Jack Whitehall has confessed that Rihanna “ignored him” after he “panicked” and made an awkward comment about coconut water.
The comedian, 31, recalled the embarrassing encounter while filming Saturday night’s instalment of The Jonathan Ross Show.
He revealed how he was invited to meet the singer, 31, at the after party for the Fashion Awards - but his nerves caused him to panic when he came face to face with the star.
“I met her after I hosted the Fashion Awards and I’d done quite well and they were like ‘Rihanna would like to meet you. Would you like to come and see her at the after party?’” he told Ross.
“She had her own cordoned-off area and I was ushered in and I think I panicked a little bit and sort of forgot how to formulate proper sentences.
“I was like, what do I say? What’s my opening gambit?”
Whitehall admitted that he could only think of Rihanna’s previous adverts for coconut water brand Vita Coco.
“And all I could think of was that she does coconut water adverts,” he said. “So my opening line was, ‘I really like coconut water as well.’
“She ignored me for the rest of the night.”
His anecdote came after Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul told a more successful story about meeting the Bajan musician and rapper Drake.
“The first time I met Drake I was randomly in this parking garage in Paris and I got out of my car and walked in and Drake screams out my name and I turn around and I’m like ‘Oh there’s Drake,’” he said.
“He told me that he got Rihanna in on it, who I am just obsessed with, she’s my crush.
“Rihanna, I had never met before and I was standing outside and this SUV stops and the door opens and Rihanna jumps out and starts running in my direction.
“I turned - ‘Who is she running to?’ There is no one behind me and she throws her arms around me and gives me this big hug and kisses me on the cheek and says that she loves me.”
Whitehall and Paul were joined on the show by presenter Maya Jama, punk icon Iggy Pop and singer-songwriter Sam Fender.
The Jonathan Ross Show airs on Saturday, October 19 at 10pm on ITV.
With additional reporting by Press Association.
