Bobby Valentino is celebrating 15 years of the release of his debut album as a solo artist. The self-titled album brought forth hits such as the top ten US Billboard Hot 100 charting single “Slow Down” and its follow-up “Tell Me”. It was the album that he said “will set me apart from other male vocalists, especially since I hold females in high esteem.” A celebratory time indeed, but fans are caught up in another memory of the former Mista group member.
A resurfaced video featuring a past memory and moment Valentino would much rather choose to forget is coming back to haunt the singer. Social media was set on fire when the embarrassing video emerged showing what allegedly looks like the singer in an apartment with a transgendered woman, with his pants down. She’s not shown in the clip, but he does everything but Slow Down, quickly trying to escape the premises without being shown on camera as she calls him out by name while making claims that he hadn’t paid her for her services.
The woman, later identified as Reima Houston, uploaded the video to social media and it speedily went viral. “You forgot your shoes and car keys!” Houston states in the video. ”If you want them back, bring me some money… Call me so I can tell the price Bobby V.” She then took it a step further, writing an explanation on social media after millions had already seen the initial video. “Let me say this what I did to Bobby Valentino was on the basis he didn’t have any coin so to play with my money is to play with my life like ANY girl would do,” she wrote. “Don’t expose but extort and get what’s rightfully yours either voluntarily or involuntarily. Idc who doesn’t respect my decision because my bank account will respect it the most.”
Reps for the singer quickly tried to denounce Houston’s claims and video and released a statement via TMZ saying this was all an extortion ploy. “Misrepresentation and deception were maliciously used to target Valentino; during the encounter, Valentino was victimized and threatened by act of extortion which continued after his departure was captured on video,” the statement read.
Shortly after Houston’s claims took off online, another trans woman came forward with an alleged romp with Valentino. Shauna Brooks, who has previously been linked to other notable celebrities, uploaded a screenshot of an alleged missed call from Bobby V.
Fans found all the time to poke fun at Bobby’s misfortune, as well as celebrities. Snoop Dogg joined in with some hilarious commentary on the situation as well, as he couldn’t resist. “Cuz, I just got back to civilization. I can’t believe what the f**k I just seen,” said the legendary West Coast rapper. “Man, I just landed back in LA and a n***a just shown me Bobby Valentino in the room with a man, running out the room without his shoes…”
Another male voice is heard in the background speaking on the situation before Snoop continued: “She told him to slow down. Bobby, Bobby, Bobby. Come see me, brother. We got to talk. Bobby, Bobby. You got to get your sh*t together. You got to be more careful. Man, man.”
Valentino did his best to brush off the rumors when he posted a selfie with the caption, “Say what you want! #imhappy,” the singer affirms. “People have so much hate in em that they wanna steal someone [else’s] joy… can’t steal mine,” he assured his followers.
He also posted a 15-minute video to his Instagram encouraging his followers to donate to his foundation, while admitting that he’s seen the memes and they were “pretty entertaining.” While riding his bike, he speaks on his Bobby V Foundation helping 15 students to matriculate from college. “How many haters done did that?! Let’s talk about THAT! Let’s repost THAT! And I cant get noooobody to come out and cover that?!,” he is heard saying. “If y’all took as much time making memes as you did doing something constructive, there’d be a lot of rich black folk out there. That’s real talk.”