Flavor Flav Recalls Getting 'Smacked' in the Face by Miley Cyrus for Calling Her Gwen Stefani

DJ and rapper William Jonathan Drayton Jr., also known as Flavor Flav recently recalled an awkward incident with Miley Cyrus. The Rebel Without a Pause rapper in his interview on the podcast Just B with Bethenny Frankel shared that he had once mistaken Cyrus for Gwen Stefani. "There was a time a few years back when they both had the same exact haircut. That’s the thing that got me," said Flav, alluding to Cyrus's blonde, short Bangerz hairstyle. "When I ran across Miley first time ever in my life I was like, 'Oh my God, Gwen Stefani, Gwen Stefani!' You know what? Miley didn’t say anything. She just went along with it...Smacked me in the face...and I said, 'I won't let it happen again. We laughed it off." 

As per People magazine, the Harder Than You Think rapper was later informed by one of his friends that he had misidentified the two musicians after their first meeting, and he felt horrible about it. "I turned around, and I ran back to her," said Flav. He recalled, "I was like, 'Oh my God, I’m so sorry. Yo, Miley Cyrus, I know who you are now. Your dad Billy Ray Cyrus.'"

"I was like, 'Oh my God, I’m so stupid,'" he added. Recently, the Wrecking Ball songstress reminded Flav about their awkward encounter when they met backstage once again during the 2024 Grammy Awards. The sweet moment was caught on camera and shared on X by Flav with the caption, "My girl Gwen Stefani...I mean Miley Cyrus." He added, "@MileyCyrus Give My Girl her Flowers." Cyrus won her first Grammy that night. According to Elle magazine, she had her dark hair curled up and wore a see-through gold mesh dress by Maison Margiela. Additionally, she complemented the look with Christian Louboutin heels. 

The rap legend called out the We Can't Stop songstress' name in the clip, which appeared to have been taken after Cyrus sang Flowers at the yearly awards ceremony. Cyrus approached to hug him and joked, "You know it's me! I made it," she exclaimed while standing beside her mom, Tish. "You don't think I'm Gwen Stefani anymore," Cyrus asked Flav. "You used to call me Gwen every time I saw you." "I know," he admitted, to which Cyrus assured him in response, "I love it." The pair then exchanged 'I love yous', before Cyrus gestured to Flav's signature clock necklace and said, "You know what time it is!" 

Flav also claimed that Cyrus 'lit up like a Christmas tree' during their Grammys meeting. "Miley loves herself some Flav," he joked.  In 2015 Justin Bieber was mistaken for Cyrus because of their identical hairstyle, as per Digital Spy. The hilarious incident occurred when Bieber and his pals gatecrashed an exclusive meeting of gay Republicans at a Californian restaurant.

Ben Coleman, the event chairman, told The Jillian Barberie and John Phillips Show on KABC that at first, he had only seen 'a bunch of girls' join the group. "I went downstairs and someone I knew said, 'Did you see Justin Bieber just went upstairs?' I went back and looked around the corner and I saw the group and, literally, I didn't see Justin Bieber, I just saw a bunch of girls." He added, "I got a closer look and said, 'Oh yeah, that's the Biebs, for sure'. But he looked like a butcher version of Miley Cyrus."