How Fake Celebrity Relationships Work and Why They Exist

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They say love is blind. While that can be true, some celebrity relationships just haven’t quite made sense when held under a magnifying glass. The truth is that publicity stunts, including prearranged relationships, are still very much alive and well in hip-hop.

The latest hip-hop couple to befall these allegations are Rubi Rose and comedian Druski. The rapper and comic appeared to be dating in April as a result of some flirty photos and plenty of videos across social media in addition to vacationing together. They seemingly broke up in June. However, there was no confirmation of a breakup from either party. The conversation around Rubi and Druski’s alleged split grew louder when she announced she was “single” in an interview that same month. Despite the videos and photos of them together, Rubi and Druski never confirmed they were officially dating.

In several tweets she posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, in September, Rubi set the record straight though she didn’t mention Druski by name. She claimed she “never slept with that man” and that he “paid for PR.” This led people to believe Druski and Rubi Rose’s relationship was a publicity stunt based on what she said.

“And for the record i never slept with that man, ni**a paid for PR,” Rubi tweeted. “Never p**sy…He is funny and nice tho! I only give it up if I’m in love, ion care how much money a ni**a got. I’m rich asf lol.”

The tweets appeared to be aimed at Druski. He responded by photoshopping his face and Rubi’s face on a poster from the 2003 movie Love Don’t Cost a Thing. The film focuses on a teen mechanic played by Nick Cannon, who offers to fix a popular girl’s car in exchange for two weeks of dating.

XXL has reached out to Rubi Rose and Druski for comment, but have not heard back as of press time.

Both of their posts on social media was enough breadcrumbs to convince fans this relationship was, in fact, a publicity stunt, but it still came as a mild shock. Coordinated relationships are no secret in hip-hop. Unfortunately, fans have theorized that several rappers may have had fake relationships or were set up as publicity stunts over the years. In 2015, Lil Durk and Dej Loaf were dating and they were hit with skeptics who didn’t believed it was all a sham. More recently, Gunna and singer Chloe Bailey were rumored to be dating in 2022. Fans thought that was fake as well. None of these relationships have been confirmed as fake, but it begs the question of exactly how many public love affairs began as a mutual business decision.

Longtime publicist Tresa Sanders, CEO of TreMedia, tells XXL there are likely only a tiny number of relationships between rappers that are fully arranged beforehand.

“I think it’s very small, and I don’t think that conversation is being had as much as it was back in the early 2000s or 2010s,” Sanders says. “I think it happened more back then than it does now. I don’t hear as many conversations about it, but it was more marketing back then.”

While coordinated relationships are nothing new in pop culture, Sanders said she first began seeing the trend seep into hip-hop when Ye dated Amber Rose from 2008 to 2010. Their relationship has never been confirmed as a publicity stunt.

“Even though I don’t know if this was a PR relationship or not, it felt like one,” Sanders adds. “It feels like Kanye started it with Amber Rose because that was the first hip-hop relationship that got a lot of media buzz and publicity. Everyone was talking about them. He came with this bombshell of a girl who has this haircut, very edgy but very fly. So, that relationship felt like the very first one. Although they may have been in love, I could bet there was some kind of business conversation ahead of time.”

Sanders feels Ye’s career got even “hotter” following his relationship with Rose. “When you think about Kanye and Amber, she was really interesting for him because we didn’t see him dating a girl so edgy,” she continues. “It made for an interesting conversation around the two of them. Sometimes there needs to be yin and yang…Kanye was so hot back then and it seemed like Amber just made him hotter!”

By the late 2010s, red carpets had become the go-to destination for many of rap’s big relationship moments. They served as a place where couples could be premiered, or where rumors could be laid to rest—regardless of if the couples were real or predetermined by their teams. Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta stars Lil Scrappy and Bambi showcased their love for each other with some cozy PDA on the 2013 BET Awards red carpet. Wiz Khalifa planted a kiss on Winnie Harlow to confirm their relationship at the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show in 2018. Cardi B and Offset reconciled on the Grammy Awards red carpet in 2019, after dramatically splitting the year prior. None of these relationships were created to grab headlines; they were all the real deal.

