--- title: Met Gala 2017: Rihanna, Lupita Nyongo and Aziz Ansari Photo description: The internet is obsessed with this moment shared by Rihanna, Lupita Nyong'o and Aziz Ansari at the Met Gala. canonical: https://time.com/4763192/rihanna-lupita-met-gala-2017-aziz-ansari/ author: Ashley Hoffman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-02T17:57:58.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-06-24T06:56:48.392Z og:title: Aziz Ansari Can't Handle Rihanna and Lupita Nyong'o at the Met Gala og:description: The comedian was understandably stunned by these two queens og:url: https://time.com/4763192/rihanna-lupita-met-gala-2017-aziz-ansari/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt52e310beaaae8ba4/6988cb98bc6cfc44cc3e12a7/aziz-met-gala.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3406 og:image:height: 1916 og:image:alt: "Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garcons: Art Of The In-Between" Costume Institute Gala - Arrivals og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Aziz Ansari Can't Handle Rihanna and Lupita Nyong'o at the Met Gala twitter:description: The comedian was understandably stunned by these two queens twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt52e310beaaae8ba4/6988cb98bc6cfc44cc3e12a7/aziz-met-gala.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Aziz Ansari Had the Most Relatable Reaction to Rihanna and Lupita Nyong'o at the Met Gala > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=92851d4e-73f0-444d-8b93-dbd20799bee8&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: This Video Is No Longer Available [Watch (HLS stream): This Video Is No Longer Available](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/fKodeUO6.m3u8) (0:10)  _Published 2026-06-23. The comedian was understandably stunned by these two queens_ by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman May 2, 2017 5:57 PM UTC by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman May 2, 2017 5:57 PM UTC Aziz Ansari’s understandably difficult attempt to handle Rihanna and Lupita Nyong’o together at the [Met Gala](http://time.com/4762614/met-gala-nicki-minaj-olsens-twins-2017/?xid=homepage) has lit up the Internet. For those of us watching from afar, the real party isn’t the celebrity-saturated event itself. It’s the [celebrations](http://time.com/4762614/met-gala-nicki-minaj-olsens-twins-2017/?xid=homepage) that happen on the Internet, and this magical photo is one of them. The moment — a collision of the Internet’s new favorite duo and Ansari’s relatable realness — happened at the 69th Annual gala when Rihanna and Nyong’o posed for a selfie. Ever the comedian, Ansari wordlessly expressed the appropriate combination of awe and humility as Rihanna pursed her lips. Observers online appear obsessed with the snapshot at least in part because it allows them to feel bonded to the _Master of None_ star, who is often a poster-boy for the starstruck. Even if the multi-talented star doesn’t give fans a [third season](http://time.com/4761310/aziz-ansari-73-questions/) of his Netflix show, at least he gave them this photo. > [](https://twitter.com/Rihanna21info/status/859412176540385280) > [](https://twitter.com/SHOlNEE/status/859289214118092801) Rihanna and Nyong’o previously [made headlines](http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/04/rihanna-lupita-nyongo-movie-twitter) when the Internet selected the pair for a dream movie concept. Now ideas are brewing for a new fantasy movie featuring the most approachable auteur ever to wear a bowtie and exclaim things. > [](https://twitter.com/TheJaneTales/status/859279214981390336) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4763192/rihanna-lupita-met-gala-2017-aziz-ansari/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4763192/rihanna-lupita-met-gala-2017-aziz-ansari/"},"headline":"Aziz Ansari Had the Most Relatable Reaction to Rihanna and Lupita Nyong'o at the Met Gala","datePublished":"2017-05-02T17:57:58.000Z","dateModified":"2026-06-24T06:56:48.392Z","description":"The comedian was understandably stunned by these two queens","url":"https://time.com/4763192/rihanna-lupita-met-gala-2017-aziz-ansari/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt52e310beaaae8ba4/6988cb98bc6cfc44cc3e12a7/aziz-met-gala.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ashley Hoffman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt52e310beaaae8ba4/6988cb98bc6cfc44cc3e12a7/aziz-met-gala.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"\"Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garcons: Art Of The In-Between\" Costume Institute Gala - Arrivals","caption":"\"Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garcons: Art Of The In-Between\" Costume Institute Gala - Arrivals","creditText":"Taylor Hill—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4763192/rihanna-lupita-met-gala-2017-aziz-ansari/","name":"Aziz Ansari Had the Most Relatable Reaction to Rihanna and Lupita Nyong'o at the Met Gala"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"This Video Is No Longer Available","description":"The comedian was understandably stunned by these two queens","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/fKodeUO6/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2026-06-23T15:00:44.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/fKodeUO6.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4763192/rihanna-lupita-met-gala-2017-aziz-ansari/","duration":"PT10S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4763192/rihanna-lupita-met-gala-2017-aziz-ansari/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```