An onstage serenade by Usher took an unexpected turn in Nashville during a stop on The R&B Tour, which he is co-headlining with Chris Brown.

The 47-year-old singer pulled a fan from the audience onto the stage for what was supposed to be a steamy, intimate performance. However, the interaction quickly became incredibly awkward as the woman appeared visibly uncomfortable with the attention.

As a shirtless Usher began singing to the fan, identified as Gabrielle Cheyenne, she sat stiffly and offered only a tight smile. The R&B superstar tried to salvage the moment by lightly touching her chin and face, but when he attempted to guide her toward an onstage bed, she pulled back.

Recognizing the lack of chemistry, Usher backed off and addressed the crowd. "I don't think she want to be on the stage, huh?" he asked the audience. He then told the crowd, "I don't think she wanna be onstage, y'all," before completely stepping away and signaling for her to be removed from the stage.

The moment quickly went viral, prompting heavy online criticism from fans who believed she wasted a rare opportunity. Many users roasted her for her reserved reaction, arguing that she should have never agreed to go up if she did not want to participate. The negative feedback prompted Cheyenne to take to social media to defend herself and clarify what happened.

The fan defends her spotlight moment

Cheyenne used her platform to fire back at the critics who claimed she should have turned down the opportunity. She made it clear that she was more than happy to be seen by the crowd, even if she did not want to get overly physical with the singer.

"First off NOBODY is declining to go on stage," she wrote. "I looked good asf, you think I wasn’t going to let THOUSANDS of people see me?"

Credit: Instagram

She explained that she and her mom originally had floor seats for the concert. Before the show began, Usher's team approached them and upgraded them to the VIP section due to what she described as "pretty privileges."

However, the staff did not specify what her role would be later in the evening. "They don’t say who you’re going up there for!" she wrote, pointing out that Chris Brown was also on the bill. She mocked the high expectations of the internet audience, adding, "Y’all wanted me to go up there and f**k him atp?"

Standing firm against online bullying

As the backlash continued into Sunday, Cheyenne posted selfies with the caption "Unbothered 😘" to show she was not letting the commentary ruin her experience. She also used her Instagram Stories to emphasize that her quiet demeanor should not be mistaken for a bad attitude.

"Y’all aren’t gonna get on the internet calling me out my name and disrespecting me and expect me to keep it cool!" she expressed. She added, "Don’t think that yall are gonna bully me about an experience that yall didn’t get!"

Cheyenne argued that her attitude only turns "nasty" when she is provoked by online strangers. While she acknowledges being a quiet person in real life, she made it clear that she has no regrets about how she handled the high-pressure situation.

Ultimately, she was glad to take the spotlight, but she simply was not prepared to give Usher the highly sexualized reaction that his fan base expected.

Featured image credit: Instagram

A concertgoer at Pink's show in San Antonio was kicked out after disrupting a segment to protest the practice of circumcision.

During a show on Monday night (September 25), the Grammy-winning pop star was about to perform the acoustic segment of her Summer Carnival tour when an attendee yelled to get her attention.

As the 44-year-old singer - whose real name is Alecia Beth Moore Hart - noticed the protester, she paused and leaned forward to read the message displayed on his phone.

It was then revealed in fan footage posted to social media platforms that the message on his device read: "Circumcision: cruel and harmful."

The 'So What' singer spoke directly at the man after noticing his bizarre statement and questioned: "Oh, you’re making a whole point right now, aren’t you? Do you feel good about yourself?"

He was seemingly galvanized by the acknowledgment, as he kept his phone up and enthusiastically exclaimed "Yes!" in response.

"Are you gonna be all right?", Pink then asked him dryly. "You spent all this money to come here and do that?" At this point, other attendees were cheering her on.

"I'm gonna have to buy a Birkin bag with that ticket money. Get that s*** out of here," she added. The concertgoer then turned around to share his message with the rest of the crowd, who all booed in response.

"He wants all of you to read it. He came here tonight to talk about circumcision," Pink remarked, which prompted the man to react to her words by hollering in the direction of the stage.

