DAILY DILEMMA: USHER GETS THE COLD SHOULDER

The Daily Dilemma today was about that video that’s gone viral. You know the one. It’s been all over your timeline since Saturday night on TikTok, Instagram and all the other social media spts.

Picture it. Nashville, Tennessee. July 25. Nissan Stadium packed to the roof. Usher out there doing his thing on The R and B Tour, the one he’s co headlining with Chris Brown. Big night. Big crowd. Big energy.

So Usher goes into “Can U Handle It?” This is his moment. He pulls a lady up from the crowd for that sexy little serenade he does. It’s a whole bit. Been part of the show the whole tour. Her name is Gabrielle Cheyenne. We didn’t know this until this viral affair. She’s up there. He’s ready to get all in her face and turn on the charm.

Then it happened.

She leaned back. Gave him the cold shoulder. Almost like she was pushing him off. Usher paused. Looked around. Then he did the classiest thing ever. He turned toward the crowd, shrugged, and said, “I don’t think she wanna be on the stage.” He kinda waved his hand, smiled, and stepped away. Just let it go. Smooth. Real smooth.

Usher’s a professional though. No drama. Just kept the show moving.

So what really happened up there? Well, Gabrielle went on TMZ and they asked her the question everybody wanted answered. Why weren’t you into it?

She said, “it wasn’t personal. She just came for Chris Brown.” She’s a Breezy fan, not really an Usher fan. “aIf it was Chris up there, oh, it would’ve been a whole different reaction. It wouldn’t have been the stiffness like the internet is portraying.” Ouch!

Now here’s where it gets spicy. Before that TMZ chair, Gabrielle hopped online and dropped a post. And baby, she came with the heat. TMZ host Charles Latibeaudiere read it right back to her. Maybe you should read it first.

Yeah. You read it right!!! Said she looked too good to let thousands of people see her on the big screen. Said her and her mom had floor seats and the team moved them up to VIP before the show even started. Then she dropped the line that broke the internet. “Pretty Privilege is something y’all will never know about.” She kept going too, talking about how that was the most exciting thing that would ever happen in some folks’ little lives.

Whew. She was NOT playing.

Then Charles asked her about that Pretty Privilege line. Her response? She said that post was aimed at her own city. Her own city! Man, I’d hate to be from her hometown getting treated like that. Imagine your own girl throwing shade at the whole zip code.

And here’s the part that had me cracking up. Her family jumped in the comments. Her aunt and folks got online to shut everybody down and defend her. So now it’s a whole family affair. Everybody’s got a keyboard and everybody’s got smoke.

The listeners? Y’all went off.

One person said, “She saved all that energy for the wrong Grammy winner.”

Another one texted, “Pretty Privilege didn’t move her to VIP, the tour team did. Somebody tell her the difference.”

Somebody else said, “Usher walked away so smooth he deserves a second Grammy for that alone.”

And my favorite. “She came for Chris Brown and left with a whole online empire she didn’t ask for.”

Now let’s get to the real reason we’re here. My Magic 102.1 Instagram poll. I gave y’all three options.

One. It’s Usher, you play along.

Two. Was Usher right to leave her there?

Three. She had the right not to play along in the moment.

I gotta be honest, this surprised me. Overwhelmingly, y’all said number three. She had every right not to play along. The people spoke loud and clear. Nobody owes anybody a serenade, Grammy winner or not.

So there it is. Usher stayed classy. Gabrielle stayed unbothered. And her whole family stayed online.

Another day, another dilemma.

Check out my Daily Dilemma feature weekdays from 2pm – 7pm on Majic 102.1.