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Elon Musk's crusade to remove Twitter's blue checkmarks from legacy verified accounts is going into overdrive ... with a couple notable casualties among the celebrity ranks.

Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Kim Kardashian and K-pop supergroup BLACKPINK all had their blue checks stripped Thursday from their official Twitter accounts.

Elon targeted April 20 as the date for removing legacy blue checkmarks, announcing his intentions earlier this month, but lots of folks weren't sure if the bird app would actually follow through ... and now the reckoning is here.

For years, Twitter's blue checks were coveted ... they used to serve as the social media platform's official verification system, distinguishing prominent public figures from all the normies.

But, after buying Twitter for $44 billion, Elon decided to go in a different direction ... he's now charging folks $8 a month for subscriptions that come with blue checkmarks, and getting rid of the legacy checkmarks.

Tons of celebs have railed against Elon's policy ... including LeBron James, who said he wouldn't pay for a blue check, only for him to switch course.

MyPillow's Mike Lindell will be eating his words right now -- because his company put out a challenge a couple of years back, saying he had proof that China interfered in the election and was egging people to prove him wrong.

The problem? An arbitration panel found that someone did ... and now he's gotta pay up.

Here's the deal, Mike put the "Prove Mike Wrong" challenge out there in 2021 ahead of his so-called cyber symposium in South Dakota. He said he had data showing Chinese interference in the 2020 election and offered up $5 mil to anyone that could prove it wasn't the real deal.

Fast forward to Wednesday -- according to the Washington Post, a private arbitration panel determined 63-year-old Nevada resident Robert Zeidman analyzed Mike's data and in fact proved it didn't show the evidence Mike said it did ... meaning Zeidman's entitled to the dough.

Zeidman put together a 15-page report that he insisted the data did "not contain any information related to the November 2020 election."

Robert reportedly had to go to the arbitrators after Mike's management company denied a payout. They've ordered the company to cough up the cash within the next 30 days. Mike clearly isn't going down without a fight ... telling The Post the arbitrators made a mistake and vowing "This will be going to court!"

Frank Ocean's out at Coachella as a result of an ankle injury, but Benny Blanco says his much-maligned performance still left him inspired.

TMZ Hip Hop caught the decorated producer out Wednesday afternoon in Bev Hills, and he offered a much different take from the majority of Coachella attendees who felt Frank's show was a bust.

Benny says he saw Frank live and thinks the "Channel Orange" singer, hands down, had the best set of Coachella Weekend 1 ... and he insists all the internet chatter won't sway his opinion.

The guy's worked with Snoop Dogg, SZA and Lizzo in recent months, so his ears have to count for something ... even if he's going against popular opinion. 🤷🏽‍♂️

The quality of Frank's set might be up for debate, but with his exit from the festival, it's definitely a one-of-one now.

TMZ Hip Hop broke the story ... Frank suffered two fractures and a sprain in his left leg, prompting festival organizers to replace his headlining slot with Blink-182.

Colin Kaepernick is stepping up to help a family find answers ... paying for the autopsy of a 35-year-old man who died under peculiar circumstances in county jail after the medical examiner's initial autopsy failed to provide answers.

LaShawn Thompson died in his Fulton County Jail cell in September 2022 ... and his family wholeheartedly believes the facility's horrific and unsanitary conditions led to LT's death. But, the official autopsy came back "undetermined."

Enter Colin. He heard about the story and wanted to help, so he contacted Ben Crump, attorney for the family, and offered to fund a second, independent autopsy.

Typically, autopsies can cost between $20-50k.

Aside from wanting to provide the family with closure, we're told Colin was, and is, upset about the conditions in which LaShawn, initially arrested for a misdemeanor simple battery, and other inmates endured.

In fact, it's those disgusting conditions the Thompson family believes contributed, if not caused, LaShawn's death.

"The cell he was in was not fit for a diseased animal. This is inexcusable and it’s deplorable,” Thompson family attorney Michael Harper said of the cell where LaShawn lived, and ultimately died.

The family has released several photos of the scene, as well as LT's body, which appears to be covered in bug bites.

In the wake of the outrage over jail conditions, three high-ranking jail officials have stepped down, with the Fulton County Sheriff saying, “It’s clear to me that it’s time, past time, to clean house,” adding they're making "sweeping changes" to the facility.

Taylor Swift's ex-boo Joe Alwyn is at least tryin' to shake it off ... surfacing in public for the first time since news broke of their split.

