Source: Robin L Marshall / Getty
Something that I couldn’t really understand during last night’s exhausting episode of Basketball Wives was everyone’s issue with Jennifer coming on the trip to San Diego with her good friend Dominique in tow.
Before the girl even came in the door, she was getting a bum rap from Feby, who told Evelyn that during the first gathering of the season, which was Shaunie’s party, Dom was talking poorly about her. In reality, she was just defending the character of Jennifer while admitting that her own children could have been classified as latchkey kids due to her husband’s career, but it wasn’t something she would have been hurt by.
Evelyn also didn’t like that Dom was present because she felt the woman was there to be Jennifer’s “rah rah” friend, looking to put a battery in her back.
“It’s like Jennifer brought this girl here to get under my skin, because at the end of the day, that’s the type of snake she is,” she said in her confessional.
Even Malaysia made a comment in her confessional about Jennifer coming to San Diego with an unnecessary “hype man.”
“Jenn has showed herself to be a liar and a fake, and now, to top it off, she got a hype man?!” she said. “Girl, boo.”
However, Dominique wasn’t the problem. She didn’t come in looking for trouble or picking at anyone. It was Evelyn and Malaysia whose energy was completely off. They didn’t want to do dinner with Jennifer and Dom (and OG) and they made that clear when everyone else was open to being a team player. They loudly whispered negative things about the women (“We avoiding them motherf–kers” Evelyn said, “Like the plague!” Malaysia responded), and felt that wherever they went in the house, Jennifer, Dom and OG were barred from entering into. It was very mean girl-ish.
What they didn’t know though, was that Dom was with the sh-ts. When Evelyn went after Jennifer, throwing a drink on her over the comment about her daughter, she then tried to approach Dom and tell her that “Your friend is a f–kin’ busta!” Dom wasn’t having it, calmly and unflinchingly letting Evelyn know that her energy was being directed at the wrong person. When Evelyn didn’t like that Dom wouldn’t back down (she actually took a step closer to Evelyn after a finger was put in her face), she told her that she wasn’t scared of her. Dom called her out: “You got a lot of bark, where’s the bite?”
Thankfully though, security pulled them apart as Evelyn prepared to fake jump from a table. Soon after, Evelyn came to her senses and wanted Shaunie and Jackie to explain to Dom, on her behalf, why she was so upset to ease tensions. Dom, who never intended to have an issue with anyone in the first place, made it clear that she was not there to bring drama and was fine with moving forward. It wasn’t a shock because, yet again, she wasn’t there to be Jennifer’s “rah rah” “hype man.” She was there to be a support to Jennifer, and if we’re being honest, after all of these seasons, why wouldn’t Jennifer bring a real friend with her to protect her from these women?
Though she’s not blameless in anything, in her time on the show, Jennifer has been close to getting beaten up by a drunk Tami over her lack of knowledge about food stamps. She’s had a table thrown at her in Amsterdam by Malaysia. She’s been left crying on the floor by herself after having her deceased mother brought in as a topic during a confrontation. She has had a drink thrown in her face by her ex-husband. She’s been cursed out and stepped to while attempting to fend for herself time and time again. Who wouldn’t need some reinforcements?
And these ladies would know best about hype men, because they’ve always had them. In fact, a few seasons ago, Evelyn brought Jennifer’s former friend Nia to confront her, and the girl slapped her in the face. In this present season, Evelyn brought Feby on to help her bully deal with those she doesn’t like. And Malaysia, who has a lot of nerve talking about hype men, was just that for friend Brandi Maxiell. They jumped in and out each other’s issues with one another and made it clear that they would fight folks for one another.
Before Brandi, Malaysia’s hype man was Bambi (yes, from LHHATL). One could say Malaysia is currently Kristen’s hype man. OG is Cece’s. Jackie’s ill-advised hype man was Sundy, who helped her confront issues with Draya and Malaysia. Draya had Angel Brinks at one point. I say all that to say that most of the cast, if we’re being honest, has brought someone around for support, or to help them get things cracking. They’ve allowed those people to be a lot more problematic than Dom has been in her short time on Season 8. But even if Dom was brought around to hype up Jennifer and to stand by her side in the face of non-stop confrontation, negative energy and blatant disrespect, I wouldn’t be mad at that. Hell, if everyone else can do it, why can’t Jennifer?
Check out what Twitter thought of Dominique after she went toe-to-toe with Evelyn by hitting the flip:
https://twitter.com/HeyMrsConnors/status/1154183930779701248
