Usher was humiliated in front of thousands. He deserved it: LIZ JONES

R&B ‘star’ Usher, he of the worryingly low hairline, seemingly waxed chest oiled and steaming like a Thanksgiving turkey fresh out of the oven, asked his minions to pick a young woman from the crowd to be crooned at on stage during a Saturday night concert.

But this was no innocuous Bruce Springsteen and Courteney Cox cozy up, like in The Boss’ iconic Dancing in the Dark music video, all denim and cowboy boots. Nope.

There were few clothes involved during Usher’s appearance in Nashville as part of his joint-tour with Chris Brown. Instead, there was sweat dripping, drooling – just use your imagination – as he attempted to perform a mock striptease.

Unfortunately for Usher, now a father of four and pushing 50 and whose wife was in the audience, doubtless peeking from behind her rings, 24-year-old Gabrielle Cheyenne came down with a sudden and acute case of the ‘ick.’

The video of Cheyenne’s unsmiling face, her body recoiling before actually stiffening as he gyrated atop her, immediately went viral.

Usher, clearly baffled by her displeasure, dismounted, sending a conspiratorial look towards the audience. He then said, ‘I don’t think she wanna be on stage,’ before waving his hand, motioning for the ‘fan’ to return to her seat.

Unfortunately for Usher, 24-year-old Gabrielle Cheyenne came down with a sudden and acute case of the ‘ick’ when he brought her onstage in Nashville over the weekend

There were few clothes involved during Usher’s Nashville show, which was part of his joint-tour with Chris Brown. Instead, there was sweat dripping, drooling – just use your imagination

It was all a bit Caligula.

It’s hardly the first time Usher has overstepped with a far younger woman on stage.

Last year, he faced heat for suggestively feeding Sabrina Carpenter a cherry during a surprise 2025 Met Gala performance.

Carpenter’s dad responded on Instagram to a post about the risqué incident calling it ‘weird.’ Usher apologized to her father for the intimate over-step.

But has he learned?

Perhaps Usher has evolved little from his early years as a protégé of disgraced rapper Diddy (nee Puff Daddy), who was convicted on two counts of transportation to engage in prosтιтution last year, and with whom Usher lived for a year in the early 1990s as a teenager.

Usher has spoken of witnessing ‘curious’ things chez Diddy: ‘I was introduced to everything by Puff Daddy when I was only 15 – parties, women, Sєx and drugs,’ he said.

Asked by Howard Stern in 2016 whether he would allow his own son to live similarly unsupervised with Diddy, Usher responded to the talk-show host with a terse, ‘Hell no!’

You might ask: Why did Cheyenne, who’s from nearby Chattanooga and a nurse no less, agree to go onstage in the first place, given she must know this ick shtick is part of his ‘act’?

Well, ask her.

‘First off NOBODY is declining to go on stage. I looked good asf, you thought I wasn’t gonna let THOUSANDS of people see me?? On the big screen, where you b****es will never be???… my atтιтude isn’t nasty unless I’m provoked,’ she wrote in a since-deleted Facebook post.

Cheyenne noted that she and her mom were moved from a floor seat to a VIP area due to ‘pretty privileges’ which ‘you hoes will never know about!’

I LOVE this woman. I LOVE her!

I want Cheyenne to be my best friend. She should be in government. She should be the subject of a Harvard degree in feminist studies, a lesson to young lᴀsses about self-worth and refusing to kowtow to a man, however ‘famous’ and however high-profile the circumstances.

Oh, and how to instantly deflate a man’s… ego.

No one, of course, is naïve enough to deny that pop stars are all about merchandizing Sєx. They are the first boys that we girls fall in love with and, believe me, that love is 100 percent real.

We kiss their posters and scream at their concerts: never underestimate the power of teenage fandom.

Last year, Usher faced heat for suggestively feeding Sabrina Carpenter a cherry during a surprise 2025 Met Gala performance

Perhaps Usher has evolved little from his early years as a protégé of disgraced rapper Diddy (nee Puff Daddy) with whom Usher lived for a year in the early 1990s

I screamed at a David Cᴀssidy concert in London decades ago and while he never chose women from the audience to go onstage, had he picked me, I would probably have pᴀssed out.

When years later I interviewed him, Cᴀssidy told me: ‘I had Sєx with the most beautiful, famous women in the world.’ And there I was ᴀssuming that he had been waiting chastely in his psychedelic minibus for me.

At a Prince concert at Wembley years later, the diminutive star eyeballed me wryly, given it was my 17th night front row, mouthing, ‘You again?’ before flicking his sweat onto my face. It was the highlight of my life; still is.

But here’s the rub (wrong choice of words: USHER GET OFF ME). David Cᴀssidy was in his early twenties when I saw him in London, in a jumpsuit, not half naked slathered in oil. The Sєx he was selling was romantic, dreamy, innocent.

Prince got away with his naughtiness (fave lyric: ‘Race cars burn rubber in my pants’) because of his talent and wicked sense of humor.

Usher, along with his lyrics, isn’t sweet or clever but seemingly deeply misogynistic and unaware that he is coming across as sad and pathetic.

Luckily, my new best friend (you go, Cheyenne!) stepped in to give Usher a much-needed dose of reality. Never mind her swearing, she’s a role model. She refused to be dazzled by Usher’s antiquated medallions, to play nice, to spare his feelings.

Frankly, Usher deserved everything she gave him.