Everyone Has It All Wrong About Rihanna’s Met Gala—Here’s What Actually Went Down

There’s been a lot of renewed online chatter about an alleged rivalry between Rihanna and popular South African singer Tyla, thanks to a recent video the latter posted on social media about her experience at the 2026 Met Gala. But if you really look at the situation, it’s pretty obvious to see that fans are unjustly piling onto the Barbadian “bad gal” for fabricated reasons. Let’s get into it!

If you spent any time on TikTok, then you’ve probably noticed that Tyla is very active when it comes to posting. Unfortunately, though, the latest video she shared about her non-encounter with her music idol has some of her fans feeling some type of way about it and has consequently caused them to make some truly head-scratching accusations about the “Rude Boy” singer.

The conversations all started after the “Water” singer posted a video explaining how she met the “Diamonds” singer at this year’s event. But before getting into it, she prefaced it with an interesting story of what happened when they first met each other one year prior.

“Everyone knows I love Rih. So I met her last year, and she was cool. I met her, but I think she was occupied. I went up to her, and I was like ‘hey!’ She was like ‘hey…ummm my baby daddy’s calling me.’ And then she left. I was like ‘oop!’” Tyla shared.

That moment, in turn, left her feeling awkward and confused about how to say hi to the “We Found Love” singer moving forward. So, by the time the two ran into each other again at this year’s Met Gala, the “Push 2 Start” singer opted not to engage with her out of hesitancy and residual feelings.

“I was waiting for my car, and she was right there…This time, I didn’t wanna go up [to her] because I felt like she was busy, you know what I mean? And the last time, she was busy. If we do end up speaking ever, I want it to be, like, calm so we both could just vibe and talk nicely,” she explained.

Once fans started to get wind of Tyla’s video, some felt as if Rih was indeed being shady of the rising star and that this video was only further proof of that. However, that assertion is quite literally the exact opposite of how Rih was feeling most of the night and just who she is as a person.

In fact, as evidenced by the recap video that she posted on Thursday, it’s clear that she had a lot of fun leading up to her grand appearance at the Met, smoking, laughing, and clowning with her crew and her boo A$AP Rocky. And even when she stepped foot on the carpet (albeit late), she was playing around with journalists who were working there, being petty in a cute way, and even took the time out to show love to and affirm a Black journalist from the Today Show.

What’s more, in another video that shows Tyla standing off to the side while she and Rih wait for their rides at the end of the night, it’s clear that the “Pour It Up” singer never even looked in Tyla’s direction. And since she didn’t approach and there was no interaction between the two women at all—why are people so pressed to paint the narrative that Rih is harboring some sort of animosity against Tyla?

We know that the two have met at least once before, and while it may have been brief, according to Tyla, that shouldn’t be enough for people to go off of or use as evidence that Rihanna is somehow jealous of the “Art” singer. Though Rih has had her messy moments in the past, she’s garnered a reputation over the last handful of years of being “the people’s celebrity” and a famous face that even us regular-degular folks can still somehow relate to.

For her to be minding her business and having fun at an event to get misconstrued and misinterpreted as this “beef” between an artist she probably barely knows is asinine. Rih is a mom of three, having a fun night out with her man and with the recent home shooting they all just endured—we’re lucky she even showed up in the first place. Fans, y’all are doing too much. Just let these ladies enjoy their respective successes and move on, there’s really nothing to see here.