‘Why Can’t Friends Kiss and Hug?’: Naturi Naughton Defends Omari Hardwick Over Beyoncé Kiss at NAACP Image Awards

Naturi Naughton defended her “Power” TV husband Omari Hardwick when the two of them were on the set of “Strahan and Sara” earlier this week, and one of the topics that came up was Hardwick kissing Beyoncé at the 2019 NAACP Image Awards in March.

It wasn’t that Hardwick merely kissed Bey, he did it twice and the second one came close to her mouth, which made her look uncomfortable. The Beyhive let Hardwick have it after that and slammed him for the second kiss, which has since been branded “Kissgate.”

Strahan asked Hardwick about the smooch, but before he could respond Naughton jumped in and said it was much to do about nothing. She also seemed baffled on why it caused such a colossal stir.

“You know the [Beyhive] try to come for my boy, my TV husband. He was just being a friend,” she explained. “Why can’t friends kiss and hug anymore? I mean they made that way bigger, so I was there and it was so not a situation.”

Some folks agreed with Naughton that Hardwick did nothing wrong at the NAACP Image awards, and they loved that she defended him. At the same time, others said he should’ve apologized and the New Jersey-raised actress should’ve let him do that.

“Beyonce clearly looked uncomfortable,” someone wrote on YouTube. Naturi is not a girls girl. Omari maybe her friend but she should have shut up and let him apologize.”

“Naturi shut up let him answer I still don’t have closure smh lol,” someone else wrote. “He didn’t want to address it to be honest.”

There were also some who didn’t have a problem with Naughton speaking for Hardwick but took umbrage with the kiss in general, particularly in this day and age when men are supposed to be more mindful of such things.

“Wait are we really supposed to be comfortable with people kissing and hugging us now while our husband is right there especially in the METOO era?” someone asked. “Noooooo how about just give me a hug and shake my hand don’t kiss me once let alone twice.”

https://youtu.be/E5u-lZh9Pzg

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