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Red carpet interviews are usually pretty tame, but a recent encounter between Michael B. Jordan and The Morning Hustle host Lore’l — former high school classmates — got a little awkward. Lore’l has defended herself against public backlash after it was revealed she and Jordan were not exactly friends as teenagers.

‘The Morning Hustle’ host Lore’l and Michael B. Jordan’s high school history: ‘We teased him all the time’

Michael B. Jordan speaks to a reporter at the Creed III premiere
Creed III star Michael B. Jordan at the premiere | Tristan Fewings/Getty Images for Warner Bros.

The drama started when Lore’l spoke about Jordan, a former high school classmate, on an episode of the Undressing Room podcast. She and co-hosts Eva Marcille and Dominique da Diva spoke about an elaborate Valentine’s Day gift Jordan gave then-girlfriend Lori Harvey. Dominique jokingly called Jordan’s gift “corny,” which led to Lore’l’s revelations about Jordan’s high school days. 

“You know what’s so crazy? I went to school with Michael B. Jordan at a point in life,” she shared. “And 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.”

Lore’l also revealed Jordan would “come to school with a headshot” — something that caused even more teasing from his peers. “We lived in Newark, that’s the hood,” Lore’l went on. “We would make fun of him like, ‘What you gonna do with your stupid headshot!?’ And now look at him!”

Michael B. Jordan calls Lore’l out for saying he was ‘corny’ on the ‘Creed III’ red carpet

While Lore’l probably thought Jordan would never hear her comments, a recent encounter with the actor at the Creed III premiere showed Jordan knew exactly what his former classmate had to say about him. 

Lore’l greeted Jordan as evidenced by The Morning Hustle‘s Youtube video. She said, “We go way back, all the way back to Chad Science [Academy] in Newark.” Jordan responded with, “Oh yeah, I was the corny kid, right?”

The Morning Show host tried to laugh it off, saying she was “misquoted,” but Jordan wouldn’t let up. He looked genuinely unhappy about her words. Lore’l insisted, “No, you did not hear me say that! I said we used to make fun of the name,” then changed the subject. 

She and Jordan spoke about Creed III. Lore’l finished the interview by saying, “Well, you’re not corny anymore.”

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Lore’l defends herself amid online controversy: ‘I always come with receipts’

Lore’l and Jordan’s interview quickly went viral. Many made fun of The Morning Hustle host for ending up in such an awkward moment with the actor. She soon took to social media to defend herself from any online haters. 

Lore’l posted a clip of the interaction on Instagram, captioning it, “I always come with receipts…Godspeed @michaelbjordan but y’all go see Creed III tho directed by my old ‘pal.’”

She also took to her Instagram stories to defend herself from Jordan and the rest of the internet’s accusations that she called the actor corny. One post had a clip from the original podcast episode, showing Lore’l never called Jordan corny. 

AC Trybula, the head of content at The Shade Room, reposted Lore’l’s story, writing that real reporters “will do the work to research the topic and find all the receipts.” Lore’l thanked them for “doing the research and not bandwagoning.”