Yesterday, while scrolling through Instagram, I was stopped in my tracks after seeing that Rihanna had posted a picture of herself in a hospital bed holding a newborn baby.
I saw the caption “MOTHER,” and immediately thought, “OMG, baby number three is here!” — until I decided to take a closer look…
Upon closer inspection, I realized that not only was the picture super old, but it wasn’t Rihanna who just posted it. In fact, the account that shared it wasn’t one that I even followed.
If you follow the real Rihanna, you’ll know that she has the iconic handle, @badgalriri, and the widely-seen post on my timeline was shared by a verified parody account called @badqalriri. The fan page also has Rihanna’s very recognizable IG profile pic, which made things confusing for those of us casually scrolling through Instagram.
And though I may have been able to detect the hoax before I got too excited, it appears that plenty of people were tricked into thinking that Rihanna just gave birth.
Like Olivia Munn, who commented a row of nice hearts.
Oh, and Gigi Hadid, who sweetly shared her congratulations.
Honestly, I’m not mocking these people — I was nearly tricked, too! But, I do have to wonder how long until they all realize that Rih (the last time I checked) is very much still pregnant…