Fawn Weaver and her middle school classmate are making light of the viral incident from earlier this month that caused some backlash for the Uncle Nearest founder.
On Instagram, Saturday, December 27, Weaver posted a skit where she and that same man, E. Jermon Manuel, reversed roles, and now she is seen approaching him at a signing with fans. In the caption, she wrote, “Same place. Same people. Plot twist.”
All of this began when Weaver was left defending herself after an awkward interaction at her bottle signing event in Georgia. When she arrived, she took photos with fans outside of the building, but made haste to enter the event. Manuel approached her, asking if she remembered him from middle school, claiming they had the same classes for three years. Weaver told him that she did not remember him, and then broadcast the situation to the rest of the crowd standing there.
“Can I tell y’all that this man just said, ‘Do you remember me?’ Make it make sense to me,” she told the onlookers. “He said we were in the same class in the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades.”
“Are you serious? I do not. I’m sorry. I don’t remember the sixth, the seventh, or the eighth grade,” she’s heard saying in the video.
She posed for a photo with the man before hurriedly making her way to other fans and then heading inside.
The interaction with Manuel, which was caught on camera, led to backlash for Weaver, with many comments saying her treatment of him was unnecessary. She later apologized on her Instagram for how she acted during the viral interaction, explaining that she “couldn’t fully read” whether the situation was dangerous and had tried to make light of it without involving security. She also claimed that many of the commenters were bots rather than actual people reacting.
Weaver responded to a number of comments on the new post, including one that questioned whether she remembered him yet.
“We had a great connect over cigars and Uncle Nearest shortly after the viral video,” Weaver detailed. “And we shared what we remembered. But that didn’t actually help until I saw a 6th grade yearbook pic and then knew who he was, as he looks nothing now like he did then. That said, he’s a super cool person and I’m happy he reconnected me with people from 35+ years ago.”
“We had a lot of fun doing it,” she shared with another commenter, who commended her on the redo. “Especially, because so many of the people who were standing up close the first time where there and giving us tips on how to redo it most accurately based on their memories. And then the brunch afterwards was even better. Cheers! 🥃🫶🏽”
It appears that Weaver and Manuel moved past the incident in the new collaborative post. In her apology post from last week, Weaver also shared that Manuel did not take offense to the interaction.