Whether real or fake, there has become less of a need for such highly orchestrated moments with the rise of apps like Instagram. “I don’t think you really need it as much now because of social media,” Sanders shares. “Now, we live in the era where fans create a lot of chatter, more so than just hitting the red carpet. You can just hang out with somebody and they automatically think you’re dating.”

So, what traditionally goes into arranging these yin-and-yang relationships? Chanel Rae, a veteran publicist leading her company, The Legion Media Group, tells XXL it all depends on the client’s needs.

“Person has a bad image? They put them with a warmer person to show their softer side,” she says. “A person needs a boost in awareness? Add them with someone who is outside a lot. If there’s a rumor about their sexuality? Get them a partner.”

An artist’s team lets the gossip do the heavy lifting these days. In July, Ice Spice and Central Cee were rumored to be dating after they were spotted shopping and having a few laughs together in London. It seemed that the pair were just working on Spice’s song “Did It First,” which Cee is featured on, but neither party confirmed nor denied the allegations until weeks after the single and music video dropped. Spice finally denied the rumors on July 25. The song and visual accompaniment dropped on July 11.

“I think the consumers are just more hip, the same way advertising is more subtle now, but most people can tell right away it’s an ad,” Rae explains. “I think that’s really what it is. Consumers are stronger now. Sometimes, even if the fans make the assumption that there’s a relationship and it seems to work, you wouldn’t shut down the assumption. You let it play out how it does and sometimes it works for the good.”

However, such heavy reliance on fan engagement can lead to rampant speculation, which at times has muddied the waters of what’s real and what’s fake. The rumored set-ups of Lil Durk and Dej Loaf, Gunna and Chloe Bailey and now Druski and Rubi Rose are practically all due to fan speculation.

Whereas Cardi B and Offset, who have multiple children together, have had to at times push back against allegations their love for each other was phony. It’s clear their love is real. Confirmed PR relationships have also resulted in some blowback on certain artists. Love & Hip Hop: Miami star Pleasure P expressed his regret at the fabricated relationships he had with Shay Johnson and Joy Wright on the reality show.

“After the fact for me, I just felt like I was being seen in the light I should be seen in,” the R&B singer said in an interview in May. “They made me a cheater and I’m not a cheater.”

Love & Hip Hop has faced allegations of coordinating fake relationships for years. Safaree and Amara LaNegra were confirmed to be a set-up, while singer Keyshia Cole faced accusations from Scrappy of indulging in fake relationships with men in the industry, including most recently Hunxho.

Despite these controversies, Chanel Rae says shows like that have only been dabbling in what publicists have been dabbling in for years.

“That’s why we have Love & Hip Hop,” Rae says when asked to give an example of artists getting a career boost from publicity-driven relationships. “Most of these reality shows are all based around these relationships whether they start off real and extend into fake storylines or they take storylines that end up to be real. Some of them produce real human beings. I don’t think it’s anything new.”

There are definitely perks that come with these high-profile love affairs and rumors, as was case for Druski and Rubi. Druski was viewed by fans with an added layer of sex appeal and swag following rumors that he and Rubi were together. Rubi Rose’s supporters viewed the rapper with some newfound authenticity, as they praised her for being into the funny guy. The point is the link-up got everybody talking about them both individually and as a unit.

“I think that it definitely gave them both more awareness,” Rae said of them. “I see them able to capitalize off each other’s following, but it’s like any other collab. Without speaking on the specific nature of their relationship, they really didn’t confirm either way, and I don’t know if even now, if this announcement, if that’s how it really played out. We’d never know ’cause we’re not in their internal team, but watching from the outside, I definitely see how both of them gained more awareness.”

Also, there’s no saying that a predetermined relationship can’t build into a legitimate romance. “The interesting thing is sometimes they end up being real relationships,” Sanders concludes. “More than not!”

Rae adds that “there’s no such thing as bad press,” before giving a reminder that these dalliances aren’t the only thing getting a sprinkle of PR support. “We rep a lot of emerging artists and it’s still happening,” Rae confirms. “The fake friendships are still happening. The fake beef. This whole premise will never go away.”

This serves as a reminder that the entertainment industry is built just for that: entertainment. Is it really that much of a betrayal to find out something is preplanned when the end result is so, you know, entertaining?