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Watching Patrick Mahomes vs. Tom Brady WITHOUT a party could help save lives ... so says Dr. Anthony Fauci, who's urging people to "lay low and cool it" for this year's Super Bowl.

The infectious disease expert appeared on "Good Morning America" on Wednesday and pled with the nation to cancel SB LV parties ... fearing big gatherings for the big game could lead to the spread of coronavirus.

"The one thing you don't want to do, you don't want to be somebody that's putting a damper on anything," Fauci said, "but you don't want parties with people that you haven't had much contact with."

"You just don't know if they're infected."

Instead, Fauci suggested watching the game at home by yourself or with your housemates.

"Enjoy it," Fauci said. "Have a party in your house with your family with the people who were there."

Fauci's plea comes just days after the CDC also recommended the cancelation of large Super Bowl parties.

In their guidelines for safe Super Bowl watching, CDC officials said, "Gathering virtually or with the people you live with is the safest way to celebrate the Super Bowl this year."

"If you do have a small gathering with people who don’t live with you, outdoors is safer than indoors. This year, choose a safer way to enjoy the game."

John Travolta has been reborn to hand jive ... he's bringing back his famous dance from "Grease" in a fun new Super Bowl ad with his daughter ... and ya gotta see their moves!!!

The "Grease" star and his 20-year-old daughter, Ella, re-imagined an iconic scene from the '70s classic in an ad for ScottsMiracle-Gro ... and while John struggles with a selfie stick, the 66-year-old can still dance his face off.

John brings back the famous "Sha Na Na - Born to Hand Jive" choreography from "Grease" ... only this time he's swapping out OG dance partner Olivia Newton-John for Ella, and they totally nail the routine!

Yeah, lots has changed since John played a T-Bird, but his dance skills are a constant.

The bit is chock full of celebs ... Martha Stewart gives John props for his hand jive, while Carl Weathers, "The Office" star Leslie David Baker and NASCAR stud Kyle Busch also make some hilarious appearances.

It's a pretty expensive homage to "Grease" too ... 30-second ads running during Superbowl LV on CBS are going for at least $5.5 million.

Dave Chappelle once famously asked, "Where is Ja?!?" -- and for now, the answer is ... on the graduating side of Harvard's online program for biz wizzes.

The rapper and businessman posted the results for his enrollment at Harvard Business School Online Certificate Program ... and it says clear as day -- Jeffrey Atkins (Ja's government name) has successfully completed it.

Looks like there's a focus he was specializing in too ... Entrepreneurship Skills. The description reads ... "This certificate program introduces a framework -- People, Opportunity, Context, Deal -- to evaluate opportunities, manage start-ups, and finance ventures."

Ja Rule was humblebragging about the accomplishment, tweeting ... "I ain’t the sharpest knife in the drawer buuuuut..." OK, we see ya, JR! And, we gotta say, the timing's kinda perfect.

Remember, Ja's got a few things in the oven on the tech and start-up front -- including a new app he's launching called Iconn, which facilitates celeb bookings. He gave us the rundown on it not too long ago, and even invited former Prez Trump to join.

No Proud Boys -- or Proud Boy hate-mongering -- is allowed though, as he made clear in our interview.

Dustin Diamond was working on a "Saved by the Bell" reboot of his own before he got sick and tragically passed ... bringing back Screech's sidekick for a series of insurance ads.

Dustin's friend, Dan Block of Insurance King, tells TMZ ... they've been working on building their very own Kevin -- Screech's A.I. creation on the original series -- over the past year.

We're told the plan was to shoot a series of commercials with Dustin and Kevin ... where he introduces the robot he built to help save money on car insurance.

Dustin did a bunch of ads for Insurance King already over the years, but this was going to be a new campaign. Sadly, he got sick and passed away before the robot was complete and filming was set to begin.

On the bright side ... Dan says the robot will be complete in the next week, and he wants to offer it to "Saved by the Bell" producers to use in the reboot.

As we've told you ... despite Dustin's desire to be included in the 'SBTB' reboot, he was never asked to join the cast for season 1. However, his rep tells us they were in talks with producers in November 2020 about possibly reviving some Screech storylines for future episodes.

