Rihanna grabs attention wherever she goes. Photograph: KyleTerada/ddpUSA/BarcroftImages
It was almost the perfect metaphor.
At home court for a basketball team whose tech industry owners are abandoning their roots in Oakland for a new stadium (and tonier fan base) in San Francisco, a wealthy tech executive sitting courtside shouts at a black woman for standing up and cheering – a black woman who just happens to be pop superstar Rihanna.
Rihanna grabs attention wherever she goes, but on Thursday night, her enthusiastic support of the Cleveland Cavaliers as they were blown out by the Golden State Warriors in game 1 of the NBA finals was the most exciting game in town.
The eight-time Grammy-winning singer is believed to have heckled Kevin Durant during a free throw, and delighted this reporter at least when she dabbed after bowing to LeBron James.
It was another incident, however, that set the internet aflame: Apple senior vice-president of internet software and services Eddy Cue standing up and – possibly – shouting toward Rihanna to sit down.
Here’s another view of Cue.
Cue, whose role at Apple includes overseeing Apple Music and iTunes, is a huge Warriors fan whose wild gesticulations made the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle last year. He is also decidedly a member of the tech elite whose newfound enthusiasm for the once woeful Warriors has left many longtime fans feeling priced-out and abandoned.
Cue denied that he had been addressing Rihanna, tweeting that he was “excited about our lead and actually talking to” someone else. (Apple did not respond to questions, referring reporters to Cue’s tweet.)
The denial has not stopped some of Rihanna’s fans from threatening a boycott of Apple products over the disrespect.
A spokesperson for Rihanna did not immediately respond to a request for comment, so we’ll just leave this here.