Mariah Carey Finally Explains — at Length — the J. Lo-Pointed ‘I Don’t Know Her’

Sixteen years after offhandedly declaring "I don't know her" in reference to Jennifer Lopez, Mariah Carey has weighed in on what exactly she meant, and why she thinks the moment has become one of the web's consummate GIF-staples.

On last night's (May 17) Watch What Happens Live, Mariah took a trip down memory lane — more specifically, to a 2000 red carpet, when a reporter asked about Mimi's opinions of some of her contemporaries. As far as Mariah's concerned, her reaction to the mention of J. Lo was blown out of proportion — that being said, she's not budging.

"You know what? I'm very forgetful," Mariah says in the clip above. "Because I don't remember the fact that it was just like 'Hi! I'm so-and-so' and move on."

"Does she seem cool?" Andy Cohen proceeds to press.

"I don't know her!" Mariah insists. "What am I supposed to say? I'm not gonna put on a thing like 'We're all Hollywood and let's just all pretend we're best friends because we're in that land'...It wasn't like I don't know who she is. Of course I do. That wasn't the question."

That diplomacy ran thin during a subsequent game of Plead The Fifth, during which Cohen asked Mariah to say three nice things about former American Idol co-judge Nicki Minaj. She...couldn't.

"Can you?" she flips to Cohen. "You know, I always felt it was more important with that situation to not plead the fifth, but just stay above the fray, because you don't want to be déclassé."

Oh, and Mariah also had this to say of ex-husband Nick Cannon's new back-spanning tattoo:

"Don't know it, didn't see it!"

Watch the clips above, and tell us if you think the great "I don't know her" caper has finally been put to rest.

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