Was Zendaya barred from a rooftop restaurant in Rome on Saturday for wearing a crop top? Not according to her team, who dismissed the claim as “completely false” and “a bald head lie” on Monday. Even the actor herself was seemingly roused to respond, posting through it by way of a meme that didn’t directly reference the report so much as mock it.
The story originated from the Daily Mail, which sneeringly reported that the “ab-flashing star” had turned up to the Italian eatery Terrazza Borromini in “a black tube top and cargo pants” only to be turned away over “her and her party’s dress sense.” The tabloid noted that Zendaya looked “unimpressed during an interaction with the restaurant’s staff.”
In a statement to The Daily Beast, Scott Newman, a spokesperson for the actor, said, “This is completely false—the group arrived at this restaurant and realized they had previously ate there [sic] last time they were in Rome.” He added that the entourage had left and gone somewhere else “as they wanted to try something new.”
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The Mail reported that the group ended up going to a nearby pizzeria instead.
Darnell Appling, Zendaya’s friend and personal assistant, addressed the matter in a lengthy statement on his Instagram Story. He posted a screenshot of the Mail’s story and captioned it, “Well, this is a bald head lie. We never got denied anywhere. We walked into the building realized we ate there before when we seen the stairs… The same stairs Zendaya slipped on last year and posted about.”
Appling was referencing an incident in Rome last February where Zendaya tripped up a flight of stairs, nearly hitting the pavement before she was caught by her security team. Page Six reported at the time that she had been going for lunch at Eitch Borromini, the luxury hotel that houses Terrazza Borromini.
Appling said on his Instagram Story that the group had wanted to try a new restaurant. “We actually never went upstairs and interacted with anyone,” he continued. “We talked amongst ourselves in the downstairs lobby. This whole story is a lie. But y’all be blessed tho.”
Zendaya did not directly comment on the matter, but posted a meme based on a panel from the comic Watchmen on her own Story around the time Appling’s statement went up. The meme, which features one character rising up powerfully over another, has the latter asking, “Source?” while the other replies, “I made it up.”
