Janelle Monáe is sending fans directly to Twitter jail (Do not pass go. Do not collect $200) for liking a viral tweet comparing her to Mr. Monopoly — the mustached board-game character informally known as the Monopoly Man.
On Monday, the singer, actor and author jokingly threatened to quit music and cancel any upcoming tour dates after @gldnraes tweeted, “janelle monae finally showing off how fine she is instead of dressing like the monopoly man.” To be fair, Monáe has been known to rock more than a few top hats and tuxedos reminiscent of Monopoly mascot Rich Uncle Pennybags’ classic look.
“Ohh y’all n— liked this 26.8k times??” Monáe replied to the tweet. “no new music just for this.”
When the tweet hit 35,700 likes, the “Glass Onion” star added, “No new tour. hope it was worth it beloved.” At press time, the tweet had amassed more than 70,500 likes.
In case it was unclear that Monáe’s mock-outrage was all in good fun, the “Make Me Feel” hitmaker later tweeted, “Monopoly man?? … You’re pretty and funny” with crying and kissy emojis in response to the original poster.
By Tuesday morning, the running joke had extended all the way to Instagram, where Monáe posted a crying-laughing emoji after @darkskintyee wrote on his story, “Like that monopoly fit sexy come tax me baby word Lmfaooo.”
Monáe’s comedic Twitter outburst comes shortly after they scored a 2023 Queerty nomination for their lead performance in “Glass Onion,” the critically acclaimed sequel to 2019’s “Knives Out.” After the whodunit premiered on Netflix in September, Monáe drew rave reviews for their performance as an elegant tech mogul betrayed by her sleazy business partner.
“When you watch it and you watch that first act, it’s all right there, in plain sight,” Monáe said of the hit mystery film.
“It’s like you think that you’re so smart as the person watching it and you’re like, ‘How the hell did I miss that?’ … You want to keep replaying it just to make sure [writer-director Rian Johnson is] not playing tricks on you. He’s playing tricks and he’s also being honest at the same time.”