Early on at the BET Awards, the cameras “caught” Rihanna playing with a roll of duct tape, leading a bunch of people to wonder on social media what exactly was going on. It turned out to be part of a clearly planned gag on the behalf of BET — later in the show came the payoff, with Rihanna duct-taping Floyd Mayweather’s mouth shut.
https://twitter.com/bmorenavy/status/615322741277855744
The “joke” seemed to poke fun at Mayweather’s and Rihanna’s well-known histories with domestic violence, Mayweather as a repeated perpetrator and Rihanna as a victim. The fact that BET chose to seat the two next to each other seemed in poor taste to many alone, and the joke led to even more justifiable outrage.
https://twitter.com/jacquelinemry/status/615339341338947585
https://twitter.com/AlexontheMic/status/615337910460518400
If nothing else, the optics of Floyd next to Rihanna feel off and not thought through
— Adam Fleischer (@adamfleischer) June 29, 2015
https://twitter.com/3rika/status/615323723952951296
Was Floyd being gagged and bound supposed to be funny? Help me understand the joke please? #BETAwards2015
— Trillary Crosley (@HillaryCrosley) June 29, 2015
https://twitter.com/Jay_ThePhenom/status/615322208609677312
https://twitter.com/janaimichael/status/615322868616794112
https://twitter.com/Josh_D_Manning/status/615324739633065984
Domestic violence awareness RT @ComplexMusic: Meanwhile… #BETAwards pic.twitter.com/wAorM10lVR
— The Titty Swindler (@youngblack609) June 29, 2015
um telling serial domestic abuser floyd mayweather to help rihanna out??? not smart. #BETAwards #BETAwards2015
— AutumnalEquinox🌈 (@AutumnNAlston) June 29, 2015
https://twitter.com/laurennostro/status/615322329862815745
https://twitter.com/laurennostro/status/615322782071660544
https://twitter.com/laurennostro/status/615326280427433985
It’s possible BET didn’t mean to make the domestic violence connection, and just thought this one out really poorly (or not at all). But even if that’s the case, it shows an incredible amount of tone-deafness on behalf of the network. And we haven’t even gotten into why Rihanna or Mayweather would possibly agree to be a part of this.
