Carmelo Anthony said he was just trying to keep a low profile when he was caught giving Rihanna a stoic stare at an after-party following the 2014 Met Gala.
During Thursday’s installment of his “7PM in Brooklyn” podcast — with The Kid Mero, Rudy Gay, and Monica McNutt — Anthony explained the moments leading up to the photo being taken, and the group couldn’t contain their laughter.
“We already in there having a good time. Every time a celebrity comes in, the cameras go crazy,” Anthony said. “… It’s small in that area, you see all the flashes, it’s commotion when you walk in there. I finally walk in and get through the cameras and sit down — now I found my my comfort zone, sitting down. I’m not on the top level of the couch, I’m trying to be low. Rih walks in, cameras go crazy, all you see is white flashes.
Had to clear this one up 😂 https://t.co/mWzAUwLs6w
— Carmelo Anthony (@carmeloanthony) January 16, 2025
“There’s only one area to go to, there’s only one area to go to and I’m like, ‘Please don’t come over here,’” he joked. “The flashes is going, so I put my head down and I look up and she’s right there posing.”
The former Knicks forward, who attended the Met with his then-wife, actress La La Anthony (they divorced in June 2021), got the meme treatment.
At the time, someone joked that he looked “ready to jeopardize it all” at the moment.
On the podcast, Anthony mimicked his viral stare, which had everyone in the room laughing.
“Had to clear this one up,” Anthony wrote on X, including the video.
“This had the internet in a chokehold,” McNutt, a basketball analyst at ESPN, said.
“I’ve never seen you look like that bro, what’s going on?” said Gay, who announced his NBA retirement last October after 17 seasons.
