If you're going to publicly claim you're dating someone who's next-level famous, you might want to clear it with that person first.

Basketball player Matt Barnes learned this the hard way after Rihanna called him out for straight up lying on video about a budding relationship between the two.

TMZ caught up with Barnes outside the UCLA Softball Stadium this past Saturday (August 15) and asked him if relationship rumors concerning he and Rihanna were true. Rather than deny them Barnes said, "Rihanna’s my friend right now, so we’ll see where it goes…I think it just passed the crush stage just a little bit."

But it's pretty hard to get past the crush stage when you've never even met the person you're purportedly dating. Rihanna posted a screenshot of the TMZ video to Instagram and left some scathing (but clarifying!) hashtags beneath it: "#bishwhere #thedevilisaliar #shesnotthatintoyou #shesnotintoyouatall #shesneverevenmetyou #thisactuallyhurtmyfeelings #defamationofcharacter."

Then Barnes commented on Rihanna's Instagram post, writing (via E! News), "Hahaaa wow," two words weighted heavily with disappointment and regret.

Whether this was some ill-conceived attempt on Barnes' part to get Rihanna to finally take notice of him is still unknown, but it's no secret he's been lusting after her for a while. Back in 2012 he tweeted her after she sat court side at a Lakers game, to which she did not respond, and E! News claims he made her his Woman Crush Wednesday on Instagram a few months ago.

Not to mention, as TMZ also reported, Rihanna's currently rumored to be dating Formula One racing driver Lewis Hamilton.

The secondhand embarrassment is palpable.

Rihanna
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