President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden are among the dignitaries paying respects to Capitol PD Officer Brian Sicknick ... who was killed during the Jan. 6 insurrection.

The Bidens arrived, unannounced, Tuesday night at the Capitol and walked up to the table where Sicknick's remains were placed in the Capitol Rotunda -- the hallowed ground the officer was defending when he was killed.

The President's somber visit stands in stark contrast to his predecessor -- as former President Trump is about to stand trial in the Senate for inciting the very riot that cost Sicknick his life.

Several members of Congress -- including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer -- also paid their respects. Sicknick died in a hospital on January 7 from the injuries he'd suffered during the failed coup.

He is just the fifth private citizen to lie in honor at the Capitol. Two other Capitol cops -- killed in the line of duty in 1998 -- along with Rosa Parks in 2005 and Billy Graham in 2018 also got the honor.

Silento's family is banding together on the heels of his arrest for allegedly murdering his cousin ... and they’re addressing reports the rapper's been battling mental health issues.

A rep for Silento, Chanel Hudson, tells TMZ ... the family's trying to move forward as a close-knit group. As we reported, the rapper's facing a murder charge in Georgia for the fatal shooting of his cousin, Frederick Rooks.

We're told the family is reeling from both events -- Rooks' death on Jan. 21, and then Silento's arrest 11 days later.

Hudson claims Silento's been suffering from a "series of mental health illnesses" for years, including depression and we're told the family echoes her concern about his well-being.

Silento is being held without bail in DeKalb County Jail and his entertainment attorney, Bernie Lawrence-Watkins, tells TMZ ... he needs a psychiatric evaluation ASAP and should be watched closely.

She told us they don't think he would take his life behind bars, but admits "anything is possible," and they want to make sure the jail is taking proper precautions.

Silento had an opportunity to get mental health treatment in 2019 after he appeared on "The Doctors" to talk about depression -- however we're told he never followed through. Folks on his team feel that's when things started to unravel.

Gene Simmons has officially kissed his Hollywood Hills crib goodbye ... selling it for a cool $2 million.

The rock star sold his 3-story pad that sits in Laurel Canyon for just a tad under the $2.2 million asking price. The house, and its views, are a beaut ... with 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and iconic 180-degree views of downtown L.A., the Hollywood Sign, Griffith Park Observatory, Beverly Hills and the Pacific Ocean.

As we reported ... the house offers a spacious deck and tons of living space ... with 2,345 square feet that's perfectly suited for any rock star.

As for his other crib ... the KISS singer and bassist's Beverly Hills estate remains on the market, but the price on that one is a tad higher ... at $22 million. That one's way more house!

Tampa SERIOUSLY loves its new QB ... check out the street leading up to Tom Brady's mansion -- it's been flooded with signs supporting the Bucs star ahead of Super Bowl LV!!

TMZ Sports has obtained footage from the blocks surrounding Brady's rented crib in Florida ... and you can see there are signs EVERYWHERE backing the 43-year-old.

We're told nearly every house around Brady's has a sign in its front yard -- and some are super creative!!

"My Neighbor is The G.O.A.T.," one read with a picture of a goat in a hat on it. "LFG Bucs," another one read.

Some other cool ones? "Honk for Gronk" and "Brady Gronkowski 2020."

Of course, Tom only moved into Derek Jeter's spot on the waterfront less than a year ago -- but it's clear as day, a bunch of wins and a Super Bowl appearance has his neighbors fired up to have him around!

We are told, though, there is at least ONE Kansas City Chiefs flag on the block in someone's yard.

New York City native Connor Paolo was still a teenager when he landed the life-changing role of the complex high school student, Eric van der Woodsen -- who had some crazy family connections -- on the iconic The CW television show "Gossip Girl."

Conor Paolo was cast alongside some serious up-and-coming actors including Penn Badgley as the cool in-law, Dan Humphrey, Ed Westwick as the sharp-dressed half brother, Chuck Bass ... and of course, Blake Lively as his sister, Serena van der Woodsen.

