‘That Ain’t Usher’: Viral Videos of Usher’s Awkward Dance Moves Spark Lookalike Claims — Now Fans Are Demanding Refunds
Usher and Chris Brown said they were giving fans an R&B tour to remember. But nobody warned the people it would come with a new viral moment every other week.
Between clips of Brown serenading fans onstage and unannounced pop-ins from guests like Lionel Richie and 50 Cent, the organic hype has arguably done more for ticket sales than any PR campaign could.
Usher has now been forced to address one particular moment after some fans demanded refunds.
The tour kicked off in Colorado on June 26, but speculation started brewing at the show in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on Aug 7.
Fans spent days insisting the man dancing onstage at MetLife Stadium wasn’t Usher at all.
Footage circulating online showed the “Trading Places” hitmaker in an all-white outfit with green and pink accents.
He accessorized with a cap and dark sunglasses that covered much of his face, serving moves that left fans scratching their heads.
But the man dancing across that stage moved nothing like Usher who has been serving upbeat choreography since the ’90s. At least not according to some social media users.
“Saw a comment of someone saying that’s ‘R Usure,’” read one comment left on a viral Instagram post.
@true_story718 Is this really Usher?!
Because I had to look at the stage twice! #Usher #CelebrityNews #TrendingNow
♬ Creepy piano, ghost story horror ambient：L(1025873) – cowaii – Fear music encyclopedia
“Nah that was definitely a body double we not blind Unc” another person wrote under the same post. Another added, “That ain’t Usher, that’s Unsure.”
The conversation was just as loud over on TikTok. One person wrote in the comments section, “For someone who’s had a crush on Usher since 1996. this is definitely NOT Usher.”
Another person, who seemingly already had her tickets for an upcoming show, added, “My ticket purchase may be Cancelled.. I didn’t pay for no TEMU Usher.”
Sunnya Sultan, who attended the MetLife show, posted one of the clips that helped push the theory on her own TikTok page. She told TODAY that she believes the real Usher did perform… but only briefly.
“Usher came out. The real Usher came out but then he sang like half a song, maybe for like 40 seconds,” she said. Sultan told the outlet that the performer who appeared afterward had full coverage, sporting a jawline that looked “a little too chiseled.”
She also mentioned that he moved “too stiffly.”
The 47-year-old singer let the rumors ride for a couple of days before answering. When he finally spoke up, he didn’t bother pretending to be offended.
Responding in the comments of the tour’s official Instagram page, Usher wrote, “Ya’ll are funny…clone? They can’t clone this??” He followed up with another comment: “How ya’ll come up with this? AI ain’t that advanced.”
The clone theory is only the latest reason Usher has gone viral this summer.
Last month, during the Nashville tour stop, a fan awkwardly leaned away when he brought her onstage.
Usher backed off, slowly turned to the crowd and joked, “I don’t think she want to be on the stage.”
The woman, who was later identified as Gabrielle Cheyenne, pushed back hard against the online criticism. In a since-deleted Facebook post, she explained that she never declined anything.
Furthermore, she shared that she and her mother had been upgraded from floor seats to VIP before the show. Cheyenne then cleared up who she was actually hoping for if she were to hop onto the stage. “Baby I wasn’t going up there for usher, I wanted CHRIS and CHRIS ONLY,” she wrote, per Billboard.
Days later in Birmingham, Alabama, he addressed the crowd before his set. He warned, “Don’t bring your a** up here if you don’t want to be here.” He added, “God don’t like ugly, but he most certainly don’t feel too good about pretty privilege, do he?”
Between the rejection heard around the world and a conspiracy theory about his own body double, Usher has spent this tour proving a point he probably never set out to make. The father-of-four seemingly can’t take a single step onstage without it becoming content.
R&B Tour continues its North American run through December, wrapping Dec. 12 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida.