Nia Long had fans reminiscing about her notoriously remembered improvised slap given to Taye Diggs during their scheduled intimacy-turned-argument “The Best Man” scene.
Long uploaded a black and white photo of herself with her former on-screen love interest as she posed with duck lips side-by-side Diggs, who was showing nothing but teeth.
“Been down since day #1 @tayediggsinsta THE BEST MAN FINAL CHAPTERS!!! Let’s go!!! @peacocktv December 22nd [kiss emojis]”
Many fans showed their excitement for the 1990s movie-turned-2022 TV series with posts in Long’s comments section such as:
“I’m ready Jordan and Harper”
“Sooo looking forward to this!”
“I cannot wait for this!”
Others decided to jokingly bring up Long and Diggs’ slap encounter that became an iconic scene from the film that is still mentioned over two decades later.
“Don’t slap him again sis [laughing emoji]”
“Sis, are you gonna slap him again?”
“That slap was epic!! What did the 5 fingas say to the face!”
During the 1999 film’s climax, Diggs’ character Harper Stewart was on his way to rendezvous with Long’s character, Jordan Armstrong, with the idea of a love tryst. To Armstrong’s surprise, Stewart showed up drunk with a black eye, which was caused by his best friend Lance Sullivan, played by Morris Chestnut, after he found out Stewart, who was his best man, had been intimate with his soon-to-be wife Mia Morgan, portrayed by Monica Calhoun.
In the scene, Stewart placed the blame on Armstrong for wanting an exclusive copy of the book that got passed around amongst their friendship circle, thus landing in the hands of Sullivan.
Not taking his tone or disrespect, Armstrong gave Stewart a big slap, which both Long and Diggs have publicly shared wasn’t supposed to happen.
In an “Unsung Hollywood” interview with TV One, Long revealed reading the scene and initially feeling like something was off.
“There was just something not on the page, the moment was there, but the words weren’t there and so I said, ‘You know what let’s just do it.’” Long said.
“She slapped the s–t outta me, like for real. You get a moment where I go, ‘wooo’ and I stayed in it,” Diggs expressed.
He continued, “I was pissed! I was like, ‘I’m never gonna work with her again, how unprofessional,’ and then when I saw it on screen, after that day we were cool.”
It’s safe to say, that was the best decision Long could have ever made for it has become one of the film’s most memorable scenes.
