Are Janelle Monáe and Lupita Nyong’o Dating Or Just Canoodling!!???

This week at the Met Gala, noted “free-ass motherfuckerJanelle Monáe and Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o were, according to various websites and gossip blogs, seen engaging in a “touchy feely display” and positioned in an “affectionate stance toward one another” and “cozying up… on an Instagram Live video” looking “rather chummy.” All of which has led gay Twitter to conclude that they are either in love or dating or boning or trying to make Tessa Thompson jealous — she and Janelle apparently unfollowed each other on social media???? — or they’re just friends who like to stand close enough for their bodies to be pressed together while gently caressing each other’s angelic faces.

Lupita’s Instagram from the Met Gala did nothing to squash the rumors.

View this post on Instagram

#MetGala Look 2.

A post shared by Lupita Nyong'o (@lupitanyongo) on

Nor did other gala attendees’ photos and Instagram stories.

👀

Or should I say

https://www.instagram.com/p/BxMuYY5gVoq/

Autostraddle’s Vapid Fluff coven seems split on whether or not this is a romance situation or a friend situation or just the angle of the camera at the time of night. “I think it’s likely that Janelle was making Tessa jealous, since Tessa was at that same party,” said one Autostraddle editor.

“I too have been slutty and loving and wholesome with a hot friend post breakup,” said another. “Could be petty, could be sincere, could be both!”

“Hahahaha god why are we all like this?” an Autostraddle editor wondered.

“It’s beautiful,” an Autostraddle staff writer concluded. “Art mimicking life.”

It’s funny: Picasso, who designed Janelle’s dress, said the same thing. Maybe this was all just an elaborate Picasso performance piece?!?? Janelle does love a theme. When investigating these photos, only one thing’s certain: Danai Gurira was ready to get the heck out of there.


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Heather Hogan

Heather Hogan is an Autostraddle senior editor who lives in New York City with her wife, Stacy, and their cackle of rescued pets. She's a member of the Television Critics Association, GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics, and a Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer critic. You can also find her on Twitter and Instagram.

Heather has written 1717 articles for us.

20 Comments

  1. My drunken flirty 4am photos never look this nice.
    Janelle really has some kind of magic.
    Also:That outfit. Let’s go to The Met and look like a damn painting. Surreal?
    Surrealist!
    100 points to Slytherin!
    *slow clap*

  2. As a serious fan of both Janelle Monáe and Lupita Nyong’o, and as a person who had a dream a couple of years ago that Lupita Nyong’o was dating me, this makes me very happy. I never dreamed LN would be queer irl.

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