Mookie Betts is known for his quick hands on the baseball field, but the Los Angeles Dodgers star was almost forced to utilize them during a potential throwdown with Usher.
Betts, 31, was mic’d up in the outfield during ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball broadcast of the Dodgers’ Game in Atlanta against the Braves on September 15 when the six-time Gold Glove winner told a story about seeing Usher’s residency in Las Vegas late last year.
“I was able to go to the last show,” Betts said. “He goes and he serenades the women. I’m like, ‘This is awesome.’ Just seeing women melt.”
Still, Betts wasn’t too keen on the idea of the “U Got It Bad” singer, who threw out the first pitch at Sunday night’s Game, getting too close to his wife, Brianna — which he let Usher, 45, know during a meet-up the night before.
“I was like, ‘Man, look. Listen. Usher, I mess with you the long way,” Betts continued. “The longest of long ways. But if you come over here and try and serenade my wife, I’m throwing elbows at you.’ I told him I’m diving on him immediately.”
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Usher took the whole thing in stride — and even suggested the couple come see him again in concert if their schedule permits.
“He had the confidence to tell me, ‘Hey, I’m going back out on tour so there’s another chance,’” Betts said. “I’m like, ‘Hold on wait, Usher!’”
The Dodgers star added, “But you know, it is what it is. He gotta do what he gotta do.”
Betts and his wife Brianna got married in 2021 and share daughter Kynlee, 5, and son Kaj, 16 months.
Usher wrapped up his Las Vegas residency, “My Way,” in December 2023 before embarking on his “Past Present Future” tour this August. The tour canvasses North America until the end of the year, with four dates in Betts’ backyard at Inglewood’s Intuit Dome starting Saturday, September 21.
Throughout the residency’s run in Las Vegas, Usher became notorious for serenading and flirting with members of the audience, especially when celebrities were in attendance.
Kim and Khloé Kardashian got an up-close-and-personal experience in April 2023, when Usher left the stage to perform for the sisters and their friends. At one point, the girls even encouraged Kimora Lee Simmons to run her hands down Usher’s abs while he sang, to which she obliged.
Deal of the Day
This LED Color Beauty Wand Brightens Skin and Boosts Collagen — And It’s 77% Off View DealIn July 2023, Usher danced and sang his song “There Goes My Baby” with actress Keke Palmer during a show in Vegas. In the aftermath, Palmer’s then-boyfriend Darius Jackson criticized her behavior and choice of outfit.
“We live in a generation where a man of the family doesn’t want the wife & mother to his kids to showcase booty cheeks to please others & he gets told how much of a hater he is,” Jackson, who is the father of Palmer’s 1-year-old Leo wrote via X. “This is my family & my representation. I have standards & morals to what I believe. I rest my case.”
Palmer, 31, and Jackson split shortly after the concert and Palmer filed a restraining order against him in November 2023, accusing him of abusing her multiple times throughout their two-year relationship.
In this article
