After appearing on her ex-husband’s podcast, many are wondering if there are lingering issues between La La Anthony and Carmelo Anthony.
The “Power” actress joined the former New York Knicks player and his co-host, The Kid Mero, on the season 2 premiere of “7PM in Brooklyn,” alongside their 16-year-old son, Kiyan Anthony. The Nov. 115 episode was dedicated to Kiyan announcing his decision to attend college at his dad’s alma mater, Syracuse University.
La La entered the show about 10 minutes in, greeting everyone warmly, smiling, and offering hugs and kisses — well, to almost everyone.
As she sat down, she turned to her ex and joked, “Oh, they gonna talk s—t because I didn’t hug you.”
Carmelo casually replied, “It’s all good, we far away.”
But in a funny twist, she did exactly what she was trying to avoid by calling attention to the moment.
She stood up and tiptoed toward him, though only partly, leaving the 10-time All-Star to step forward to meet her for an extremely quick and noticeably awkward “church hug.”
When La La returned to her seat on “the couch,” she giggled with Mero, clearly aware of the situation, and then quipped, “Hello, Baby Daddy.”
The stiff embrace immediately had fans buzzing, with some saying it looked more forced than friendly. While the moment might have been harmless, La La’s decision to point it out only put more eyes on the hug. Thankfully, the rest of the episode focused on their successful co-parenting and the excitement surrounding Kiyan achieving his goal of joining the Syracuse Orange basketball team.
Fans in the YouTube comments section celebrated their teamwork and reflected on the hug.
“It’s the fact that La La and Melo really made this work and pushed the bulls–t aside so their son can thrive in a stress-free environment and feel fully supported. Blessings, man,” one comment read, adding, “Good luck to Kiyan in Syracuse. Hopefully, he develops into an amazing hooper.”
Another fan wrote, “That hug diminished any faith in my delusional mind of anything being rekindled BUTTT as someone who’s grown up on Melo and La La, this was such an amazing full-circle moment. Been watching Kiy play for the longest—I can’t wait to see what he’s gonna do in college and the league.”
Someone else said, “Yoo the hug with lala was more awkward than them not hugging.”
However, one viewer saw it differently, writing, “And shout out to Lala for getting ahead of the trolls and hugging Melo so they can have something else to talk about.”
A fifth added, “Yo!!!! I love the FACT that his parents are RIGHT THERE!!!!! They don’t even f—k with each other, but they’re 20 toes down for their baby TOGETHER!!! Shout out to La and Melo, man. Proud of them both for producing not just a ball player but a bright young man!”
While the two seem to have put their differences aside for Kiyan’s sake, their history hasn’t been without drama. Carmelo fathered a child with another woman during his marriage to the “BMF” star, which reportedly created a lasting rift between him and La La.
“At that time I was like, ‘oh, I’m married I have a kid. I’m kinda cruising and I got this thing figured out,’ and a whole curveball came my way,” she stated as a guest on Keke Palmer’s “Baby, This is Keke Palmer” podcast in October.
“And now I’m not married and now I’m co-parenting and living in that space and figuring that out and that’s a day-to-day challenge that comes with that.”
There were also rumors that Anthony may have fathered twins, according to a past report from TMZ. La La filed for divorce in 2021, and when asked what caused the split, she revealed to Angie Martinez, “There were other people involved.”
“It was bad because there were allegations,” she added. “It got bad.”
Even though La La remains publicly supportive of her son and his father, fans have noticed she keeps her distance from the little girl. When Genesis, Carmelo’s daughter, turned 7 years old, fans noted her absence from the Knicks-themed birthday party.
“La La said she not playing stepmom to NOBODY. Let somebody else do it,” one fan commented on The Neighborhood Talk’s Instagram page.
Another wrote, “La La is the epitome of, ‘If your man has a kid outside, you bounce like a bouncy house!’”
While the child may have caused tension between the former couple, the situation doesn’t seem to affect Kiyan, who still admires his father. Even though he doesn’t consider Carmelo one of his top three basketball players of all time, he chose to follow in his dad’s footsteps by committing to Syracuse University.
Despite their past, La La and Carmelo have proved they can come together for their son, making this moment about him and not their history.
