Janelle Monáe strayed from her trademark menswear style at the 2023 Grammy Awards, but she was not amused by one fan’s way of complimenting her new look. And now, we’re all evidently being punished — that is, if the Glass Onion star is serious about making good on her threats.
Appearing on Sunday’s red carpet, Monáe showed off some skin in a plunging black gown with a symmetrical peplum waist that flowed into a long chiffon train. The stunning look — as if our queen can’t make any look stunning — prompted the fan to make a quip at Monáe’s expense.
“Janelle Monáe finally showing off how fine she is instead of dressing like the Monopoly Man,” tweeted the fan, referencing Rich Uncle Pennybags, also known as “Mr. Monopoly,” the mascot of the popular capitalism-themed board game.
Monáe, however, seemed less than amused after the tweet went viral and found its way to her timeline.
“Ohh y’all n*ggas liked this 26.8k times??” Monáe wrote, retweeting the tweet. “No new music just for this.” She likewise added a cheeky emoji to indicate that, in reality, she was most likely just joking around with the fan.
After an hour and a half, when the tweet had only continued to gain steam — and to be fair, the boost probably didn’t help — she added a followup. “35.7k likes?? No new tour,” she wrote. “Hope it was worth it beloved.”
As the tweets continued to go viral, others came out in defense of the 37-year-old rapper and singer. “If you didn’t think Janelle Monáe was mind-numbingly hot when they only wore bespoke menswear, quick question: what the f*ck is wrong with you,” fired off another fan.
Others had similar sentiments:
This like when my brother used to fuck up and I’d get grounded too pic.twitter.com/uMjf64r0ie
— Dylan Park-Pettiford (@dyllyp) February 7, 2023
now, why do we have to suffer????
— ryan mitchell (@TheSlayGawd) February 7, 2023
Chile lemme go dust off the archandroid because the tweet is at 44k+ likes now… we’re never getting anything from you ever again at this rate 😫 pic.twitter.com/lBggLePufy
— kelechi (@its_kelechi) February 7, 2023
But after catching no small amount of flack, the original fan later clarified herself.
“If my dumb jokes got people talking about how dope Janelle Monáe is then mission accomplished,” she wrote. And for her part, Monáe seemed to indicate that all was forgiven.
Thankfully, it seems that she was likely just joking. In a Dec. 2022 interview with Variety, Atlantic Records CEO Craig Kallman said that Monáe has new music scheduled for 2023. But either way, probably best to not push our luck.