Usher appeared to take a lighthearted swipe at the fan who famously rejected his onstage serenade last week, telling the crowd at his Birmingham, Alabama tour stop on Tuesday that anyone unwilling to join in shouldn’t come up on stage in the first place, before finding a considerably more enthusiastic partner for the night’s performance.
The comment was a clear nod to the Nashville incident that went viral days earlier, in which Usher ended a steamy stage segment early after sensing the fan he’d brought up, later identified as Gabrielle Cheyenne, appeared uncomfortable with the routine.
Cheyenne has since explained on TMZ Livethat she wasn’t turned off by Usher himself, but had been hoping to be called up by co-headliner Chris Brown instead, having been unexpectedly upgraded to VIP seating without knowing in advance which artist would bring her on stage.
This time around in Birmingham, Usher had considerably better luck, pulling up a new audience member who appeared fully game for the segment, seemingly putting the earlier viral moment behind him.
Chris Brown, meanwhile, has had his own moments of fan enthusiasm on the tour, with a separate viral clip showing an audience member getting notably close during one of his numbers at the same Nashville show where Usher’s segment fell flat.
The R&B Tour, pairing Usher and Chris Brown across a run of joint dates, continues through the summer.
2026-07-30 08:04:00
