Missy Elliott: Tweet's 'Oops (Oh My)' Is Not About Self-Pleasure

Missy Elliott’s Twitter has been an occasional source of insight and delight, but today, she used the account to ruin the dreams of a generation of music fans. Replying to an… ahem… tweet about one of Missy’s fan-favorite collaborations, the genre-bending star debunked a longstanding myth about the meaning behind Tweet’s 2002 hit “Oops (Oh My).”

The original fan tweet posted an excerpt from the song, captioning it, “Tweet said Masturbation but make it a Bop.” However, Missy chimed in to clear up the accepted, 20-year-old origin story, offering up a #FunFact explaining, “This song was never bout Masturbation.” Instead, she said, “It was always about her appreciating her Dark Skin when she looked in the mirror.”

The assumption that Tweet’s song referred to self-pleasure sprung up in the minds of fans, and unwilling to shut them down, she said, “It was the listeners that thought it was about sex & just ran with it. We just let the consumer’s mind create what they wanted.”

#Funfact this song was never bout Masturbation it was always about her appreciating her Dark Skin (Self Love)when she looked in the mirror🙂 it was the listeners that thought it was about sex & just ran with it… & we just let the consumers mind create what they wanted🙌🏾 https://t.co/Vd9NHfuzJR

— Missy Elliott (@MissyElliott) January 5, 2021

The news was met with some disappointment from fans who’d bought into the widely-held theory to the contrary, lamenting Missy bursting their respective bubbles. Some even challenged her on it, with one questioning even more of Missy’s hits, although that fan can rest assured in the knowledge that “One Minute Man” was about exactly what it sounded like. Check out more fans’ responses below.

Ms. Elliott? MISSY!! Cut out all this fibbin. 😂😂

You know good'n hell well…

So, now 'One Minute Man' was about a dude running a foot race??

— C.K. Dexter Haven (@TheNEPAStory) January 5, 2021

Lol! Nah that song meant what it said🤣😂

— Missy Elliott (@MissyElliott) January 5, 2021

https://twitter.com/_underratedaf/status/1346426484282568705

Very true and here’s @MS_HUMMINGBIRD speaking on the record. pic.twitter.com/ZpcepWHnhF

— Zion (@ZionNtsekwa) January 5, 2021

I remember tweet getting on 106 & Park and telling AJ & Free that the song was about self love. Everybody though she was just being coy and vague when really she was speaking the truth. We just had dirty minds lol pic.twitter.com/4kxRs3MjlG

— Jay-Z’s Nervous Laugh (@Mavrik413) January 5, 2021

Real talk, when iWas in the 8th grade in 98… iArgued this girl down that she wasn’t talking about playing with herself and she told me iDidn’t know what iWas talking about… iHope like hell Monica Day is looking at this tweet somewhere 😤

— Ricky Rozay Johnson (@RickJRozay) January 5, 2021

Omg, now I feel like an idiot. Definitely made me feel like masturbation was ok in high school 😭😭😭🤦🏾‍♀️ it’s even on my masturbation playlist today

— BEE IS BACK (@BeeMichelle) January 5, 2021

https://twitter.com/simply_shida/status/1346405123287900163