'I am an artist, not a variant': R&B singer Omarion reacts to jokes comparing his name to Omicron

Ever since the Omicron variant of the coronavirus surfaced, people have often mispronounced it as the Omarion virus. Now, R&B singer Omarion has taken to social media and addressed the jokes in a hilarious manner.

The 'Post To Be' hitmaker took to TikTok on 1 January to wish his fans a happy New Year and posted some hilarious videos about the similarities between his name and the Omicron variant.

“Hi, this is  Omarion. I am an artist — not a variant,” said the 37-year-old R&B singer in the first TikTok video. He continued to make jokes about his name, adding that if people run into him in the streets, they don’t need to isolate for five days. The singer also commented that people don’t require a negative test to dance to his hit tracks.

Check out the post here

Omarion addresses the Omicron varient jokes:

“I am an artist, not a varient.” pic.twitter.com/UieTqJGnuv

— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) January 1, 2022

Omarion posted two other videos in the same vein, which went viral on social media. Each of the three videos was viewed over 1,00,000 times on TikTok and was also being circulated on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

According to People magazine, the videos come after LaKieth Stanfield took to Instagram on 26 December to share a DM that he had sent to Omarion, joking that the singer was “ruining Christmas for everyone”. The post has since been deleted, but it prompted many people to notice the similarities between the R&B singer’s name and the new COVID-19 variant. Stanfield had captioned the post as “I’m weak I wonder if he’s gonna respond.” HaHa Davis, Kehlani, Bria Myles and others shared laughing emojis in the comments sections of the post.

Omarion later changed the script of his video for a Genius.com clip, adding that his lawyers had told him to issue a statement that he was a musician and “not a variant”. The 37-year old singer then made references to his earlier career as a member of the boy band B2K in the 2000s, according to Variety. “The last time I had to do this was in 2000 when everyone confused Y2K with B2K,” the singer quipped in the clip, according to Variety magazine.

Omarion, whose real name is Omari Grandberry, has released six albums as a solo artist. Two of the albums, 21 and O, have reached number one on the Billboard. He had recently teamed up with Soulja Boy and Bow Wow for the track 'EX'.