What was discussed?! During Gabourey Sidibe’s appearance on Tea Time, she arrived carrying a lot to reveal about Raven-Symoné allegedly harboring a dislike for her and allegedly telling others not to be friends with her. “I’ll roll at the pace you’re on,” Sidibe warned. Oop!
In a chat with Raven and her wife Miranda Maday, Sidibe pressed the Disney alum to weigh in on their prickly history. “I didn’t think you liked me. I came here, honestly, asking, ‘What’s up?’ I’ll move at whatever tempo you’re on,” the American Horror Story star said.
Raven laughed about the idea of “the New York energy” coming out as Sidibe stood firm.
“What’s up? What’s up?” Sidibe teased with full New York flair as Maday asked why she thought Raven disliked her.
“You treated me like you didn’t like me,” Gabby insisted.
As Raven apologized for giving the cold shoulder, Gabby argued that the underlying tension ran deeper than that.
“I heard you convinced some people not to be friends with me,” she continued. Raven shot a sharp look at the one-sided beef, asking who had told her that.
The outspoken guest named a few individuals, but the Tea Time crew cut those details from the broadcast.
When Raven listened in stunned silence, Maday stepped in to defend her partner: “So you know [bleeped name] is a s**t-stirrer too, right? We should tell you more offline about that situation.”
Fans questioned why someone as outspoken as Raven needed anyone to speak for her, especially since Maday seemed uninvolved in the ongoing static with Sidibe.
“I remember we went to a restaurant in Chicago and you were just, I don’t know…” Sidibe began. “A b***h?” Raven asked. “I felt like you were put off,” the mom of twins continued.
Maday jumped in again in defense of her wife, noting that “Raven can be shady,” but that default standoffish energy isn’t personal. “When Raven doesn’t know somebody—now, from observing her behavior—she can come off very cold and very distant. But, it’s not from a place of disliking, it’s from a place of not knowing,” Maday said.
Raven added, “And I’ve got a lot of chips on my shoulders. Which I’ll explain to you offline.”
Maday kept smoothing things over, saying that she and Raven are open to a fresh start at friendship. “But, I will tell you. I like you. You can come around. We can be friends,” she stated.
Later in the episode, Maday asked the Cheetah Girls OG how she felt about Sidibe’s confrontation making Raven feel “clocked.”
“I appreciate her for calling it out. Because, listen, I’ve been in this industry for a long damn time. You run into people you’re not friends with, people you were friends with, people you have feelings about, or whatnot, and in those moments, who knows what happened? You know, I probably came off as a bit of a [expletive]. But I own it,” Raven admitted.
While the off-camera conversation seemed to be the juiciest part, fans still had plenty to dissect about the now-viral exchange. Some felt Raven gets away with shady behavior on a regular basis simply because she’s a legend.
Others believed sexism shaped the expectations placed on Raven compared to her male peers.
And a few thought Maday was right to stand by her wife during the awkward moment before things spiraled. Yet a sizable group of fans questioned why Maday didn’t step in to defuse the “A” and “B” conversation. Perhaps no one fully gets Raven except the woman by her side.
Check out the full Tea Time episode below:
What do you think about Raven-Symoné getting pressed on her podcast and Maday playing peacemaker with Gabourey Sidibe?