The actor was spotted Thursday in central London ... nearly 2 weeks after the world found out their 6-year relationship was over. He was taking some calls while strolling and, honestly, the dude looks like he ain't getting much sleep.

Hard to say if the frazzled look is related to life A.T. (after Taylor) -- he could be upset about the breakup, or he could just be enjoying his new life as a single guy.

As you know, their split rocked the world of Swifties, but it was reportedly an "amicable" ending. Of course, that isn't always how things go for TS -- with her often taking the drama of a nasty breakup and turning it into a hit song.

Following the split, we've seen Taylor out a few times in NYC, even grabbing dinner with her pal Jack Antonoff ... and putting in some work at a recording studio -- all as she's neck-deep in her Eras Tour.

If you compare their public outings ... Taylor at least seems to be handling the life change a little better than Joe.

Post Malone just saw 3 of his tracks cross the 10-mil sales mark -- shattering Bruno Mars' previous record to become the artist with the most RIAA Diamond-certified singles EVER!!!

On Thursday, Post's hits "Circles," "Better Now," and "I Fall Apart" brought his Diamond total to 8 ... besting Bruno's previous record of 6.

It's another huge W for Post's already decorated career ... his "Sunflower" track from the "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" soundtrack is the RIAA's biggest song ever at 17x platinum!

The last time we saw Post, he told TMZ Hip Hop that song couldn't have become so legendary without the help of Swae Lee.

Post and his label Republic Records are now compiling all the 10-mil winners for the compilation, "The Diamond Collection" ... which is currently being promoted by his new single, "Chemical."

Turns out, Twitter isn't the only thing in Elon Musk's life going up in flames ... because his highly-anticipated rocket launch just blew up only minutes after taking the skies.

Thankfully, the SpaceX Starship wasn't carrying any people or satellites when it took off in southern Texas Thursday morning for an around-the-world trip. All seemed fine to the folks on the ground until a massive explosion sent the rocket plummeting back down to Earth.

The rocket was careening out of control when it was intentionally blown up ... You hear mission control say, "It appears that the automatic flight termination system has been activated."

Starship is massive, 400 feet long and is both the biggest and most powerful ever built. This was the rocket's first launch -- it was supposed to originally go up Monday, but that was called off after a valve got stuck during fueling.

Elon apparently wasn't deterred by the explosion, tweeting out only a few minutes after the failure, "Congrats SpaceX team on an exciting test launch of Starship! Learned a lot for next test launch in a few months."

Here's some awkward foreshadowing of 'Scandoval' ... a "Vanderpump Rules" scene off the editing room floor showing Ariana Madix, Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss joking about being in a ménage à trois!

It's a wild vid, knowing what we know now ... it shows all 3 of 'em posing for pics together in a hot tub before Raquel says these photos must stay on Tom's phone, and can't be shared with anyone.

Ariana's reaction is pretty eye-opening -- "It looks like we're in a throuple." 👀

Tom and Raquel didn't have any visible reaction after she said that, but the timing of this scene is pretty shocking. Bravo aired the previously deleted clip ... which was shot last August in Mexico, where they were all attending Scheana Shay's wedding.

Twitter's having a field day with the clip -- some point out he couldn't keep his eyes off Raquel in the hot tub, while another called it "Beyond gross."

As we all know, Ariana later found out her words had some truth. We broke the story ... Tom and Ariana broke up after she discovered sexual texts between Tom and Raquel ... who'd been using code names on each other's phones to hide their affair.

We spoke to Tom this week, and he said he's happy Ariana's moving on ... referring to her hookup with a new guy at Coachella.

Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello didn't just hook up for old time's sake at Coachella ... they seem fully back together, and we know that from a 3-second video shot Wednesday!

Shawn and Camila were hand-in-hand, strolling down a street in Santa Monica ... near a bank of restaurants.

As we reported, they met up at Coachella last weekend and were smooching, hugging and dancing ... but the prevailing view was it was a one-off after their breakup a year ago.

Not the case -- clearly. Here's the mystery ... did they just happen to see each other at Coachella, was there planning, and could they have gotten back together even before the music festival?

S&C first began dating in July 2019, and quarantined together during the pandemic.

There was lots of buzz he recently hooked up with his chiropractor, Dr. Jocelyne Miranda, but that doesn't appear to be the case ... Jocelyne was at Coachella with Shawn and saw it all -- highly unlikely they were anything more than friends.

Kanye West was jammin' at designer Jerry Lorenzo's fashion show ... bopping his head near the front of the audience as they played one of his hits during the night.

