Tiffany Haddish Reacts to Shakira VMAs Photobomb Backlash – PEOPLE

Tiffany Haddish has a message for her critics.

The Girls Trip star, 43, shared a post on X responding to criticism of her treatment of Shakira at the 2023 MTV VMAs.

The comedian was met with backlash after Pop Crave posted a video on X of her following the pop star, 46, around backstage at the Sept. 12 awards show.

In the clip, Haddish chanted Shakira’s name loudly as she attempted to catch up with the “Hips Don’t Lie” singer while she weaved through the crowd and snapped photos with her admirers. At the end of the video, the actress got close to the singer and photobombed her selfie with a fan.

The comedian also photobombed a photo of Shakira and her “TQG” collaborator Karol G, as well as a solo shot of the “She Wolf” singer with her two Moon Person trophies (she was honored with the video vanguard award and won best collaboration for “TQG” at the ceremony).

After Pop Crave’s post garnered negative feedback, Haddish replied to it on Friday, writing, “This soooooo interesting to me. If you feel like I did [too] much all of y’all better be buying @shakira new album!”

She continued, “This experience has [allowed] me to realize how truly popular I am. I appreciate all of your opinions… Thank You Shana Tova.”

On Saturday, Haddish seemingly addressed the backlash for her behavior toward Shakira in a post on X, writing, “When people make videos about me or talk about me good or bad. I just think Thank you all for making me more famous and relevant.”

“I see it’s driving the enemy crazy cause they really want to be where I am, It will never happen. ,” she concluded.

The Night School star also acknowledged her VMAs antics by responding to two other posts about her on X.

One X user shared a video of someone saying, “Get your ass up we gotta get the f— out of here now,” and captioned the clip: “Shakira when she saw Tiffany Haddish.” The comedian replied with several laughing emojis.

Another user echoed this sentiment, writing, “Somebody needs to put that girl on timeout, like she needs to be stopped,” and Haddish once again responded with laughing emojis.

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It would take a lot more than a red carpet photo gone awry to ruin Shakira’s big night at the 2023 VMAs.

On top of adding two new awards to her collection of Moon Person trophies — raising her total VMAs wins to four — the “Gypsy” singer got practically the entire crowd on their feet with a high-energy set before accepting the video vanguard award, which recognizes an artist’s lifetime achievement.

The singer performed a selection of her hits including “She Wolf,” “Te Felicito,” “Objection (Tango),” “Whenever, Wherever” and “Hips Don’t Lie.”

For the final song, “Shakira: Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53,” the singer went all out, bringing people onstage to dance with her and even crowdsurfing through the audience.

During her acceptance speech, she thanked MTV, her label, her parents and her kids, Milan, 9, and Sasha, 7, who accompanied her to the ceremony.

Shakira finished the heartfelt speech by showing her gratitude to her fans.

“And, especially, I want to share this award with my fans, who always, always support me through thick and thin,” she said. “Thank you so much for being my army and for helping me fight all my battles.”

She continued the speech in Spanish, dedicating the award to her supporters and giving a special shout-out to her Latin American fans.

“Lo quiero muchísimo,” she concluded.