As I sit here in the barbershop, a place where no topic is off-limits, the conversation suddenly shifts from talking about LeBron and the Lakers to Nicole Murphy.
For those who don’t know Murphy, 51, made headlines this week when she was photographed kissing director Antoine Fuqua, who’s married to actress Lela Rochon — and has been since 1999. The couple also shares two children.
Now, these sudden shifts in convo are the norm in the Black barbershop, so nothing unusual there. However, what was strange and peculiar is that many of the men here were cosigning and agreeing with what Antoine Fuqua did.
All of the fellas (except me of course) were so intrigued and fascinated with Nicole Murphy’s body, especially with her being in her 50’s. They justified Antoine Fuqua’s decision to cheat and rationalized that Lela has lost several steps since her younger days and that the onus was on her, for her to satisfy and keep her man from straying.
What was even more peculiar is that the few ladies here that participated in the conversation blasted Nicole Murphy. And they found it incredulous and ridiculous that she’d go with the “family friend” angle in trying to defend her actions of at the very least slobbing down a married man.
They were more concerned and angry with Nicole Murphy than the person who actually cheated. Antoine Fuqua.
Antoine Fuqua seemingly has escaped any criticism, thanks in large part to social media, where its users are often fishing for likes, praise, and clout.
We’ve all seen the memes now I’m sure.
These memes paint Lela in an unflattering light by comparing her beauty and her looks with not just Nicole Murphy’s looks but she’s also up against her younger self as well, which is ridiculous!
We all age, with some aging better than others, although beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But when it comes to celebrities, they’re often held to much higher standards and clowned when they don’t keep up their appearance with what we as a society deem should be appropriate for them.
Lela is a beautiful woman, then and now. And these memes undermine that and shifts the blame from her husband cheating to it now being more about her looks causing him to stray.
