The MTV VMAs has delivered on its grand tradition of serving the thirsty masses some juicy drama.
Over the years, new couples have let loose at the award show — think Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson being extra during their red carpet debut in 2018 and the awkward onstage kiss newlyweds Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Pressley shared in 1994. So it was only right for a new couple to make waves in 2022.
Rapper Yung Gravy and Sheri Nicole Easterling, who is the mother of TikTok star Addison Rae, made their romance public at the award show Sunday night.
During a pre-show interview with MTV, Easterling and the “Betty” rapper opened up about how the seemingly unlikely pair came to meet.
“We met online. Yeah. We connected right away. I’m from the furthest north it gets, she’s from the furthest south it gets,” Yung Gravy, 26, said of Easterling, 42, after his pre-show performance as the two kissed on the carpet.
“I’m into MILFs and she’s kind of the queen of MILFs, so I figured it was just a perfect match,” he added.
MILF — shorthand for “mom I’d like to fuck” — was popularized after it was used in the 1999 film “American Pie.” However, many see it the term as outdated and misogynistic.
Yung Gravy later elaborated on the word he chose to describe his new love.
“They’re more experienced. They are an under-serviced community. I’d like to say and they deserve more attention, so I thought that’d be the one,” he told Entertainment Tonight. “And I’ve noticed that people really have started giving MILFs more attention since my music dropped.”
Johnny Nunez via Getty Images
The rapper has a habit of fetishizing older women in his music — he has a song called “Martha Stewart,” which is about the television personality and the rapper’s love for “cougars.”
Meanwhile, Easterling posted a selfie of her, a stylist and Yung Gravy to her Instagram Stories from the event — showing that she was seemingly pleased by how her red carpet debut went down at the VMAs.
Screenshot @sherinicole/Instagram
Her estranged husband, Monty Lopez, however, had a different spin on his ex’s new romance.
“Thank you @younggravy for taking the leftovers,” Lopez said in an Instagram Story in response to Easterling’s debut.
Screenshot @montylopez/Instagram
Easterling — who shares daughter Addison Rae, 21, and sons Enzo, 14, and Lucas, 8, with her estranged husband — has been separated from Lopez for about a year, a source told People. The former couple also seem to have had an on-and-off relationship — they broke up when their daughter Addison Rae was a kid and then remarried in 2017.
In July, rumors that Lopez and Easterling were on the rocks began circulating when influencer Renée Ash, 25, told Page Six she had a five-month relationship with Lopez, 46. Ash said Lopez “misled” her by telling her that his marriage to Easterling was over.