Ye appeared to be alongside his wife Bianca at Jerry's Fear of God show at the Hollywood Bowl Wednesday night -- getting up when his track, "Feel the Love" played while his pal Pusha T was onstage.

Clearly, Kanye was digging the shout-out from Jerry, and some audience members reacted to the rapper dancing -- even without seeing his face, everyone knew it was him. Both Ye and Bianca were wearing his trademark full-head masks. Him in black, her in yellow.

Jerry's remained a public supporter of Ye -- even through all the antisemitism -- and posted in January that Adidas just wasn't the same without him.

As for the Fear of God show, Jerry showed off some collabs with Adidas, but with the event being an invite-only affair ... it's clear he's still backing Ye.

Tom Brady apparently didn't think an AI-generated comedy special about him was funny at all.

According to the comedians who helped create the viral, hour-long video -- which featured an animated version of the NFL legend telling crass jokes in a stand-up format -- TB12 threatened legal action over it just days after it was posted ... which forced them to wipe it from the internet this week.

Will Sasso and Chad Kultgen explained the situation on their "Dudesy" podcast on Tuesday ... saying that shortly after they helped put up the fake Brady comedy special on their Patreon page earlier this month -- they received a cease and desist letter from the G.O.A.T.'s attorneys.

The guys said Brady's lawyers claimed in the letter that the AI version of the future Hall of Famer "blatantly violates" the former quarterback's "rights" ... and if they didn't meet a list of demands -- which included taking down the video -- a lawsuit would be forthcoming.

Sasso and Kultgen clearly thought the whole thing was B.S. -- on their pod, they wondered how it in any away differentiated from live comedians doing impressions of celebs on shows like "Saturday Night Live" -- but they nonetheless acquiesced.

The comedians said they took down the comedy special at midnight Tuesday.

Timothée Chalamet might wanna pump the brakes a little earlier next time, slamming into a camera during a shoot in an apparent case of some serious miscommunication.

Kylie Jenner's new boo was in NYC Wednesday shooting a commercial called "Vertigo" when the mishap went down. You see the actor come down a set of stairs to be greeted by two other actors when the camera jets out and collides with Chalamet.

Unclear who's to blame for the poor choreography, but you can see a piece of the camera break off in the process.

The spate of homeowner shootings got even more insane after a 6-year-old and her parents were shot by a neighbor who was pissed off because their basketball rolled onto his property.

Robert Louis Singletary went ballistic Tuesday in North Carolina ... apparently angry at a bunch of kids who were playing basketball nearby. The ball bounced onto Singletary's yard, and he responded by running down the street with a gun and shooting at a neighbor.

Singletary wasn't done ... he started shooting at the little girl and her parents. The girl, Kinsley White, was grazed on her face by a bullet, and her parents were struck as well.  Kinsley's dad, William White, was hit in the back and critically injured. White apparently stepped into the line of fire to protect his daughter.

Kinsley told a local TV outlet WSOC-TV, "Why did you shoot my daddy and me? Why did you shoot a kid's dad?"

Singletary has been charged with 4 counts of first-degree attempted murder, among other charges.

Jonathan Majors says the man who was driving him and his now ex-girlfriend the night of their alleged domestic incident will testify the actor did not strike her -- and he claims there's video proof she was not injured when she went out to a club after their altercation.

Jonathan's attorney Priya Chaudhry filed docs Wednesday in Manhattan, informing the court the driver witnessed what went down between Jonathan and the woman back in March. According to the docs, obtained by TMZ, the driver saw the woman assault Majors -- around 1 AM on March 25 -- "while she was attempting to steal his phone."

Further, the "Creed III" star says the driver will testify he never struck the alleged victim "in any way at any time, or even raised his voice." Majors and his attorney also say the driver saw her "hitting, scratching, and attacking" Jonathan ... and that Jonathan asked the driver to stop the car, so he could escape her attack ... which he did.

The woman allegedly told police she suffered a broken finger and a laceration behind her ear during the altercation -- however, in the document, Chaudhry says they have proof that's a "complete lie."

She says they have hours of security videos showing the woman went clubbing and got drunk after Majors left her in the car -- and she also texted him, accusing him of infidelity and threatening suicide.

As for what happened while she was out at a nightclub ... Majors' court filing includes screen shots of security video showing the woman freely using her right hand, which she claimed Majors injured.

