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Ticketmaster is spelling out what went wrong with their Taylor Swift tour sales -- and the justification for the fiasco was basically chalked up to ... a necessary evil to defeat bots.

The Live Nation company posted an explainer Friday night, giving an in-depth breakdown of why so many people had such a hard time buying tickets to TS's 'Eras Tour' during the presale window this week ... and it consisted of both an apology and a defense of the chaos.

For starters, Ticketmaster acknowledges what TayTay said ... that she was told they were anticipating an unprecedented amount of traffic and were prepared. However, TM adds that despite this ... when the digital doors actually opened, their expectations were exceeded.

Ticketmaster posted a graph that shows just how many people (and not-real-people) flooded their site ... even though they had a rigorous registration system in place to make sure real, authenticated fans were able to buy tickets, as opposed to spammers who would otherwise snap them up in bulk and hawk them on the resale market with massive markups.

Regardless of this seemingly airtight system being in place -- consisting of 3.5 million users successfully preregistering/confirming their IDs -- Ticketmaster says that on the day of the sale, even more unregistered fans and bots came flocking in ... partially crashing the site.

To resolve this record amount of traffic while simultaneously taking care of the folks who should've been guaranteed a chance to buy passes ... Ticketmaster says it started staggering queues, the result of which ended with longer wait times and, inevitably, frustrated users.

Ticketmaster says they know this caused confusion -- and in some cases, people to lose their spots outright -- but insists it was the best option under the circumstances. TM also proudly touts the fact 2.4 million tickets were, in fact, ultimately sold to authenticated fans ... and that less than 5% of the tickets sold ended up for resale, a W in the site's book.

Ticketmaster says it regrets the fact some were left empty-handed, but also adds this perspective ... it's unfeasible to please everyone, especially at this level of interest.

TM says, "[B]ased on the volume of traffic to our site, Taylor would need to perform over 900 stadium shows (almost 20x the number of shows she is doing) … that’s a stadium show every single night for the next 2.5 years. While it’s impossible for everyone to get tickets to these shows, we know we can do more to improve ... and that’s what we’re focused on."

Louis Vuitton has done the impossible --- getting two soccer G.O.A.T.s to play nice off the pitch ... doing so with a nice and quiet classic board game.

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are both featured in a new LV campaign that got posted/announced Saturday. It's a photo of the two of them playing chess on top of a Louis Vuitton suitcase ... using the signature squares as spaces for their pieces.

The company described the collab this way ... "Victory is a State of Mind." They add, "In addition to a long tradition of crafting trunks for the world’s most coveted sporting trophies, the Maison celebrates two of the most talented football players today."

The picture was shot by famed photographer Annie Leibovitz ... who's contributed to countless spreads like this. But, the Messi and Ronaldo one is perhaps more relevant than ever ... the 2022 World Cup is just one day away, with the first match scheduled Sunday.

Neither guy's teams -- Argentina and Portugal -- are playing until Tuesday and Thursday of next week, respectively, but it could prove to be their last WC appearances ever. LM has already said he's bowing out after this, and Ronaldo has also suggested he may retire soon.

Quentin Tarantino says he wishes he would've confronted his longtime collaborator Harvey Weinstein -- especially in the wake of the criminal allegations that have surfaced.

The director was grilled by Chris Wallace on his CNN show Friday night ... getting asked why he didn't do more to protect women in HW's orbit if he was, in fact, aware of the film producer's behavior -- something Tarantino has alluded to in recent years.

QT clarified that while he had heard things about Weinstein ... he insists he was never privy to anything regarding rape or sexual assault -- which, among other things, has been alleged against the ex-movie mogul by a lot of women ... dating back to the '90s.

Tarantino says his understanding of Weinstein's alleged MO was comparable to something from "Mad Men" -- AKA, office bosses chasing their secretaries around the desk and trying to get handsy. This is the characterization Tarantino says was communicated to him back then. He notes, yes, this was still wrong ... but denies knowledge of anything more serious.

Wallace asks if he has any regrets, and Tarantino says he does -- not about working with HW, though, but not confronting him about his supposed playful skirt-chasing. The reason Tarantino says he didn't talk to him about it is because he thought it was pathetic ... and didn't want to approach his friend, who was also kinda his boss, about something so juvenile.

CBS has started what could be a devastating ripple effect on Twitter ... hitting the pause button, indefinitely, on posting new tweets amid uncertainty under Elon Musk's stewardship.

The network's news division, CBS News, announced Friday it'd be suspending all Twitter activity from its official profiles as it continues to monitor things. CBS News says it's doing this out of an abundance of caution and in light of all the tumultuous updates.

Word of CBS News' decision was first reported Friday during that night's broadcast of "CBS Evening News with Norah O'Donnell," during which reporter Jonathan Vigliotti seemingly announced the move on behalf of the entire company. CBS confirmed it shortly thereafter.

