Rihanna did not let NBA star Matt Barnes get away with entertaining the rumors that the two are dating.
The rumors started when the Memphis Grizzlies player publicly expressed his adoration for the singer. A few months back, he made is #WCW (Women Crush Wednesday) on his Instagram a picture of the 27-year-old. The two even exchanged some flirty tweets back in 2012, when Rihanna sat courtside at a Lakers vs. Grizzlies game. The NBA player began the exchange with:
“@Rihanna thx for coming to the game 2nite, u MIGHT be good luck!!! Hahaa”
Shortly after, his ex-wife Gloria Govan reportedly gave her stamp of approval on the blossoming relationship. So, when TMZ confronted Barnes about the rumors he explained, they’re “just past the crush stage.”
Asked if he and Rihanna were dating, Barnes said they were feeling things out.
“Rihanna’s my friend right now so um we’ll see where it goes… I think it just passed the crush stage, a little bit,” Barnes said.
Asked if the two would be strained by distance with Barnes signing on with the Memphis Grizzlies, he said he wasn’t worried.
“Nah, she’s rich,” Barnes said. “We’ll be all right.”
Becoming more guarded, Barnes then called rumors of their dating “speculation.”
“All that is rumors. All that is speculation,” Barnes said. “We’re friends, and we’ll see where it goes from there.”
However not long after, Rihanna took to her 24.5 million Instagram followers to slam the NBA stars claims. Rhianna posted a screenshot from the TMZ interview with Barnes and added the telling hashtags:
“#bishwhere #thedevilisaliar #shesnotthatintoyou #shesnotthatintoyouatall #shesneverevenmetyou #thisactuallyhurtmyfeelings #defamationofcharacter”
Fans later got a screenshot of Matt commenting on the singer’s Instagram saying, “Hahaaa wow.”
Well, doesn’t look like Matt’s #WCW will ever become a reality for him after this.
NBC has just announced that 23-year-old pop star Selena Gomez will be making an appearance on the ninth season of “The Voice.”
The star will not be taking anyone’s red chair, but she will be working closely with #TeamGwen, as an advisor to her team.
Selena is also releasing a new album on October 9th called Revival, so surely we can expect a performance or two from her during the duration of the show. Selena has revealed that her new music is much more mature, saying:
“I’m becoming a young woman and I’m comfortable with my sensuality. I’m very confident in this record and you can hear it. But I’m vulnerable, I’m real, and I think it just shows a different side of me.”
In addition to Selena joining the cast of The Voice, NBC has also confirmed that Rihanna would be making an appearance on season 9 of the show. Adam Levine announced that she would be joining as a key mentor to all the teams, which is a new position on the show.
Adam Levine, Twitter post:
Welcome @Rihanna to @NbcTheVoice as an Advisor for this season #VoiceRIHveal
— Adam Levine (@adamlevine) August 13, 2015
The Voice is known to rotate coaches, so this season of the singing competition will feature Adam Levine, Blake Shelton, Gwen Stefani and Pharrell.
You will be able to catch Selena, Rihanna and the rest of the crew on The Voice when it debuts Monday, September 21 on NBC.