Connor went on to also star in the ABC drama "Revenge."

Maluma got mobbed by fans during a meet-and-greet in Miami ... and cops shut the shindig down because they say it was not COVID safe.

The Colombian singer was promoting his new album, '7 Días en Jamaica,' at an art gallery in Wynwood and asked fans to show up to meet him. The crowd grew so big, cops pulled the plug.

As you see in the video, Maluma rolls up in an SUV and is instantly swarmed by a gaggle of fans. He greeted around 160 people inside the gallery, as they entered in groups of 10, but with 1,000 people still in line, it didn't appear safe ... this according to the Miami PD.

Most of the fans had masked up, Maluma included, and we're told social distancing was enforced inside the gallery ... but cops say that just wasn't enough.

Maluma, who's donating proceeds from his album artwork to 3 different environmental charities, told the crowd he's hoping to make another fan appearance this week.

Everything's rosy for Elon Musk's Starship spacecraft, except for those damn crash landings -- but somehow his engineers are keeping a remarkably positive outlook.

SpaceX's latest unmanned test flight of Starship -- designed to ferry cargo and people to the Moon and Mars -- ended Tuesday the same way it did in December ... with a fireball.

We'll say this ... the reusable capsule looked beautiful on the way up ... but it's that return flight that gets tricky. It's supposed to land vertically, but instead, it came down at an angle and burst into flames.

Bummer right? Not at mission control, where the mushroom cloud didn't stop an engineer from getting out his pom-poms to cheer up the team.

As the smoke was still rising, he bellowed, "Another great test flight" ... described everything that went right and then deadpanned, "We've just to work on that landing a little bit."

There's good reason for Captain Obvious to be so optimistic. Elon predicted Starship's initial test flights would likely crash land, and the primary objective is gathering data. See? Mission accomplished!!!

Jeff Bezos is letting go of the Amazon reins, day-to-day at least, and while he's not vanishing altogether from the office, it's clear his focus elsewhere.

Bezos' departure as CEO was announced Tuesday during an earnings call, and it was revealed AWS CEO Andy Jassy would take over as the main man of the e-comm behemoth sometime in the third quarter of 2021.

As for why he's stepping down ... Bezos wrote a letter to employees, saying running Amazon at large is exhausting and all-encompassing -- and he's got other projects he wants to go all-in on. He'll still have a hand on the wheel though, as executive chair of Amazon's board going forward.

JB added in his letter, "As Exec Chair I will stay engaged in important Amazon initiatives but also have the time and energy I need to focus on the Day 1 Fund, the Bezos Earth Fund, Blue Origin, The Washington Post, and my other passions. I’ve never had more energy, and this isn’t about retiring. I’m super passionate about the impact I think these organizations can have."

For reference, the Day 1 Fund is JB's homelessness project; the Earth Fund is his climate change initiative and Blue Origin is his aerospace company. So yeah, Dude's still got a lot on his plate.

As for how this will affect the company's projected growth, the numbers seem to show stakeholders have faith. Amazon shares were trading higher in after-hours Tuesday. That shows how solid Amazon is -- Bezos has been in the captain's chair since '94.

Unclear if Jeff's stock options with the company will be affected -- which could change his wealthiest man on the planet status. He and Elon Musk have been swapping the 1 and 2 spots all year.

She came. She saw. She got ejected for cussing out LeBron James!!!!

A woman and her husband were removed from the Lakers vs. Hawks game in Atlanta on Monday night for going absolutely nuclear on LeBron from the sideline ... and man, it's insane!!

The woman is Juliana Carlos -- an Instagram model who attended the game with her husband, Chris Carlos.

The couple was sitting courtside -- when the woman claims her husband got into a heated verbal argument with LeBron (which Bron confirmed after the game).

Juliana decided to get involved ... and began screaming, cussing and flipping off James from her insanely expensive seats causing a huge scene!

Worth noting ... the woman was initially wearing a COVID mask, but removed it to yell at LeBron.

In fact, the scene got so wild the refs stopped the game and the woman -- along with her husband and 2 others -- were all ejected from the building.