In the videos, they say she casually pushes her hair behind her right ear, reaches into her bag several times, sorts through credit cards, handles phones, holds a menu and easily holds a glass of champagne.

They say she was seen partying pretty hard, throwing back shots and champagne with friends without any visible sign of injury.

When her night out at the club was over, they claim she showed up at Majors home at 3:23 AM ... entered his apartment, and called him 32 times and sent several angry, jealous text messages. Majors was not home when she got there.

Chaudhry says none of the text messages accuse Jonathan of injuring her, nor does she mention any discomfort from alleged injuries.

They say Majors got home at 11:13 AM, and found her unconscious and half naked on the floor of his walk-in closet. He also discovered she allegedly threw up in his bed, and told him she'd taken "a few sleeping tablets."

Majors then called 911, and claim when paramedics arrived, the woman repeatedly told them "I don't know" when asked what happened to her.

In the document, Chaudhry claims body cam footage shows police interviewing the woman, and "clearly coaching her to say that Mr. Majors grabbed her by the throat." Chaudhry claims the alleged victim never made that claim to anyone prior to the officer's direction.

TMZ broke the story ... Majors was arrested March 25th, and charged with misdemeanor assault, aggravated harassment, attempted assault and harassment.

Chaudhry and Majors want the D.A. to review their evidence swiftly and "dismiss these false charges against him."

The white geriatric gunman who shot and nearly killed a 16-year-old Black youth in Missouri is a Trump supporter who has been radicalized by racist conservative views in recent years ... at least according to his grandson.

Klint Ludwig was on CNN Thursday, railing on his 84-year-old grandfather, Andrew Lester, who stands accused of shooting Ralph Yarl outside Lester's Kansas City home last week.

Ludwig said he was "disgusted" by Lester's alleged attack on Yarl, calling it a "horrible tragedy." Ludwig also said he was 100 percent in Yarl's corner.

Don Lemon asked Ludwig why he was speaking out against his own grandfather. Ludwig responded, "It was right thing to do," adding, "This country it happens over and over again where people get away with killing unarmed innocent Black people."

He continued, "People need to speak out and not make any excuses for this kind of behavior and violence."

Ludwig went even deeper, accusing his grandfather of being a "stock American Christian male" with "racist tendencies."

Ludwig also stated as Lester got older, he became conspiratorial and would say "weird racist things," which seemed to be the result of watching conservative media outlets, such as FOX News, all day long. Ludwig went on to say Lester is a Trump supporter and, within the last five years or so, he became radicalized with these toxic views.

As we reported, Yarl mistakenly arrived at Lester's home in Kansas City last week while trying to pick up his younger siblings, who were staying at a different address.

After Yarl rang the bell, Lester answered the door while armed with a loaded revolver. Lester then opened fire through a glass door, hitting Yarl in the head and then firing a second time, hitting him in the right arm. At no point did Yarl step foot inside Lester's house.

Yarl was rushed to a hospital with potentially life-threatening injuries, but, miraculously, he survived. In fact, his attorney, Lee Merritt, posted a photo of the two back at Ralph's home Wednesday.

According to court documents, Lester told police he spotted Yarl yanking on an outer door handle and thought the teen was trying to break into his home. That's why, Lester says, he shot Yarl.

But Yarl allegedly gave a different story to investigators, telling them that he never pulled on the door handle and that he was standing patiently waiting for someone to answer the bell he rang.

Woody Harrelson is weighing in on the possibility he and Matthew McConaughey might share a father, saying he has no problem getting a DNA test to settle the brotherly question once and for all.

Woody was on Tuesday's episode of "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" when he got on the topic of being related to his "True Detective" costar and real-life BFF.

ICYMI, McConaughey appeared on Kelly Ripa’s podcast last week, and he revealed he and Woody could really be blood!!!

He said there's a possibility his mom Mary Kathlene McCabe and Harrelson’s dad met in West Texas while she was getting divorced.

McConaughey’s father died in 1992 and he admitted that it would be tough accepting that the guy he called dad his entire life might not actually be his blood relation after all.

Woody echoed the idea that the story is "crazy" while talking to Colbert ... adding that the speculation started when he was chatting with Matt's mother, and she hinted she potentially had a thing with his papa Harrelson.

Ya gotta hear how he recalls the moment he talked to McConaughey's mom while they were vacationing in Greece.

Woody's father died in 2007, so DNA's the only way they can confirm this now.

Not coincidentally, we think, Matt and Woody are costarring in a new AppleTV+ series called "Brother From Another Mother."