Photo: Jason Kempin/Getty Images
For once in his life, Usher is dealing with an unsexy incident. On Friday, the master of seduction made a stop in Nashville as part of his and Chris Brown’s (yeah, don’t get me started) joint tour. During the song “Can U Handle It,” he usually brings up an eager concertgoer and serenades them while performing an intimate lap dance. This time, however, things went awry. After Usher helped a woman onstage, he led her to a prop bed and began his shirtless routine. But as he leaned over her, the woman, still holding eye contact, looked uncomfortable and didn’t visibly engage with Usher’s advances. He shot a look at the audience, stood up, and said, “I don’t think she want to be on the stage.” Shortly afterward, she was escorted off.
Naturally, fans ate the moment up, criticizing the woman for daring not to be turned on by the king of R&B. “Sis looked like she accidentally accepted the Terms & Conditions. 💀,” one commenter wrote in response to a clip of the moment, while another accused her of wasting the audience’s time. Others seemed to think she had the right approach in not pretending to like something she seemed to be uncomfortable with. “I love this for her … My girl not a groupie,” one wrote, while another observed, “His ego was crushed lol.”
You know who’s not losing sleep over the incident? Gabrielle Cheyenne, who, according to LiveBitez, is the woman in question. In a Facebook post, Cheyenne defended herself, claiming she and her mom had floor seats and were approached by Usher’s team and upgraded to VIP before the show began. “First off NOBODY is declining to go on stage,” she wrote. “I looked good asf, you thought I wasn’t gonna let THOUSANDS of people see me?? On the big screen, where you bitches will never be????”
“They don’t say who you’re going up there for!! Y’all wanted me to get up there and f*ck him atp ??” she added. “That’s the most exciting thing that would’ve happened in y’all little ass lives !! F*ck yall, DISRESPECTFULLY.”
Cheyenne’s mother also offered her two cents, posting a photo of her daughter next to Usher’s wife backstage. “Usher’s WIFE & Gabrielle Cheyenne AFTER THE STAGE APPEARANCE !!” she wrote. “SHE AIN’T MAD SO Y TF YA’LL MAD!? HOW TF YA’LL MAD!?”
Videos from later in the night showed Usher air-grinding around the stage, suggesting he bounced back quickly. I guess rejection is easier to handle when thousands of fans are cheering on your moves.
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