The Creed III premiere in Atlanta was a chance for Michael B. Jordan to celebrate the ongoing success of the boxing franchise, which he has been at the helm of since 2015.
But it also went down as a night to remember for another, rather awkward, reason. During his red carpet rounds, the actor, 36, confronted ex-classmate and Morning Hustle host Lore’l over comments she apparently made about him being 'corny'.
The pair attended Chad Science Academy in New Jersey together when they were teens. On her podcast Undressed, Lore'l previously recalled how she and her friends would poke fun at the Blank Panther star.
She said, 'To be honest with you, we teased him all the damn time because his name was Michael Jordan. Let’s start there, and he was no Michael Jordan.'
Continuing her mocking recollection, she added, 'And he also would come to school with a headshot. We lived in Newark, that’s the hood. We would make fun of him like, “What you gonna do with your stupid headshot?” And now look at him.'
Elsewhere, she brought up Michael's extravagant Valentine's Day gift - renting out an entire aquarium - for ex-girlfriend, model Lori Harvey, calling him a 'corny guy'.
But her comments came back to bite her at the premiere last Thursday. As Lore’l began questioning her school acquaintance, Michael saw an opportunity and took it.
She noted, 'We go way back, all the way back to Chad Science Academy in Newark.'
A quick-thinking Michael immediately referred to the podcast episode, firing back, 'Oh yeah, I was the corny kid, right? I heard it.'
Awkward.
Attempting to break the tension, Lore'l replied, 'I said we used to make fun of the name. But yeah, well, you’re not corny anymore.' She even went so far as to say she was 'misquoted'.
Fans rushed to Michael's defence on social media.
One penned a lengthy tweet which read, 'You’ll always have the last laugh when you put the work in. When you don’t focus on the naysayers. When you’re locked into your grind and your purpose. Keep going, keep believing in yourself, this should motivate a lot of young men, and women too. Anyone who’s experienced hate.'