Nia Long addressed rumors of a confrontation with Sherri Shepherd after Shepherd detailed a recent tense encounter with an unnamed celebrity on her talk show Monday (March 24).
The drama unfolded on Sunday (March 24) at the Broadway opening of Othello, starring Hollywood heavyweights Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal.
Shepherd recounted the incident to her audience, describing how an unidentified celebrity physically grabbed her arms, spun her around, and accused her of throwing subtle insults on her show.
“I’m standing there talking. Somebody grabbed my arms, and they forcefully turned me around,” Shepherd told viewers. “So I’m in a good mood, so I go, ‘Hi, what’s going on?’ ’cause I know her. And she says to me, she goes, ‘You’ve been shading me a lot.'”
Shepherd, visibly irritated, denied the accusations and expressed her frustration openly on air.
“I was mad. I was really mad. And I said, you know what, you don’t freaking get to do that to me,” Shepherd explained. “So I went to the bathroom during intermission. I stood there for minutes waiting for a meeting in the ladies’ room, OK? I stood there.”
Though Shepherd chose not to reveal the celebrity’s identity, speculation quickly swirled online, with Page Six suggesting actress Nia Long as the possible mystery woman involved.
Long responded indirectly to the rumors shortly after the incident.
She posted a cryptic selfie on Instagram captioned simply, “About last night…[kissing face emoji].”
The ambiguous post quickly fueled speculation that she was indeed the unnamed celebrity Shepherd referenced.
Neither Sherri Shepherd nor Nia Long has explicitly confirmed or denied the other’s involvement, leaving the public to piece together clues from social media and entertainment gossip.