OXON HILL, MARYLAND - DECEMBER 05: Singer Anita Baker onstage during 2019 Urban One Honors at MGM National Harbor on December 05, 2019 in Oxon Hill, Maryland. (Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images)
Anita Baker let her fans know she isn’t the one — or the two! The ‘Sweet Love’ singer performed in Houston over the weekend. But her singing voice isn’t what had the innanet kiki-ing (or calling her out.) Instead, Baker received mixed reactions after apparently giving a few fans in the front row the boot!
Video obtained by The Shade Room shows Anita Baker on stage with a packed audience. She appeared dressed in a red, sequined jumpsuit with long sleeves. The 65-year-old is touring.
In the middle of singing, she called on security multiple times. As the instrumental music played in the background, Baker stopped singing and seemingly scanned the area for her requests.
“Security help them out, and I mean out of my front row,” Baker said on the mic.
It’s unclear what prompted the singer to give her fans the boot. Another circulating video from the same tour stop shows Baker asking fans to stop recording her. After The Shade Room shared the concert footage, roomies who allegedly attended the show spoke out.
One user responded to a comment asking for context before she flagged security.
@iam.brandi.nicole wrote, “No one did anything. I was there, and we were all confused. If she wasn’t calling for security, she was fussing at the person doing the smoke machine or yelling at the crew about the speakers being too low. It was a mess.”
Meanwhile, another woman @timetraveler_5756, commented that Anita Baker was “really sweet” throughout the show, but fans tried to “rush the stage numerous times.” She added that Baker’s security was “terrible.”
In a follow-up comment, the user explained that she was in a suite and witnessed the entire interaction with the front-row fans.
“I was in Houston. Being in a suite by the stage I was able to catch all sides of the show. The people she asked to get out in the first video did not have seats in the front row. She only asked them to leave when they walked across the front row for the SECOND time. The people who actually had front-row seats was also getting annoyed by it, so she called her security.”
Editor’s Note: The Shade Room has not independently verified the above accounts of Baker’s concert. The comments shared were added to TSR’s public Instagram page.
As the laughs and backlash grew online, Baker seemingly posted another social media notice. In short, she isn’t bothered and won’t be bothered. Instead, the singer highlighted the “real news,” celebrating her tour’s reported success.
“The REAL News? Via Industry Touring Mag *Poll Star* The Songstress Longevity Tour is a record-breaking sold-out success for my demographic. The best fans,” Anita Baker posted on X.
In another post, she added, “When they realize they can’t Stop Your Blessings?… they simply Lie. As in, Liability. Screenshots? Are 4Ever. Lyrics, I’m as petty, as you are.”
See her post below.
Among more than 3,500 comments under TSR’s repost of her X post, some roomies, again, claimed they had attended the Houston show.
@429aw wrote, “Look. I was at the show on Friday in Houston. She cut up!!!!! Talked a lot. Called security on a couple non-problematic people. Sang some. I see why she told people to stop recording her. She didn’t want evidence. I’m sorry, but for the legend she is…I expected so much more.”
@neecmarie_ wrote, “Now AUNTIE !!!! You know you ain’t have the lyrics together chile & was sweating bullets in that place.”
@toya.b23 wrote, “Now Anita, you was up their limping, telling people you coming in the crowd because you were once broke and use to not be able to afford the cheap seats ‘like them” Asking people what they wanted to hear and couldn’t remember the words and calling security in anyone who got to close. I want my money back!”
Anita Baker’s tour was also in the headlines earlier this year after she removed Babyface from her line-up in an X announcement. In June, she shared that Babyface’s fans had been “cyberbullying” her, including “verbal abuse and threats of violence.”
Babyface later reacted on the same platform, saying he was “saddened” by his removal from the tour.
