Singer Omarion has been referred to a lot lately but not for his music. The singer’s name is close to the latest COVID-19 variant, Omicron; ever since the variant was announced, people have been calling it the “Omarion variant” instead of its proper name. Omarion addressed the resemblance and everyone who’s been using his name in this new context.
The R&B singer appeared to be taking it all the jokes in stride, as he took to TikTok making several New Years Eve posts regarding the issue.
“I know there has been a lot of confusion online recently, so my lawyers asked me to read this,” Omarion said. “I, Omarion, am a musician and entertainer — you knew that — not a variant, okay.” He then joked about how something similar happened with his former group B2K back in the day.
“The last time I had to do this was in 2000 when everyone confused Y2K with B2K,” he said. “That ain’t how it’s supposed to be, but seriously, I want to wish you all a happy and safe new year’s. Peace.”
Omarion made reference to some people who were hitting him up personally. “I’ve been getting a lot of DMs. Don’t get disrespectful, ok,” he said with a smile. One such DM came from LaKeith Stanfield. The Academy Award-nominated actor posted on his Instagram that he sent a direct message to the singer: “you ruining Christmas for everybody smh.”
In the since-deleted post, he wrote the caption, “I’m weak i wonder if he’s gunna respond.”
In another TikTok post, Omarion incorporated titles to some of these biggest hits to address the situation.
“While it’s important not to ‘Touch’ me and to keep your ‘Distance,’ ’cause you know that’s how it’s ‘Post to Be,’ you don’t need a negative test to dance to my music, alright?” he said.
