I don’t think you missed it but just in case, social media exploded last Thursday when a fashion influencer tweeted that Rihanna broke up with A$AP Rocky because he cheated on her with shoe designer Amina Muaddi who has worked with Rihanna on her Fenty line. Amina has since shut down the rumours. TMZ and other outlets also dismissed the claims. The original tweet that started this whole mess has been deleted and the OP posted an apology

 

But there are probably a lot of people who still believe the rumour, who think that the OP pulled down their tweet after Rihanna and/or Rocky’s lawyers put the heat on them. At the same time, another conversation was happening around this story and this tweet, posted in response to the OP’s apology, illuminates that question: 

 

Over the last few years, as we’ve been interrogating media and pop culture and responsible coverage, for example in how the culture – from the public to the press to other celebrities themselves – participated in the Britney Spears situation, and how dirty we all did her, the consensus was supposedly that we should be doing things differently than we were back in the 2000s and early 2010s. Back then, though, social media isn’t what it is now. But social media is where this mess started and social media is also where mess is often crticised by the new standards that we should be held to. So through that ostensibly new and improved lens, is there a right and a wrong way to handle a story like this Rihanna and Rocky story? It's something I’ve been thinking about and I’m curious to know your thoughts. And while you’re considering that, maybe check out the amazing package that Kathleen and her team at Refinery29 Unbothered released last week: “Birth Rights: Spotlighting Black Maternity, Reproductive Health, and Cultural Conversations”. 

 

Speaking of unbothered, Rihanna didn’t seem too bothered about the noise when she arrived in Barbados, with Rocky, the other day. The rumour was that they split – and, well, clearly they’re not apart if they’re travelling together, at this late stage in her pregnancy, back to her home (and he has roots in Barbados too) which is why people are now wondering whether or not this is where she’ll stay for the next few weeks until she gives birth, so that their first child will be born where she was born. 

The fact that Rocky there though, meaning he’ll be around all her family, and her mother, while all this is going down? It’s a strong sign, at least to me, that it’s not a problem. Because can you f-cking imagine him having to face all that in person if he really was in the wrong, like right now?! 

A final note on those rumours, and the only thing that was remotely entertaining about all of it, because obviously it’s not at all a delight that that sh-t was happening, was the Drake factor. Drake started trending pretty much the moment Rihanna and Rocky started trending and he was trending again the moment that the rumours were shot down, LOLOLOLOL.