Adele explains real story behind viral meme at NBA basketball game - and admits she was 'very annoyed'

The unhappy singer claims she was ‘filmed against my will’
Tina Campbell20 February 2024
The Weekender

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Adele has finally broken her silence on that viral meme of her sitting courtside at an NBA game, albeit two years later.

The 35-year-old Hello hit-maker, who is married to sports agent Rich Paul, was captured looking totally uninterested while watching the NBA All-Star game in Cleveland, Ohio, on February 20 2022.

During the celebrity cam portion of the sporting event, the camera zoomed in on the London-born star, highlighting her solemn facial expression which soon swept across the internet.

Addressing the audience at her Las Vegas residency show, Weekends with Adele, on February 17, she decided that now was the time to finally tell her side of the story and that she was actually trying to find someone else at the game.

“Do you remember that viral meme of me looking like I don’t give a flying f***?” Adele asked her guests. “It sounds crazy, but I really don’t like being famous, right? So, obviously, I know I’m sitting courtside at a basketball game, you’re asking for it.”

Adele and Rich Paul - In pictures

2022 NBA All-Star Game
1/9

She went on to explain that she had been trying to find retired basketball star Michael Jordan when the camera people approached her. She alleges that they asked whether she wanted to be filmed, to which she says she declined.

“The people with the camera came and asked me twice. They were like, ‘Do you mind if we film you? Can we put you on the screen?’”

Despite her saying otherwise, they continued to film her, which Adele said had particularly irked her as she wasn’t keen on being on-screen then since her Las Vegas shows had just been cancelled.

“I was very annoyed because I had asked not to be filmed ... I was like, ‘these motherf****** have come back and are filming me against my will,” she continued.

She further claimed that she “didn’t realise they were airing it on TV” and hoping to make them go away, she tried to avoid eye contact and looked everywhere else to no avail.

The songstress also took the opportunity to speak out on comments about her looking like she’d had cosmetic work done and explained she was just pouting over the situation. 

“The reason my lips looked like I had filler...,” she began before insisting that she has “naturally big lips£ and does not “need” any enhancements.

“The reason I looked like a different person was because I was sulking,” she said.

“Because I was like, ‘These motherf***ers have come back and are filming me against my will’.

“I just wanted to give some context,” she concluded. 'Because I was ignoring looking everywhere but in the camera. 

“I was just very annoyed because I asked not to be filmed,' she said. 'But I guess I was asking it by going.”

She later quipped: “Also my face is very memeable. I can't help it.”

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