An infamously snarky American Idol judge.
A legendary NBA star.
A teen star who was big in the '90s.
Which celebs can't stand Gabrielle Union?
And what started these feuds?
Keep watching to find out all the details!
"I am finally famous.
Don't ruin this for me!"
Charles Barkley
Gabrielle Union's Twitter spat with former pro baller, Charles Barkley, went down in
early 2015 after Barkley shared his two cents on Union's husband, Dwyane Wade, on TNT.
He said,
"Dwayne Wade shouldn't have made the All-Star team."
Union immediately clapped back, tweeting of Barkley's co-host:
"Forgive Charles.
.. Kenny Smith is a 2x champion & his opinion is most sound...
it's like me talkin bout Meryl Streep but I ain't won nuthin."
The feud then returned to TNT, where Barkley hit back at Union's acting chops, saying,
"Don't ever mention you and Meryl Streep in the same sentence.
Meryl Streep would never be on 'Snakes on a Plane' or 'Madea.'"
"You say somethin' bad about me, I'm gonna say somethin' bad about you."
Union then took it to "Late Night with Seth Meyers" in 2015, where she said of Barkley,
"You're like, 'You don't know what you're talking about.
Stop talking.'"
Ouch!
Jada Pinkett Smith
After not speaking for a whopping 17 years, Union and Jada Pinkett Smith appeared together
on "Red Table Talk" in May 2018 to hash it out.
"Gabrielle and I were never really girlfriends; we were great associates that, at some point,
that dissolved."
But after working with a life coach, Union realized that she had issues with communicating
in negative ways.
And by the end, the ladies seemingly buried the hatchet.
"I hope from here on out that we have a bond and you know you can call on me for anything."
The pair now follow each other on Instagram, which means this friendship is as real as
it gets these days.
Simon Cowell
It's safe to say that Simon Cowell isn't the biggest fan of Union…Even though they shared
the judges table for Season 14 of "America's Got Talent," in 2019.
Things quickly broke down after Union filed a lawsuit against the show's production company,
NBC Universal, and Cowell's production company, in 2020.
She alleged that she had alerted NBC to, quote, "racially offensive conduct," according to
a statement from her lawyer.
She also claimed Cowell gave her bronchitis with his smoking.
She told Variety,
"It impacted my voice, which affects my ability to do my job.
[...] It was challenging to tend to my illness without being made to feel like I'm responsible
for my own sickness.
[…] I felt isolated.
I felt singled out as being difficult..."
According to Entertainment Weekly, Cowell's company responded in a statement:
"We remain committed to ensuring a respectful workplace for all employees and take very
seriously any questions about workplace culture."
Julianne Hough
It doesn't seem like Union made many lifelong friendships from her stint on "America's Got
Talent."
While Julianne Hough and Union appeared to get along on the judging panel, Union called
out Hough specifically in her lawsuit, referring to an instance where Hough once wore blackface
for Halloween.
The lawsuit also named Jimmy Fallon and Ted Danson for the same offense, but took NBC
to task, stating:
"NBC's current attitude towards racism can be deduced from its defense of those individuals
who have appeared in blackface, including but not limited to, Julianne Hough."
"There's another way of experiencing Hollywood."
Hough apologized on Twitter in 2013, and again on Instagram in 2021.
50 Cent
In 2017, 50 Cent and Union got into it over their respective TV shows; "Being Mary Jane"
and "Power."
50 slammed Union's "Being Mary Jane," writing on Instagram in a since-deleted post,
"Remember that other show that thought they were in competition with 'Power,' what happened
to it?
I don't hear anyone talking s— anymore.
Now I'm gonna take over BET."
Union took the high road on this one, responding in the comments,
"I don't compete with other artists, only celebrate.
Enough space for all of us to succeed.
Cheers to 'Power' and cheers to other creative folks uplifting each other.
Keep shining @50cent."
50 then replied, saying he was, "never gonna argue" with her.
Um…seems a little late for that!
The NBA refs
In April 2016, Union got into a heated exchange with the official Twitter account of the NBA's
official refs after a no-call on the Heat guard for her husband, Dwyane Wade.
In a series of tweets, she wrote:
"Absolute BS!!!!!
[…] They need to get fined.
Period.
Crappy officiating deserves a FINE and suspension."
"I was like, 'You'll get your Viagra if you just make a call!'"
But the refs weren't thrilled about all the noise.
Attaching a PDF of a game report detailing the fouls and violations, the account fired
back:
"The referees are not always right, but on this call we were.
#NBA confirms the non-call in the L2M."
But that wasn't good enough for Union.
She replied,
"Cute.
Ref discipline made public/complete transparency or no sass on that front?"
Aja Métoyer
Union hasn't always had the best relationship with Aja Métoyer, the woman Dwyane Wade fathered
a child with, while he and Union were on a break, in 2013.
And the tension hit a fever pitch a year after Wade's affair came to light.
"You think we're gonna like each other?"
An account claiming to belong to Métoyer tweeted a series of unflattering things about
Union, according to Rhymes with Snitch, adding:
"I Would Rather Not Have A Ring At All Than To Have A Ring By Someone Who Is Unfaithful."
Still, it may have been a hoax, with Hollywood Life noting that the account owner reportedly
revealed that they weren't actually Aja.
But in October 2021, Métoyer was accused of throwing shade yet again, this time on
Instagram.
When Union got candid about Wade fathering a child with another woman, Métoyer appeared
to like a post that read,
"Just hug yo man tight cause he still miss me."
Some thought that was her way of getting in a dig at Wade's other Baby Mama.
Stacey Dash
Union threw serious shade at "Clueless" actor Stacey Dash in the wake of Dash claiming on
"Fox & Friends" that it was time to get rid of the BET network and Black History Month.
"If we don't want segregation, then we need to get rid of channels like BET and the BET
Awards."
When Union was later asked about the matter, she replied,
"Who's Stacey Dash?
Is she related to Dame Dash?
Was she on Roc-A-Fella?"
"#WhoIsStaceyDash" quickly started trending on Twitter and Facebook.
Dash — who is African American and Mexican — didn't directly respond to Union.
But she did speak out on the backlash, blogging,
"All the same usual Twitter haters came out of the woodwork to troll me and say all sorts
of disgusting things about me.
Well, if you're going to call me ignorant, stupid, and an Uncle Tom, you need to be intellectually
honest and also call out Morgan Freeman."
She then noted Morgan Freeman's 2006 interview with "60 Minutes."
"I don't want a Black History Month.
Black history is American history."
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