South African Grammy Award winner Tyla made an appearance at this year’s Met Gala, held on Monday, May 4, at the prestigious Metropolitan Museum of Art. This annual fashion spectacle, which inaugurates the Costume Institute’s spring exhibition titled “Costume Art,” brought together a constellation of global celebrities and luminaries. While Tyla walked the iconic red carpet among these international stars, the spotlight soon shifted away from the event’s haute couture and onto a specific viral social media clip involving her and the iconic singer Rihanna.

The circulating video, which gained rapid traction online, showed Tyla standing in close proximity to Rihanna, with many viewers interpreting the moment as awkward and suggesting Tyla appeared to be ignored. This sparked immediate speculation among social media users about a potential tension or “beef” between the two artists. A tweet from BlackMedia__ on May 6, 2026, highlighted how social media users ignited rumors after the video depicted Tyla near Rihanna, seemingly overlooked.

Adding to the social media fervor, some fans of Tyla speculated that Rihanna had deliberately snubbed her. This particular theory was fueled by an unfounded notion that Tyla had somehow “taken Chris Brown away from her,” prompting questions about why people would believe Rihanna still harbored feelings for or desired Chris Brown.

However, Tyla quickly addressed the viral incident on TikTok, unequivocally shutting down claims of any animosity or misunderstanding between her and Rihanna. She clarified that the situation was simply misconstrued and that Rihanna was merely occupied at the time. Tyla recounted a previous positive encounter, stating, “Everyone knows I love Ri. So, I met her last year and she was cool.” She then explained the Met Gala moment: “When I met her, I think she was occupied because I went up to her, and she was like ‘My baby daddy is calling me’ and then she left. I was like maybe she was busy.” Tyla admitted to feeling a bit awkward in the moment, unsure how to properly greet Rihanna, as she was waiting for her car and Rihanna happened to be nearby.

To further emphasize her perspective and dispel rumors, Tyla also shared a photograph of herself standing alongside Rihanna. She articulated her desire for any future interaction to be calm and conducive to a genuine conversation, stating, “I didn’t want to go up because she was busy. When we do speak, if we do end up speaking ever, I want it to be like calm so that we can both just vibe and talk nicely.” Tyla firmly insisted that she never took the moment personally and maintained that there was absolutely no negativity between them.