While she was getting the boot, Juliana flipped on her IG Live and gave her side of the story ... complete with threats and LOTS of F-bombs!!

"So, I'm minding my own business, and Chris has been a Hawks fan forever," Juliana explained ...  "He has this issue with LeBron. I don't have an issue with LeBron. I don't give a f**k about LeBron."

"Anyway, I'm minding my own business, drinking, having fun. All of the sudden, LeBron says something to my husband, and I see this and I stand up. And, I go, 'Don't f***ing talk to my husband.' And, he looks at me and he goes, 'Sit the f**k down, b*tch.'"

"And I go, 'Don't f**king call me a b*tch. You sit the f**k down. Get the f**k out of here. Don't f**king talk to my husband like that.'"

She was FIRED UP!!!!

After the game -- which the Lakers won 107 to 99 -- Bron was asked about the incident.

"At the end of the day, I'm happy fans are back in the building," Bron said with a straight face ... "I miss that interaction. I need that interaction."

As for the couple, Bron thinks booze may have been a factor -- "They might have had a couple drinks, maybe."

"I don't think taking down the mask harmed anybody," Bron added ... "I wasn't close enough to her."

Bron expressed concern for a few of the refs who got close to the woman -- "I hope they're okay. Safety first."

The NBA legend then dropped a tweet -- saying, "Courtside Karen was MAD MAD!!"

She sure was.

Imagine getting together with your book club and getting a surprise visit from an author, who also happens to be a former President ... named Barack Obama.

Members of the MahoganyBooks & the Very Smart Brothas Book Club had that very experience Tuesday as Obama surprised and delighted them by crashing their Zoom discussion about his memoir, "A Promised Land."

Barack said he had a couple of objectives for the appearance -- supporting Black-owned independent bookstores, but also ... he just had to meet the guys dubbed themselves the Very Smart Brothas Book Club.

Kinda hard to argue with their name, considering who they landed as a guest.

Obama then fielded some questions, including what he thought about Michelle's "inauguration drip." It's not often you see the ex-Prez struggle for an answer ... but he eventually got there, and said exactly the right thing.

Either Rita Ora's rep for flouting COVID rules precedes her, or she just flew into a country that takes health protocols so seriously ... it forced her into immediate quarantine.

The singer flew into Sydney Monday, and video shows her getting intercepted by a gaggle of airport cops the second she stepped off the plane. Rita and her many, many bags were ushered away to a hotel ... where she'll reportedly shelter-in-place for 14 days before being allowed to go about her biz with native Aussies.

Rita's down there for a gig as a judge on "The Voice" -- let's hope they worked her 2 weeks of isolation into the shoot schedule.

To be clear, Rita's lockdown isn't Australia dropping the hammer on her in particular. The quarantine is mandatory for all incoming travelers from pretty much anywhere besides New Zealand.

So, no ... officials weren't sticking it to Rita because of her recent 'rona screw-up in the UK.

Remember, she held a moderately-sized party for her 30th birthday -- and paid around $7,000 to make it happen ... this despite London being on lockdown at the time. She apologized for it, but it was a PR nightmare.

Elon Musk's handing over the keys to a SpaceX rocket to Jared Isaacman -- a billionaire himself, and pilot who's preparing to lead the first-ever, all-civilian spaceflight.

Jared joined us on "TMZ Live" Tuesday and told us all about the historic mission set to blast off this October, and what he's looking forward to most once he and 3 other civilians get into orbit.

Elon announced Monday Jared will be Commander for the trip, and he's already started some hands-on training for the SpaceX Dragon capsule. Sounds like he'll be ready to override the automatic pilot, if necessary, but don't worry ... he's an accomplished pilot with a flying speed record to his name.

It's pretty cool ... Jared's bringing 3 other civilians to space for a multi-day trip around the Earth, and he tells us how 2 lucky people can snag spots on the capsule by donating to a great cause.

For now, Isaacman Rocketman's trying to stay grounded and take the mission preparations day by day -- but you can tell he's champing at the bit to get some serious pilot bragging rights.