Vigliotti was reporting on the rumored chaos at the bird app's HQ ... where a majority of employees are said to have quit recently, leaving Twitter as a bare-bones operation and at risk of completely shutting down. That hasn't happened quite yet, but the fear is there.

CBS News's last original tweet links to a story about ex-WH Press Sec. Jen Psaki's failed effort to quash a subpoena she's been roped into. The account also retweeted a TV segment discussing the DOJ's new special counsel investigating Trump. Both of those were posted almost a full 24 hours ago, and CBS News hasn't tweeted anything new since.

Ditto for local affiliates, it seems. KPIX -- the Bay Area's CBS News arm -- hasn't tweeted anything since yesterday either ... and that policy seems to apply to most, if not all, of CBS's stations across the country. We should note, they're still posting stories to their home pages.

The reason this is a big deal -- assuming it carries on for an extended amount of time -- is because Twitter has become the go-to source for news ... not just for users, but for news organizations themselves. A lot of outlets rely on Twitter to get news out quickly, not to mention the traffic captured as one of the key social media sites and the wide reach it carries.

CBS News refusing to tweet is a major statement, and if it catches on among other big publishers ... it could make Twitter even less relevant, sparking a true mass exodus.

Chris Brown says he was supposed to put on a big tribute to Michael Jackson during the AMAs this weekend -- but claims honchos pulled the plug last minute out of nowhere.

The singer posted a lengthy video Saturday that shows him in a dance rehearsal with a group of people ... and he's putting on some serious MJ-inspired moves to a few classic hits, which Chris says would've been part of a showstopping number during Sunday's broadcast.

The songs featured include "Beat It," "Billie Jean," "Wanna Be Starting Something" and "Thriller." Presumably, this is in line with the 40th anniversary of Mike's best-selling album.

Chris's original caption reads, "U SERIOUS?" He followed up in a later comment, writing ... "WOULDVE been the ama performance but they cancelled me for reasons unknown." IG users are mostly in support of Chris, openly asking why they scrapped it if it was this good.

Of course, there's speculation as to why CB's performance may have been nixed. Frankly, he's controversial ... even all these years later. Michael himself is obviously also polarizing ... especially in more recent years with the allegations highlighted in the documentary "Leaving Neverland."

Still, Chris's tribute would've been a nice full-circle moment -- the guy has famously done MJ tributes in the past, like in 2010 when he did a big one at the BET Awards ... a year after Michael had died.

There's also the nonstop comparisons made between himself and the King of Pop. Akon recently brought it up again, saying Chris could've been as great if he had a cleaner crew.

A truck that had malfunctioned during a parade route in North Carolina hit a young woman in a freak accident ... only to have been stopped in its tracks by a group of brave men.

This incident went down Saturday morning near downtown Raleigh, where the annual Christmas parade was being held. Around 10:25 AM ET, a lifted pickup truck that was pulling one of the floats failed to slow down as it was trailing a dance group full of young people.

The driver was reportedly blasting his horn and shouting at people to clear the lane, as he had lost control of the vehicle and couldn't stop. It seems the brakes may have failed.

Videos of the truck wading through is absolutely terrifying, as no one seems to know what's going on or if it's part of the parade or not. It definitely wasn't ... and the truck rolled on and began picking up speed. Some of the dancers were reportedly as young as 5 years old.

Reports say the truck started to hit a downhill area just after the intersection of Hillsborough Street and Boylan Ave. -- and after the crowd realized what was happening ... cops and other bystanders sprung into action, running in front of the truck and pushing back on it.

About 6 men, including 2 cops, halted the truck to a standstill ... at which point the driver was able to exit. Some damage had already been done though -- at least one girl, who was with the dance troupe, was struck and hospitalized. The extent of her injuries are unknown.

The rest of the parade was canceled and an investigation is underway.

Two of the slain University of Idaho students made a series of frantic phone calls to their friend just before all 4 victims were massacred, this according to one of their relatives.

Kaylee Goncalves, 21, was found butchered with Madison Mogen, 21, Ethan Chapin, 20, and his girlfriend, Xana Kernodle, 20, following Sunday's savage attack inside an off campus residence in Moscow, Idaho. The killer/killers have not been identified and are still at large.

Kaylee’s sister, Alivea, sat down Friday with "Inside Edition" and revealed her sibling initially placed 6 CALLS to a pal named “Jack" between 2:26 AM and 2:44 AM. Then Madison phoned Jack 3 times before Kaylee gave it one more shot. Jack apparently never answered.

Also Friday, the Moscow Police Department and Latah County Coroner released new details on the probe ... the victims were each stabbed several times as they awoke from their sleep. Some of them had defensive wounds. None were sexually assaulted.

