Importing PNG FIles is freezing Premiere (V 15)

Hey all!

Having a weird issue where any PNG file I upload is freezing the interface. It is not a corrupted PNG file as some on reddit have mentioned. I've been using the same PNG as my watermark for over a year and it works in every version but 15. I've also tried other PNG files and the same thing is happening. The UI freezez and goes back to normal only if I delete the image. Side note, I was in the middle of this particular edit when the update dropped and I made the mistake of converting the project to v15, not sure if that may be a contributing factor. Does anyone have a workaround or fix for this?

Thank you so much in advance! 😄

Specs:
Windows 10
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 (EVGA)
Intel Core I7-8700
32 Gigs of RAM