Selena Gomez has responded after social media users suggested she was mocking Taylor Swift by writing “lol” beneath an Instagram post from the NBA Finals, saying the reaction online had gotten the situation wrong.
The discussion began after Swift, 36, was seen at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday, June 10, with actress Mariska Hargitay and members of Haim as the New York Knicks stunned the San Antonio Spurs 107-106 in Game 4 of the 2026 NBA Finals. The win was widely reported as the biggest comeback in NBA Finals history, with New York rallying from 29 points down and sealing the game on an OG Anunoby tip-in with 1.2 seconds left.
Gomez, 33, who has long supported the Spurs, left a brief “lol” comment under the post, which quickly led some people to assume she was taking aim at Swift rather than reacting to the game itself.
Early Friday, Gomez addressed the uproar on her Instagram Stories after waking up to repeated messages about it.
“I would never insult my friends, nor was it an insult,” she wrote. “The comment was a reaction to the first slide on the page.”
She also explained another Story she posted on Wednesday night, where she had commented on the game and jokingly referenced people suddenly backing the winning side.
“Mad respect for the game!! Congrats to the peeps that represent. What a comeback,”
“So funny how some are all the sudden fans though lol.”
According to Gomez, that post was not about Swift either. She said it was aimed at friends she had been betting against during the game.
Gomez said she had bet on the Spurs with a group of friends and ended up losing.
“I lost but was poking fun at my opponents, my friends,” she wrote, referring to a screenshot of a group text chain she had posted earlier in the week. “Believe it or not, I do have other friends in my life. But quickly forget that most assume otherwise. Also.. it’s a basketball game.”
She stressed that the “lol” comment related to the first image in the carousel rather than Swift herself, though that point was largely missed once speculation took off online.
The idea of a serious rift between Gomez and Swift has also struck many fans as unlikely, given how long the two have remained close. Their friendship dates back to the late 2000s, when Gomez was dating Nick Jonas and Swift was seeing Joe Jonas.
Speaking on the Therapuss With Jake Shane podcast in August 2025, Gomez reflected on how their bond began.
“Taylor and I dated the Jonas Brothers,” she said. “The best thing we got out of those relationships was each other.”
She also remembered Swift once playing her an early version of Love Story in a hotel room, back when Gomez was about 15 and Swift was around 18.
“I believe it was the first song she had ever played me and it wasn’t released yet,” Gomez said. “I instantly heard it and thought, this is one of the most beautiful songs ever.”
The latest online speculation also arrived against the backdrop of intense public attention around Swift’s private life in recent weeks, including fresh rumors about a possible wedding to Travis Kelce. However, those reports remain unconfirmed, and widely circulated claims that the couple were set to marry on Saturday, June 13, have been challenged by more recent reporting.
That broader scrutiny has helped turn even small social media interactions involving Swift and Gomez into bigger talking points than they might otherwise have been. But based on Gomez’s own explanation, her comment was about the post and the game-night banter with friends, not a dig at one of her longest-standing celebrity friendships.