Police believe the two surviving roommates did not participate in the slayings and were also sleeping at the time. Luckily, the pair escaped unharmed, but they did not call 911 for whatever reason. The name of the 911 caller -- who phoned police 9 hours AFTER the murders -- has not been publicly released.

Adele barely got through opening night of her Vegas residency ... repeatedly dissolving into tears, saying she was super scared to take the stage.

The Caesars Palace Colosseum was unsurprisingly packed Friday night, as Adele told the crowd she was "so scared and nervous."

As for why ... as you know, the residency was scrapped at the last minute in January after there were production disputes and COVID concerns. She took heat for the cancelation, and a reboot seemed uncertain.

Adele told the crowd, “I should be giving you a standing ovation. Thank you so much for coming back to me. I really appreciate it. You look amazing and it looks just what I imagined it would look like, it's perfect."

She went on ... "I'm so scared and nervous, but I am so happy. I don't know what I was thinking putting piano ballads at the top of the set ... hopefully over time my nerves will disappear. I would also really like to thank Caesars because there have been a lot of rumors and they never once asked any questions, they've been amazing."

Adele's man, Rich Paul, son Angelo, and good buddy James Corden were all front and center.

Cops have released body cam video of the most entertaining arrest in months ... when an heir to the Tyson Foods fortune got so wasted he pulled a Goldilocks that got him busted.

It's far from heinous ... in fact, it's kinda relatable for anyone who's been blackout drunk.  Tyson Foods CFO John Tyson got so drunk, he entered a house -- not his own -- meandered to the bedroom, got in bed and passed out.

The 32-year-old Harvard/Stanford grad ended up in the bed of a female college student -- she wasn't there -- and began to snooze.

It went down in Fayetteville, Arkansas earlier this month. The woman called the cops and they realized it was John after pulling his ID out of his pocket. They tried to rouse him, with little success.

In the footage, obtained by Vice News, John finally sits up, but decides it's way too much of an effort and lays back down. You hear a cop say, "John, I need you to wake up and talk to me before I drag you out of her buck naked." He doesn't/can't really cooperate, so 3 cops yank him out of bed in his boxers.

John was charged with criminal trespass and public intoxication. He's profusely apologized to the folks at Tyson Foods and promised it wouldn't happen again.

Afroman took a nasty spill during his concert in New Hampshire Friday night ... but, thankfully, he wasn't hurt -- and even finished his performance with a big smile.

The rapper was singing his hit, "Because I Got High," near the end of his one hour set at Wally's in Hampton Beach when the mishap -- and Afroman -- went down.

Check out this video, obtained by TMZ ... Afroman's moving about the stage with a drink in hand as the packed crowd grooves to his music. Suddenly, he tumbles off the stage, plummeting into a pit, as his drink flies high in the air.

At first, the audience is horrified as Afroman's handlers dash out to see if he's ok and help him back on stage. Turns out Afroman was better than OK ... he shared a big fat grin with his fans and went right back into the song.

Earlier in the show, the DJ had some technical problems with his laptop ... but Afroman played through those issues, dazzling everyone with his guitar licks.

Shanquella Robinson's mysterious death in Mexico smells like a set up to her father ... he tells TMZ he believes his daughter was attacked as part of a diabolical plan.

Shanquella, who was from North Carolina, was found dead last month in her room in Los Cabos ... where she was vacationing with a group of friends. Her parents say the friends told them the 25-year-old died of alcohol poisoning.

However, her parents now say Mexican authorities have told them Shanquella died from blunt force trauma to her neck and spine -- and a brutal new video does indeed show a woman beating up Shanquella while she was naked in a room.

Her dad, Bernard Robinson, was very emotional as he told TMZ ... his daughter was not the fighting type, so she would never get into a physical altercation, leading him to theorize this was a planned attack.

At the very least, the video supports Bernard's point about his daughter's temperament -- Shanquella was not fighting back during the assault. He says it all feels like a set up to him, because her friends back home would never have let this happen.

He suspects her attackers left her body in the hotel room for a housekeeper to find.

The video is hard for anyone to watch, but that's especially so for Bernard ... who said it hurts to know others were in the room idly watching as his only child was attacked. He hopes those responsible are arrested and sentenced to life in prison.

Bill Maher put a bow on the 20th season of "Real Time" with words of hope ... how 'bout Dem midterms!!!

Bill is blown away by the election ... if you followed him, he thought it would be a deathblow to democracy, but it was the opposite. As he said, Donald Trump may get credit for putting up a slate of whackos who were so scary ... voters opened their eyes and rejected them in force.

Now B.M. isn't suggesting America is out of the woods ... paraphrasing Mark Twain, he said "Reports of our death were slightly exaggerated." Nevertheless, Bill tipped his hat to voters, who helped us revert to some semblance of sanity.

