‘I felt awkward’: Tyla speaks out after ‘rude’ video of Rihanna Met Gala encounter goes viral

South African pop star Tyla has addressed a video of her awkwardly trying to meet Rihanna at the Met Gala, and yes, it was apparently as uncomfortable as it looked.

Tyla’s on top of the world right now, riding off the success of her TikTok hit Chanel and her newest collaboration with equally iconic pop girl Zara Larsson. The artist showed up to this year’s Met Gala completely covered in rhimestones and looking stunning, as usual. But one interaction between her and another global star has gone viral for the wrong reasons.

Rihanna totally ignored Tyla at the Met Gala 👀 pic.twitter.com/9HuB1z14qr

— BlackMedia__ (@BlackMedia___) May 6, 2026

In clips from the Monday night event, Tyla can be seen in the background of a video with Rihanna, standing awkwardly to the side as the icon seemingly ignores her. The clip was quickly spread across X before Tyla addressed the encounter on her TikTok account.

“I just woke up, my voice is raspy, and basically, y’all, everybody knows I love Rhi,” Tyla began in the video. “I met her last year, and she was cool. I met her, but I think she was occupied.”

She continued: “I went up to her, and I was like ‘Hey’, and she was like ‘Hey, um my baby daddy is calling me’, and then she left, and I was like ‘Oh!’, so maybe she was busy.”

OMG WHY WOULD SHE POST THISSSS https://t.co/SF9TSI93Mj

— tyris ✰ (@TYRISPRINT) May 6, 2026

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Last year was Tyla’s second-ever Met Gala, and by then she was already being compared to Rihanna for their similar “good girl gone bad” aesthetic.

“I don’t know, I felt awkward, what the heck, I don’t know how to say hi if I feel like someone’s busy,” Tyla continued. “So this time, I was waiting for my car, and she was right there, and I was, I didn’t want to go up because I felt like she was busy… last time she was busy.”

“When we do speak, if we do end up speaking ever, I want it to be calm so we can both just vibe and talk nicely.”

Rihanna hasn’t spoken up about the situation, and viewers’ responses are mixed. Some people feel bad for Tyla and have been calling Rihanna out for being “rude”, while others are saying she shouldn’t have brought the situation to the internet.

Maybe next year we’ll finally get the Rihanna and Tyla picture we’ve been clamouring for.

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Featured image via Matt Baron/Shutterstock and John Salangsang/BEI/Shutterstock