2 days ago
Sherri Shepherd FINALLY reveals star who allegedly grabbed her in confrontation at Denzel Washington's Othello
Sherri Shepherd is revealing the identity of the actress who allegedly accosted her at the opening night performance of Broadway's Othello back in March.
The 58-year-old actress and comedian previously claimed earlier in March on her eponymous daytime talk show that an 'unnamed celebrity' had allegedly grabbed her arm and whipped her around to confront her over 'shady' comments they said she had made about them.
However, the play's opening night — which stars Denzel Washington as Shakespeare's title character and Jake Gyllenhaal as Iago — provided cover for the unnamed actress, as there were plenty of stars in the audience, including Jennifer Lopez and Angela Bassett.
But Shepherd claimed during a Breakfast Club interview on Tuesday that the woman who physically confronted her nearly three months earlier was the actress Nia Long, 54.
Representatives for Long and Shepherd haven't yet responded to request for comment.
'It was Nia Long. I don't know who [she] had me confused with,' Sherri alleged. 'The only time I've ever talked about Nia is when she went through with her partner [when] there was infidelity.'
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She was referring to a 2022 scandal in which Long's then-fiancé Ime Udoka, a former NBA player who was then the head coach of the Boston Celtics, was revealed to have had an affair with a female employee of the Celtics association.
The team announced he was to be suspended for the entirety of the 2022–2023 season over the inappropriate relationship, and Long later criticized the Celtics for allegedly never contacting her to see how she was holding up after the team publicly confirmed her partner's affair.
Shepherd said on Tuesday that she 'supported' Long's position during the infidelity ordeal, and she added that Long 'deserves to have a good man to be with her.'
'I have no idea who she thought was shading her, but it was not me,' she continued. 'I have no beef with Nia. I'm a fan of hers.'
When Shepherd first revealed the negative with an actress, she said being grabbed and castigated in public left her feeling 'upset,' but she claimed she offered to meet with Long in the women's bathroom at intermission to hash out their differences.
However, she allegedly waited 15 minutes in the restroom without Long ever showing up.
'You don't get to pull me and turn me around like we're in a doggone cartoon and then walk away,' Shepherd said on The Breakfast Club.
But when she was asked why she would make public claims that could stir up more controversy for her, Shepherd said that coming clean also benefited her professionally.
She clarified that she didn't initially mention Long's name, and said the other stars at opening night made it difficult to single out any star.
But Shepherd said her other career as a stand-up comic benefits from the buzzy confrontation.
'Everything that happens in my life is material for me. And my stage, my comedy stage, is the talk show,' she explained. 'So I got on stage and I just talked about it, and I said, "You know, this happened."'
She reiterated that she had invited Long on her talk show to discuss what had upset the actress, and she insisted that she doesn't 'like to tear down people.'
'I honestly was just confused,' the 30 Rock actress continued. 'And I also don't like when you touch me and you pull at me. I don't like that. She grabbed me and spun me around.
'[But] I'm cool. I'm so cool. It's done,' she added. 'I would love to talk to her and just clear it up.'
When Long was initially wrapped up in her former fiancé's cheating scandal, she was publicly supported by several celebrity friends, including Snoop Dogg, Community star Yvette Nicole Brown and the sports journalist and political commentator Jemele Hill.
Long shares a 13-year-old son, Kez, with her ex Udoka, and she also has a 24-year-old son, Massai Zhivago Dorsey II, whom she shares with her ex, the actor Massai Z Dorsey, whom she dated from 1999 to 2001.
The couple were engaged for 10 months before going their separate ways.
