Apple Outshines Vs Rihanna Cavs Vs Warriors

 

 

 

 

 

The Warriors-Cavaliers matchup in Game 1 of the N.B.A. finals wasn’t much of a contest. But what about Rihanna vs. Kevin Durant? Or Rihanna vs. Eddy Cue, the head of Apple Music?

Rihanna, the pop sensation, is a huge LeBron James and Cavaliers fan and was sitting in the expensive seats for the game in Oakland.

She was an active trash talker, and became a flash point for Warriors hecklers, but seemed far from bothered by it.

Rihanna bows down to LeBron, then hits a dab on a Warriors fan that told her to sit down. pic.twitter.com/zXhjSqueF3

— 4 More Wins. (@LeKingJames23) June 2, 2017

Another incident that stirred an online reaction came when a fan stood up and seemingly shouted at Rihanna to sit down. Numerous commenters declared they found his behavior disrespectful.

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Internet sleuths soon identified the man: Cue, Apple’s senior vice president for internet software and services, who is a die-hard Warriors fan. Durant watched the election results last November at Cue’s house along with Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, and pop star Pharrell Williams.

Calls for boycotts of Apple Music quickly emerged. Eileen Carey, the CEO of the software company Glassbreakers, said she would be canceling her subscription.

Oh cancelling my Apple Music subscription @cue - no one yells at Rihanna, especially not a grown white man telling her to "sit down"

— Eileen Carey (@eileenmcarey) June 2, 2017

Cue issued a rare tweet to deny he was yelling at Rihanna, instead saying that the target was someone named “Marissa.”

Nothing but love for Rihanna (and KD, too!) As usual I was excited about our lead and actually talking to Marissa, 8 seats to my right.

— Eddy Cue (@cue) June 2, 2017

At one point, Rihanna seemed to yell “brick” when Kevin Durant of the Warriors was taking a free throw. Durant turned to look in her direction after making the shot. Later, after sinking a 3-pointer, he turned around and stared in her direction again.

“I don’t even remember,” Durant said when asked about it after the game. “Don’t get in that trap,” cautioned Stephen Curry, sitting next to him. “I’m cool, have fun with that,” Durant said, dismissing the question.

Rihanna tends to get attention wherever she goes, even from those whose eyes are supposed to be elsewhere. After a thunderous James dunk, TV commentator Jeff Van Gundy offered this analysis: “I don’t know about this, but Rihanna just walked in front of me. Are you kidding me?” His co-announcer Mike Breen jocularly admonished him to “Stay in the game.”

Though her team lost handily, Rihanna was sanguine after the game. A camera picked her up shrugging “It doesn’t matter” as she left the arena.