Social media users are crying with laughter after Dionne Warwick took to her Twitter account to address an announcer who mistook the legendary singer for fellow musical icon Gladys Knight during an Aug. 31 U.S. Open Tennis match between Serena Williams and Anett Kontaveit.
It all went down earlier this week when sports commentators Mary Carillo and Chanda Rubin provided insight into the closely watched game between Williams and Kontaveit at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York. Several A-List celebrities were in attendance to watch one of Williams’ final games of her tennis career.
As the camera panned across the crowd of Hollywood figures, including Tiger Woods, Spike Lee, La La Anthony and many more, it stopped on the “Heartbreaker” artist, however, Carillo referred to the singer as Knight, who was also there. The moment went viral almost instantly.
Fans took to their platform where they slammed the commentators for the mix-up, including one Twitter user who wrote, “Unacceptable, from both of them.”
“Wait till mama Dionne get on Twitter later. She gone eat them up,” commented another person.
It wasn’t long before Warwick, who has become a big deal on social media thanks to her witty responses to cultural events, addressed the matter online, and her reaction did not disappoint. Taking to her Twitter page, the 81-year-old star wrote, “Hi, I’m Gladys Knight… And instead of taking that midnight train to Georgia, I won’t walk on by but will say a little prayer for you.”
She later took to Instagram and shared an image of a young Gladys and captioned it “Throwback Thursday.”
Social media users were left in stitches at the response. “Told y’all that she was going to drag that lady. That’s what she gets. Thank you auntie Dionne. You never disappoint,” wrote one supporter.
Another person wrote, “They tried it! Love the classy comeback. It was worth the wait.”
Carillo later clarified the on-air mishap on her Twitter account: “Too bad I was initially looking at the court (where Auntie Gladys was in the stands) and not our program monitor that showed Ms. Dionne…” She added, “Mistake was immediately corrected.”
The “That’s What Friends Are For” singer joined Twitter in 2012, but fans only began taking note of her account in 2020. The trailblazer credited her niece Brittani Warrick with introducing her to the platform.
