Even though there are many people who are done with Twitter, and have left it in their rearview mirrors so they can depart for bluer skies (myself included), some of us still occasionally check in on that app to keep tabs on mutuals who are still there, or so they can see how things are going, and if it’s still the flaming catastrof-ck that it continues to be, thanks to Elon Musk (a.k.a. Fake-Ass Tony Stark) and his supporters who are more than happy to make it as unappealing as possible.
One of the recent trending topics on Twitter that has been heavily discussed, especially by those in Black Twitter, has been Shameik Moore, who starred in Dope, and voices Miles Morales/Spider-Man in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse, and how he felt the need to make things very f-cking awkward between himself and actress Laura Harrier, who starred in BlackKKlansman, Spider-Man: Homecoming, and the remake of White Men Can’t Jump.
Shameik recently shared a video of him and Laura taking photos together for paparazzi at what appears to be a red-carpet event from a year earlier, with the accompanying caption, “Coming soon.” Because of that video, which showed the two of them standing close to one another while smiling and laughing, some people were left wondering if they were possibly dating and if this was meant to be the hard launch of their relationship together.
I’m crying, Shameik Moore out here causing an incursion getting with a different Spidey’s love interest pic.twitter.com/GrQsmcuOpS
— Seagull (Jacob) ✡️ (@Seagull_Comics) December 16, 2024
There was enough noise being made about the video on social media that it soon grabbed Laura’s attention, mainly because her friends saw it and contacted her to find out what was going on. Laura, who is engaged to Paris-based creative consultant Sam Jarou, wasn’t delighted about any of this, and she recorded herself on TikTok to set the record straight regarding her and Shameik, including the fact that she previously asked him to delete the video from social media only for that request to be ignored.
From the comments of her video on TikTok:
Not too long after that, Shameik recorded his own video, where he apologized and explained that it was all a misunderstanding, that the “fan-fiction … the commentary” is what’s really weird (whatever the hell that means), and that the video of him and Laura conveyed the same vibes as an upcoming song of his.
— Shameik Moore (@shameikmoore) December 21, 2024
This is not the first time that Shameik has been discussed on Twitter regarding his lack of charisma when talking to and about women, particularly those in the entertainment industry. It has been pointed out that every actor who has played Spider-Man (Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, Tom Holland) has been romantically involved with their co-stars both onscreen and off (Kirsten Dunst, Emma Stone, Zendaya), and that Shameik is the exception to that rule, considering that he and Hailee Steinfeld (who voices Gwen Stacy/Spider-Gwen in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse) have not dated or hooked up at all since they began working together. Shameik seemed like he had taken this to heart, judging from his behavior when conducting interviews with Hailee, and expressing how attractive he thinks she is. And instead of his behavior coming off as smooth and charming, people on social media saw it as desperate. Like “Drake expressing his love for Rihanna in front of a worldwide audience” awkward.
And when news was published that Hailee was now engaged to her boyfriend, Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen? Shameik responded to his name frequently being brought up about it, especially since his tweets were interpreted as being about their engagement, which he stated was not the case.
Shameik’s behavior towards Laura also resulted in Twitter reminding everyone of when he posted this thread (followed by an Instagram Live broadcast) shortly after the murder of George Floyd when he thought it was a good idea to wave the flag for respectability politics and point out that Rosa Parks could’ve found other ways to fight for her rights instead of refusing to leave her seat on the bus. Especially since, according to Shameik, there were Black-owned buses and cabs that Rosa could’ve used instead.
Which was also accompanied by screenshots of Shameik tweeting about Zendaya, and about women in general.
Shameik Moore is a genuine weird dude, disturbing stuff pic.twitter.com/lSZSDzZpXB
— Nicholas (@NicholasPas5) December 21, 2024
Shameik had some defenders who pointed out that those tweets about Zendaya and whether he likes younger girls were from when he was a teenager and that teenage boys don’t always say the smartest things about the opposite sex. One other person stated that Laura isn’t any better when it comes to flirting with other actors, and used red-carpet footage of her and Tom Holland as an example. This only resulted in others asking what the point of this was and that people like this trying to drag Laura were doing way too much to stand up for men like Shameik and their f-boy behavior.
Not surprisingly, Shameik has been keeping a low profile on social media since this incident and seems to be hoping that everyone will forget about this, stop hoping that he will be recast with another actor, and go back to wondering when Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse will finish production and finally be released in theaters. But this has been quite a bad weekend for men who thought it was a good idea to f-ck around with their female peers, only to publicly and embarrassingly end up in the “finding out” stage.