He then leaned into one of his mantras ... reject the extremes on both sides, noting they account for only around 7% of us, yet they get 90% of the media's attention. And how 'bout this -- 90% of all tweets are courtesy of only 10% of users. As he says, if we let them control our country, it's like letting the crying baby fly the plane.

Bill ends with sage advice for both sides ... start compromising, especially on the extremes.  His examples are hilarious.

Elon Musk seems to be leaving the fate of Donald Trump's Twitter account up to bird app users ... asking folks to vote on his reinstatement.

Elon posted a Twitter poll Friday on his account, asking users to vote either "Yes" or "No" on reinstating the former president's Twitter page.

Musk first posted the poll then left a reply ... "Vox Populi, Vox Dei" ... a Latin phrase meaning, "the voice of the people is the voice of God."

Elon's poll already has 1.4 million responses and counting, and it's not even been live for an hour. The poll will be up for 24 hours, giving folks until Saturday evening to decide.

As you know, Trump was banned from Twitter by the previous ownership in the wake of the Jan. 6 riot. The former president is also banned from other mainstream social media apps.

Elon's hinted at Trump's return to Twitter since buying the bird app for $44 billion ... but this is the first time he's sought feedback through a Twitter poll.

Post Malone is celebrating a new addition to his already impressive jewelry collection -- a blinding 23 carats worth of diamonds, and all that bling is just for the littlest finger of them all.

Guess his hand was feeling a little light, because sources close to Post tell TMZ ... he called up his pals at Angel City Jewelers to hook him up with a new piece for his pinky.

Angel City's owner, Isaac Bokhoor, came through with the goods while PM was making a recent tour stop in Las Vegas ... and unveiled the "Rockstar" sized ring ... which we're told set the singer back about half a million bucks!

For that kinda dough, ya better love it ... and Post clearly does. Check out his reaction right after getting it backstage -- you're looking at a 5-carat Emerald cut center stone, with another 5 carats of round diamonds on the side. There are 13 more 1-carat stones around the band.

Of course, the "White Iverson" is no stranger to getting blinged out by Isaac and co. -- remember, he was the master behind Post's $250k Dallas Cowboys chain.

He got it back in 2019, appropriately while he was in Dallas at AT&T Stadium. That one came with 3,000 stones, 9.7 carats of baguettes, 13.5 carats of sapphires and 8.7 carats of diamonds.

The Taylor Swift ticket snafu has got Ticketmaster in the crosshairs of Congress, and how 'bout Pete Davidson and Emily Ratajkowski. So, we gotta ask ...

The World Cup is just a day away, and the biggest sporting event in the world is already mired in controversy -- much stemming from alleged human rights issues -- causing some to boycott the soccer tourney ... something Akon says makes no sense.

TMZ Sports ran into the rap star, a big soccer fan, at LAX on Wednesday -- just four days before the 2022 FIFA World Cup kicks off in Qatar -- and we asked him about fans who say they won't watch because of the controversy surrounding the host country.

"I don't understand the purpose of the boycott, me personally, I think everywhere you go in the world there's different cultures, different way of living, different life standards," Akon explained.

The 5x Grammy nominee went on to say he believes many of his fellow Americans who are calling for a boycott don't actually understand why they're refusing to watch.

"I think when you look at a place like America, we have a tendency of taking certain things for granted, and we got a tendency of following suit of things we don't understand. Instead of taking a trip there to understand the culture, understand what's going on, you're just going to follow suit cause everybody else says there's humanitarian issues."

FYI, Dua Lipa recently quelled speculation she'd perform in Qatar, saying she wouldn't go to the country until they "fulfilled all the human rights pledges it made when it won the right to host the World Cup." Rod Stewart also said he was offered a million dollars to perform, but he refused.

Of course, Qatar, a relatively small peninsular country with a population of under 3 million, has been accused of discriminating against people in the LGBTQ community. There are also reports of migrant workers dying while working under unsafe conditions in an effort to finish the WC facilities in the months before the tourney. Officials have also interfered with the press. These are just a few of the troubling allegations made against Qatar.

But, Akon sees it differently than the boycotters ... it's not that he's saying he agrees with Qatar, he's saying he recognizes that their culture is different.

"I think a lot of that is a cultural issue, a cultural difference. You know when you look at a place like Africa, Middle East, a lot of places, LGBTQ is not really a culture they came up under," Akon says.

"It's not a matter of dislike. It's just a different culture. know what I'm saying? it's just a matter of people better understanding each other's culture, understanding the reasons and the whys."

Akon believes we'd be a lot better off talking to the Qatari people and finding common ground, rather than ignoring them.

"How about going to explain your view from your position? Help them better understand. Know what I mean? Life is about communication. I think the moment people start jumping to conclusions and just take a position before understanding, things are always gonna be complicated."