should be punished by the league.

Disney star Adam Hicks' world was crumbling long before his arrest for armed robbery, due to his brother doing time, and his mother passing away ... TMZ has learned.

Adam's little brother, Tristan, was the driver in a 2014 car crash in Vegas that killed a 17-year-old girl. Police say she died after she was ejected from the car.

Tristan, who was 18 at the time, took off on foot. He was eventually arrested for fleeing the scene.

Sources tell us Adam had recently gone to Vegas to testify at his brother's parole hearing. Adam paid for Tristan's bail and most of his legal fees during the case.

Things went further south a year later when Adam's mother, Lucy, died unexpectedly from a heart attack. We're told Tristan's accident had weighed heavily on her.

Joe Biden says he'll be rootin' hard for Philly this Sunday ... but the former Vice President doesn't seem 100% confident his Eagles will be flying high at Super Bowl 52.

Why?? In a word -- BRADY.

"I don't think they're gonna take out Brady," Biden told TMZ Sports at LAX. "Brady's awful good."

No disagreements here.

Still, there's no questioning Joe's fandom. Remember -- the ex-VP told Carson Wentz, "It's our year" last season ... and even advised former President Obama to "get on the Wentz Wagon!"

R. Kelly is getting away with his alleged sex cult because America doesn't care about underage black girls being victimized ... according to the father of one of Kelly's girlfriends.

Angelo Clary tells TMZ ... his 20-year-old daughter, Azriel Clary, is one of the singer's alleged victims. He's incredulous Kelly isn't facing the same fate as Harvey Weinstein or Bill Cosby -- and believes race is the only difference.

Angelo says Azriel was 17 when she met Kelly to discuss her music career. He and Azriel's mother were there, but he claims Kelly slipped his number to Azriel when they weren't looking. Shortly after that, she moved in with him. Angelo hasn't seen her since, and last spoke to her 8 months ago.

As we reported ... Joycelyn Savage's family also accused Kelly of cutting them off from their daughter. Just like the Savage fam, Angelo says police told him there's nothing they can do unless Azriel claims she's being held against her will.

Nicole Eggert will be featured on Wednesday's 'Dr. Oz Show' ... this after producers shelved the program claiming they had issues with Nicole's timeline.

We've learned after Nicole appeared on Megyn Kelly's show Tuesday, Oz's producers called Nicole's lawyer Lisa Bloom and her manager David Weintraub, saying they had a change of heart and would air the program after all.

As we reported, the show was filmed January 10 but after receiving a blistering cease and desist letter from Scott Baio's lawyer which, among other things, questioned her timeline for the alleged molestation, the show was put on ice.

Nicole, Lisa and David went to Oz's studio Tuesday and shot some additional footage for the program.

Harvey Weinstein says actress Kadian Noble is way off base with her allegation he engaged in sex trafficking when she met him in his Cannes hotel room.

Weinstein is responding to Noble's lawsuit, and insists there was no exchange of money or movie roles for sex during the alleged 2014 incident.

As we reported, Noble claims Weinstein lured her to Cannes to discuss her future in the biz. In her lawsuit, she said Weinstein forced her to masturbate him and he groped her. In her suit against Harvey, his brother Bob and TWC, she said that was sex trafficking because Harvey enticed to make an international trip by promising movie roles.

In docs, Weinstein says that's absurd because he made no such promises, and Noble is merely speculating he regularly did this to other women. He adds ... the alleged incident Noble described is only a sexual assault, not sex trafficking.

Sean Spicer considers Omarosa's new gig with "Celebrity Big Brother" a laughing matter ... and a huge step down!!!

We got Trump's former White House Press Secretary Tuesday in NYC, and asked if he'll be watching his former colleague on the reality show. Spicy laughed and said anything after the White House is a downgrade. Odd for him to say, since he's in post-WH mode, too.

We also asked Spicer if he has advice for the Prez ahead of the State of the Union address. It's amazing how quickly he fell back into podium mode.

Mark Salling did not leave a suicide note and cops have already combed his home, his car and the area where he hanged himself and nothing has turned up ... law enforcement sources tell TMZ.

The question we've been asking for hours ... how did police find Salling's body in a remote area by a riverbed? We thought cops may have tracked the body through his cellphone or GPS on his car, but that wasn't the case.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... LAPD officers were in the area on an unrelated matter when they spotted Salling's car. As we first reported, a missing persons report had already been filed, so cops ran the plates, determined it was Salling's car, searched the area and found the body hanging from a tree.

TMZ broke the story, Salling committed suicide by hanging ... he had been suicidal for months awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to child porn offenses.

Jane Lynch is clearly struggling with Mark Salling's apparent suicide ... for several complicated reasons.

Jane was out in L.A. just a few hours after TMZ broke the story her former "Glee" co-star was found dead. Police believe he hanged himself. Jane said the news was "sad and very tragic."

As for how she'll remember Salling? Watch the video, and you can tell Jane was reaching for the right words -- especially in light of the fact Salling had entered a guilty plea to child pornography charges.

Ultimately, she took the high road and shared a story about his early days on the "Glee" set.

Stormy Daniels says she can't say it enough -- she never banged Donald Trump, but still ... she's saying it one more time with feeling.

Stormy issued a statement Tuesday, saying she and Trump denied the affair multiple times since it allegedly went down in 2006 ... and nothing's changed. She says, "I am not denying this affair because I was paid 'hush money' as has been reported in overseas owned tabloids. I am denying this affair because it never happened."

The "overseas owned tabloid" the ex-porn star's referring to is The Wall Street Journal, which reported the alleged $130,000 payment. We checked and it's still American-owned.

There's some buzz about Stormy's signature on the statement. It looks way different from a previous denial she issued. Despite the obvious difference ... her rep, Gina Rodriguez, tells us Stormy signed both letters.

Stormy claims she won't have any further comment about Trump. Why do we doubt that?

President Trump's cabinet members are yelling, "Not it!" That's basically what happens when the Prez is naming a designated survivor before the State of the Union ... according to former Chief of Staff Andy Card.

We got George W. Bush's ex right-hand man on Capitol Hill -- a few hours before Trump's big speech -- and asked him about how the designated survivor is selected. If you're unfamiliar, one cabinet member is always selected to watch the SOTU from an undisclosed location. It's a safety measure ... since the Prez, VP, all of Congress, and other cabinet members are all in one place.

Card told us -- after a Tom Brokaw cameo -- no one wants the gig, and they tend to put up a fight. That being said, someone's gotta do it, and he has an inkling about who will be the DS Tuesday night.