There has been drama circling around Kehlani, Kyrie Irving, and PARTYNEXTDOOR. For those who don’t know who they are; Kehlani is an R&B singer/songwriter from California who’s signed to Atlantic Records. Kyrie Irving is a point guard for the Cleveland Cavaliers from New Jersey and PARTYNEXTDOOR is a rapper from Toronto who’s signed to the OVO record label.
Kehlani and PARTYNEXTDOOR’s on and off again relationship was confirmed last summer when he released his song “Kehlani’s Freestyle,” in which he raps about their relationship. The couple ended their relationship sometime last year.
In January of this year, Kehlani and Kyrie Irving went public with their relationship on Instagram.
Fast forward to the present day, where all the “shenanigans” started. PARTYNEXTDOOR posted on Instagram a picture of a hand in his in his bed, captioned “After all her shenanigans, still got the R&B singer back in my bed. Kehlani’s hand tattoos automatically gave her away.
Assuming that Kehlani and Kyrie Irving are still in a relationship, people on social media were in a frenzy. Kehlani was hit with endless slut shaming and almost every derogatory name you can think of. This goes to show how present misogyny is in society; not only in men but in women as well; women even chimed in to call Kehlani names and put her down.
Later that night, Kehlani posted a picture on Instagram from her hospital bed, her arm hooked up to an IV. Her caption suggested that she attempted suicide and that day she reached the lowest point in her life. In her caption, she states do not believe the blogs, no one was cheated on. She also posted another picture with PARTYNEXTDOOR sitting by her bedside and thanked him for saving her life, before deleting.
People on social media continued to bash her, including Chris Brown, even after her Instagram post. Accusing her of attempting suicide solely because she got caught cheating and/or for sympathy. Kehlani did the best thing she could do at this point, and deleted her social media accounts.
Two days later, Kyrie Irving finally speaks out on the issue on Twitter. He tweeted that he and Kehlani were not together when PARTYNEXTDOOR posted the picture that sparked all the controversy online.
For two days, Kyrie kept silent and was painted as the victim while Kehlani received endless criticism and judgement. Kyrie could have saved Kehlani from all the backlash if he issued his statement the same day the picture aired out. But why is it that Kehlani confirmed that no one was cheated on yet Kyrie’s word was taken more account than hers?
Remember the situation with Amber Rose and Wiz KhalifaNews got out that Amber and Wiz broke up, social media blamed Amber for cheating on Wiz with her manager Nick Cannon because she is known for being a former stripper and dating rappers. She got called a gold digger, hoe, groupie, etc. But when the truth came out that it wasn’t Amber but actually Wiz who cheated, the reaction was, “that’s what rappers do.”
In my opinion, when men cheat they don’t receive as much criticism and backlash as women do. When the shoe is on the other foot, all hell breaks loose. If a woman cheats, men want to burn her alive! Society always defends men who constantly cheat on women using excuses such as; “he got caught up”, “he’s young”, “that’s how men are”. *eye roll* Women instantly get names such as whore, slut, hoe, bitch thrown at them if they cheat on their partners. I do not condone cheating but it’s something that people do, both men and women. If you are going to condemn women for cheating, condemn men as well; both are wrong for doing it. Instead of boxing women into what they believe we should be, men should acknowledge that we are individuals as well with the same free will as them.
Not only has this situation opened my eyes to the misogyny that exists in society but also how people downplay depression and mental issues and sweep them under the rug.