Even if you have 97.3 million followers on Instagram, countless Platinum-certified records, and an immeasurable influence on modern pop culture, you still can be confused for an Average Joe. Such a thing happened to Drake during the Houston Rockets-Oklahoma City Thunder game on Dec. 1. Drake, 35, was seated courtside when the NBA camera panned to him, showing him on the jumbotron. As expected, the crowd at the Paycom Center erupted in applause, but the reaction confused an older gentleman sitting next to the βGodβs Planβ rapper. βAre you famous?β he asked Drake, and the question made Drake roll back in laughter. β
Drake even took it one step further. He whipped out his camera and took a selfie with the older gentleman and his date for the evening. βMy new parents,β he captioned the shot, an ear-to-ear grin on Drakeβs face. As it turns out, Renee Stanley β the wife of Jim Stanley, the older man who chatted with Drake β had a vague idea of who their new βsonβ was. βWell, I knew his name was Drake,β Renee, 71, told The Oklahoman, βbut I didnβt know he was a rapper, and I didnβt know how popular he was. But let me tell ya, everybody else around me let me know.β
Drake in the building for the Rockets-Thunder game π¦ pic.twitter.com/hsI2JRlc1b
β Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) December 2, 2021
I love this π @drake and his new Oklahoma parents pic.twitter.com/mh77h7Tc0O
β πΉππ π (@CrownAndJoke) December 2, 2021
Renee said she was the inspiration behind Drakeβs caption. βJust tell everyone weβre your new parents,β she said. βAnd thatβs when my phone blew up, because he did.β She also said that she and her 75-year-old husband are taking the new fame in stride. βWeβre laughing and hooting over the fact that weβre called old people,β she said. βWe donβt think weβre old, although I guess we are.β
It turns out that one of Drakeβs 97.3 million followers is Reneeβs grandson, who called her after seeing her on his IG Story. ββOh my god, Grandma. Iβm following Drake, and I see YOU!β He almost fell over,β she said. βIβm a big hit with the grandkids.β
Jim said he first broke the ice by complimenting Drakeβs coat. Then Renee said she liked his earrings. Then they began to chat hockey, and Renee said that her grandfather was from Quebec. βWe just had a conversation like anybody sitting next to you at a game,β Jim said. βItβs just that heβs a big deal and Iβm not. β¦ When you think of celebrities sometimes, and how they can be real snobs, he was just an everyday person and was very cordial to us. I appreciate that.β At the end of the game, he got up and kissed Reneeβs hand.
Drakeβs presence at the game raised a few eyebrows. While Drake is known to root for a wide variety of teams, no one was sure why he was in Oklahoma City. Some speculated that he was there to support his fellow Toronto-native, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. βWe know each other, obviously being from the same city,β he said after the game but clarified that they werenβt that close. βI guess he just wanted to come watch [some] basketball.β