Marvel star Kumail Nanjiani says a bizarre internet rumor pairing him with former first lady Michelle Obama got so widespread that friends started treating it like real gossip.
Nanjiani, 47, addressed the claim on the comedy podcast So True with Caleb Hearon, recounting how a mutual friend told his wife, screenwriter Emily V. Gordon, about it—even though he and Michelle had never even met.
The actor-comedian told Hearon, “There was a rumor going around about me last year that I was having an affair with Michelle Obama.
“I was so excited! Our mutual friend pulled Emily aside and was like, ‘Hey, so I heard that Kumail and Michelle Obama are like doing it.’”
Nanjiani, who played Kingo in Marvel’s Eternals and has joined Prime Video’s Fallout for its second season, did not identify where the rumor began or how it spread so far beyond a fringe corner of social media.
But he said the rumor had made its way back to him more than once. “Multiple people brought it up to me,” he said, before shutting it down plainly: “I’ve never met Michelle Obama.”
Nanjiani insisted his wife had not believed the gossip. “She wasn’t even upset,” he added.
The denial is the latest entry in a long-running tradition of online “ships”—fan-made pairings that can veer from playful to surreal.
Vulture framed the rumored pairing of Nanjiani and Michelle Obama as a spin on “Hobama,” an old meme that mashes up her husband, Barack Obama, and singer Harry Styles and has circulated online for more than a decade.
Hearon also linked the rumor to other high-profile, unsubstantiated relationship chatter that has swirled around the Obamas, including a past rumor involving actor Jennifer Aniston.
“There’s been this persistent rumor that Barack is stepping out with Jen Aniston,” the podcast host said. “What I’m saying is, my friend Kumail, you’re up there with Jen Aniston in terms of affair rumors.”
Aniston shut down the Obama chatter last year, telling Jimmy Kimmel she was “not mad at it,” but that it was “absolutely untrue.”
The Obamas endured months of speculation about the state of their marriage earlier this year, fueled particularly when Michelle was absent from Jimmy Carter’s funeral in January. They have both however repeatedly joked about the claims, including when the former president appeared on his wife’s podcast, IMO, and was asked by her brother Craig Robinson, “Wait, you guys like each other now?” While Michelle replied, “That’s the rumor mill,” Barack joked, “She took me back. It was touch and go for a while.”
The couple have posted pictures together for both Thanksgiving and Christmas, featuring their daughters in November and just the two of them for Christmas.
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