Clearly, she had enough of his tantrum as she instructed security to remove him by saying: "Get that cancer out, man," and watched him be escorted from the audience area.

She then quipped that she felt "bad" that the protester "wasted his time tonight".

Interestingly enough, Pink is no stranger to unsolicited opinions about circumcision.

Back in 2019, she slammed internet trolls for flooding her with "f***ing disgusting" comments under a now-deleted Instagram post that showed her then-two-year-old son, Jameson Moon, (now six) without his swim diaper near a pool.

"There's something seriously wrong with a lot of you out there," Pink wrote in a follow-up post. "Going off about my baby's p***s? About circumcision??? Are you for real? As any normal mother at the beach, I didn't even notice he took off his swim diaper."

The 'Just Give Me A Reason' vocalist accompanied the message with a snapshot of her kneeling before a pelican with her son, whose nude bottom half was scribbled out, and daughter Willow Sage, then seven (now 12).

"I deleted it because you’re all f***ing disgusting. And now I’m turning off my comments and shaking my head at the state of social media and keyboard warriors, and the negativity that you bring to other people's lives," she continued. "There is something seriously wrong with a lot of you out there. Smfh."

The musician concluded by addressing the photo she shared, sarcastically penning: "Here’s a picture of the pelican we obviously caught and abused for hours before dangling baby p***s in its face."

Featured image credit: Scott Legato / Getty

Monica displayed her fierce commitment to her fans' safety during a recent show at the Riverfront Music Festival in Detroit.

A troubling incident unfolded as she defended a woman in the audience who was allegedly being assaulted by a male concertgoer, earning the R&B singer widespread praise from concert-goers and festival organizers alike.

Video footage from the event on Saturday night vividly captured the moment the 'Boy Is Mine' singer made a bold leap from the stage to confront the alleged assailant. The audience erupted in approval as Monica, trailed by security personnel, stepped into the crowd to address the situation.

She warned the man, "You don't hit no f***in' lady like that," before he was swiftly removed from the premises.

Resuming the show, Monica offered a sincere apology to her fans, admitting, "That s*** triggered me. I seen him punch that lady in the face, I lost my f***in' temper. I apologize ya’ll. I apologize from the bottom of my heart."

She further confessed her heated response, saying, "I was gonna knock [his] a** out with this f***in’ mic."

Monica expanded on the altercation in a comment on The Shade Room’s Instagram account the following day, reports HuffPost.

She explained, "I was so triggered, I watched and she didn’t appear to even know him! It appeared to be about space during a packed concert! He punched her with all his strength! My intentions were to prevent her from being hit again and she wasn’t! I asked for help, it fell on deaf ears!"

Expressing her personal connection to the victim, she continued, "It was like seeing my mother or an aunt be assaulted!! This woman was 50+ I pray she’s ok!"

Festival spokesperson Andrus MacDonald lauded Monica for her actions in a statement to CBS News.

"We want to extend our heartfelt gratitude to Monica for her courage and decisive intervention during an unfortunate incident at our Festival," he shared. "Her actions demonstrated a commitment to the safety and respect of her fans, reinforcing our belief that she is not just an extraordinary talent, but an extraordinary individual as well."

MacDonald also voiced the organizers' regret that such a joyous event was apparently overshadowed by violence and ensured they are collaborating with law enforcement to bring the alleged perpetrator to justice.

Interestingly, this is not Monica's first instance of managing crowd trouble this year. During a concert in Washington, D.C., in April she advised unruly audience members to "calm that s*** down" or resolve their issues outside the venue.

Featured image credit: Paras Griffin / Getty

Usher has finally responded to all the drama surrounding that Keke Palmer video.

It all started when the 29-year-old actress attended his concert in Las Vegas where she was seen dancing and embracing the 44-year-old as he serenaded her with his iconic song 'There Goes My Baby.'

In a video posted to Twitter by @RNB_Radar, the star can be seen wearing a risqué mesh black dress with a strapless bodysuit underneath as she twirls around in front of the musician as he welcomed her vibe.

However, the interaction clearly didn't sit well with Palmer's boyfriend Darius Jackson, who is also the father of her son Leo and prompted him to take to special media to publicly shame his partner.

