Mariah Carey's legendary Jennifer Lopez shade was her 'trying to be nice'

CNN/Stylemagazine.com Newswire | 11/29/2018, 1:32 p.m.
It was so shady that it's now one of the most popular memes and gifs of all times. Years ago, …
Mariah Carey's quote about Jennifer Lopez has become almost as famous as they are.

By Lisa Respers France, CNN

(CNN) -- It was so shady that it's now one of the most popular memes and gifs of all times.

Years ago, Mariah Carey was asked during an interview about fellow singer/actress Jennifer Lopez. Carey shook her head and proclaimed, "I don't know her."

It became so famous that even Carey got in on the joke, years later holding a paddle with the phrase.

Jennifer Lopez has been quoted as saying the pair do know each other.

But the "All I Want For Christmas" singer insisted to Andy Cohen in 2016 during his "Watch What Happens Live" show that while she and Lopez may have crossed paths, she does not "know" her.

In a recent interview with Pitchfork, Carey offered her explanation for how the moment of shade came about.

"I really was trying to say something nice or say nothing at all," the superstar said. "I really was."

(Notice how in explaining the shade, Carey seemed even more shady.)

People on the internet seemingly can't get enough of the whole thing. The Guardian named it "pop's shadiest power move."

"You have to embrace it," Carey told Pitchfork, when it comes to the memes and the gifs. Though having her words and actions so thoroughly dissected is not always the greatest thing, Carey added.

"I try to stay away from it because you can't drown in that," she said. "I don't know how people read comments all the time and then survive."

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