Keyshia Cole has apologized to fans for showing up late to her Verzuz battle against r&b singer Ashanti.
During Thursday night’s battle, Keyshia showed up more than an hour late, and fans were annoyed when the singer did not apologize that night for her tardiness.
“I want to apologize for not sitting my ass in that seat, because I was there and I should’ve sat down,” she said. “I should’ve just sat in the seat, no matter if I felt like the visual wasn’t clear or they said my music wasn’t gonna be right or whatever it was,” she told her supporters via Instagram Live.
Keyshia says she was backstage in her dressing room when O.T. Genasis, her guest performer, told her that the picture was not clear and she could end up in a predicament like Teddy Riley. “I was really skeptical about that,” she said. “I don’t want to go on and they not see me and I’m looking blurry, the connection is not right and everything like that,” she explained.
Riley’s first battle against Babyface was postponed midway due to his terrible internet reception. The moment spawned a slew of memes. Nelly also faced ridicule when going up against Ludacris as stormy weather impacted his signal.
Following the battle, Keyshia DJ, Hi-C, talked to Houston’s 97.9 The Box about the drama on the night:
“It started out weird — just stuff that y’all don’t see behind the scenes. Not to say nothing bad about Verzuz, but the show didn’t start on time. Everybody knows that. But [in] Keyshia’s defense, she didn’t want to come out because her screen was blurry. She was there on time. I was there, I seen everything, but she didn’t want to come out on time because the screen was blurry. Stuff wasn’t right. We couldn’t hear their side. So it was a lot of technical stuff going on in there,” he explained.
Hi-C continued: “She’s a perfectionist, and when stuff don’t go the right way, it’s downhill from there. She was already upset about it being pushed back like it was, but it’s COVID. So there was a buildup and it made her have to push her record back, so it just threw her energy off. I did the best I could to bring her back, but by that time she was already upset.”
We love Keyshia.
