“Power‘s” Omari Hardwick was asked about kissing Beyoncé at the NAACP Image Awards that took place in March.
Because what seemed to be just a congratulatory kiss on the cheek to a friend who won the Entertainer of the Year Award, the moment was labeled “Kissgate,”and it caused a giant controversy, mainly due to the second smooch that Hardwick planted on Bey, which many said made her look uncomfortable.
Hardwick was asked about Kissgate Thursday on Hot 97, and he said it was much ado about nothing.
He also implied there was nothing wrong with the kiss, people just blew it out of proportion because he’s a celebrity. Basically, the way Hardwick sees it, if a person who wasn’t famous smooched Bey in the same way, there would be no backlash.
“If someone else who’s not as big hugs Beyoncé then its like I don’t know who this rooty-poot n—a was,” the actor stated.
Hardwick then said it would’ve been even more awkward if he didn’t approach the “Lemonade” performer after she won the award.
“Jay[-Z] would have slapped me upside the head, like damn n—a, you seen B? Go give her a hug,” he stated. “That’s a woman that reached out to me at one in the morning, said I’m doing a surprise birthday for Jay, you gotta be there. That’s a friend.”
Hardwick’s interview sparked a lot of comments, and there were a good number of people who said he was still wrong for the kiss.
“I CANNNOOOOTTTTTTTTTTTT OMG THE BEYONCÉ that’s a friend finished me,” one person wrote on YouTube.
“But he did it twice lol,” someone wrote about the double kiss.
The Hot 97 interview was the second time this month that Hardwick was asked about Kissgate. On May 9, when the “Power” cast stopped by the “Strahan and Sara” show, co-host Michael Strahan questioned him about it, but Hardwick’s co-star on the crime drama, Naturi Naughton, stepped in.
“He was just being a friend,” she stated. “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.”
