Selena Gomez is addressing a cryptic comment she left underneath a photo of Taylor Swift sitting courtside at Game 4 of the 2026 NBA Finals featuring the San Antonio Spurs vs. the New York Knicks.
For context, the MTV Instagram account shared two photos of Taylor having fun sitting courtside cheering on the Knicks alongside longtime fan Mariska Hargitay. The first photo shows Mariska looking exhausted as she leans against Taylor and the second shows the two of them jumping in the air and cheering.
Selena wrote “lol” in the comments section, and a screenshot of it made it look like it was in response to the second photo of Taylor and Mariska jumping for joy (embedded below), which left some fans scratching their heads. Some felt it looked like she was being shady toward Taylor.
Late Thursday night, Selena shared a new Instagram Story addressing the controversy.
“Woke up and was sent so many texts. I would never insult my friends nor was it an insult,” she said. “The comment was a reaction to the first slide on the page.”
The “first slide” on the post was the one of Mariska looking stunned, likely by the Knicks’ historic comeback, as Taylor hugged her, as shown in the photo embedded below.
“Second I bet my friends on the game. The friends in the text chain I posted. I lost but was poking at my opponents, my friends. Believe it or not I do have other friends in my life. But quickly forget that most assume otherwise. also .. It’s a basketball game,” she concluded.
The other screenshot Selena mentions, referring to a text chain, also appeared online, though she appeared to delete it relatively quickly.
That image showed the “Lose You to Love Me” singer posting a screenshot of an article with the words: “Mad respect for the game!! Congrats to the peeps that represent! What a come back,” followed by, “so funny how some are all sudden fans though lol.” The screenshot can be viewed here.
That comment had people believing Selena was taking aim at Taylor and Hailey Bieber, who was also in attendance at the game.
Between the text chain screenshot and the MTV post comment, fans starting theorizing that Selena was shading her close friend, hence why she took to her social media account to clear up the confusion.
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Posted To:Mariska Hargitay Selena Gomez Sports Taylor Swift