In a now-deleted tweet, he reposted the video alongside the shady caption: "It’s the outfit tho... you a mom."

Okay and?

Despite being slammed for the statement, the fitness instructor doubled down on his point by following up with another "controversial" tweet, saying: "We live in a generation where a man of the family doesn’t want the wife & mother to his kids to showcase booty cheeks to please others & he gets told how much of a hater he is."

"This is my family & my representation. I have standards & morals to what I believe. I rest my case," he added.

This tweet has also now been deleted from his account.

In response, the Hustler star took to Instagram after the incident showing off her outfit with a caption that seemingly hinted at the comments.

"I wish I had taken more pictures but we were running late! I am telling y’all right now, if you haven’t seen @usher YOU MUST GO!! HE WAS SO FABULOUS!! Giving theater, Atlanta downnn, tips and tricks and just absolutely iconic."

"I was truly inspired as a performer. I whooped some a** in spades too! Where is that pic of us all together with the King himself??" she added.

Though he didn't directly address the situation at the time, Usher commented on the post supporting the Nickelodeon alum, writing: "The Big Boss!! Thank U for coming!"

However, just a month on and the star has spoken out about the fallout during a new interview with PEOPLE.

Describing it as a "pop moment... worth talking about", he said: "I think everybody's vision or a version of what they felt happened there just leads you back to just really having a good time in Las Vegas. And that's what I hope came out of it. Rather, it was a conversation of what was going on with us having fun in front of the audience or conversation about that song."

"Every night I'm thinking about how the world now is going to react to this moment that I'll have with whoever I'm choosing to sing to," he continued. "But it was a pop moment, and it was fun to have at least conversation going and we just keep it light. I don't see anything negative happening in Las Vegas."

He's even joked about embracing the nickname given to him by fans after the situation, calling him a "domestic terrorist."

"The internet is crazy. You can't beat the internet," he added.

Featured Image Credit: Paras Griffin/Getty

Camilla Cabello has broken her silence over the backlash she's received after her backup dancer was accused of performing in blackface.

On July 23, the 24-year-old performed her single 'Don't Go Yet' on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where she was accompanied by a group of backup dancers dressed in 80s outfits.

The performance instantly found itself at the center of controversy, as viewers rushed to social media to slam the set and accuse one of the dancers of wearing blackface, per E! News.

One Twitter user wrote: "Camila what was going on with Dylan's makeup?...having a dancer do blackface on stage in 2021 is absurd and you know better than that! Say something immediately."

Another added: "Camila Cabello really had background dancers…in blackface. In 2021. I’m sick."

While a third wrote: "@Camila_Cabello clearly those racism classes taught you nothing… allowing a white man to do blackface on a live performance for millions to see…. I’m disgusted but not surprised."

However, in a statement shared to Twitter, the 'Havana' hitmaker denied that the man in question had been wearing blackface. Instead, she alleged he was "just supposed to be a white man with a terrible spray tan".

In the Twitter thread, Cabello addressed the backlash by first sharing a video of the performance and revealing that, on her team, they try to "create a culture of kindness, joy, and love", with the singer then claiming that "you could feel that this week".

In a follow-up tweet, Cabello then shared a photo of the dancer, Dylan Pearce, backstage, that he had shared to his Instagram with the caption: "In case you missed my spray tan last night on @jimmyfallon with @camila_cabello."

She then posted a follow-up note, writing: "Hey! So this dude was just supposed to be a white man with a terrible spray tan."

She went on: "We purposefully tried to pull together a multicultural group of performers, the expectation was not that everyone in the performance needed to be Latin. There are white people, African American people, Latin people, etc.

"And so the point wasn’t to try to make everyone look Latin, either. There are a lot of people in the performance who are not."

Cabello then concluded the statement explaining that the "point" of the outfits was to make each dancer look like an "over-the-top 80s character".

"The point was to try to make each person look like an over-the-top 80s character just like in the video, including a white dude with a terrible orange spray tan," she added.

Featured image credit: David Jensen / Alamy