Ethan Hawke Admits to Daughter Maya Hawke That Lame Flirting Attempt with Rihanna Has Become His ‘Family Shame’

Years before Rihanna was the mother of two, Ethan Hawke very publicly tried to shoot his shot with the “Rude Boy” singer at the 2015 NBA All-Star game. The photo of the incident went viral at the time after Hawke very slickly traded places with his son in the front row at the game and was photographed leaning wayyy back in his chair and chatting Rihanna up.

“I’ve been caught by the paparazzi openly flirting with Rihanna,” the actor said, with his daughter, Maya Hawke, correcting him by noting that he was “openly trying to” flirt with the singer. “Trying to flirt,” he agreed, “and that’s been to the family shame.” Maya tried to bail him out by saying, “no, it’s family pride.”

Hawke posted a picture of the incident on Instagram in which his son is doing a face palm motion while watching his dad chat up the music superstar, with the actor captioning the pics, “after Rihanna’s brilliant half time performance, I’m hoping my son can find it in his heart to forgive a Dad for taking his moment.”

The revelation came during a game of “How well do Ethan & Maya Hawke really know each other” in a bit for Variety, in which dear old dad totally blew it when asked what Maya’s first school play was — it was Jenny in Jenny and the School for Cats, not the Artful Dodger in Oliver. The father-daughter pair are promoting the new movie Wildcat, in which Ethan directs Maya as author Flannery O’Connor (A Good Man Is Hard To Find and Other Stories) in a chronicle of her attempt to get her first novel published. The chat heated up when the interviewer asked if Ethan would rather see RihRih or Lady Gaga in concert.

Maya had a very fast answer for that one, because that information is “really available online,” she smirked in reference to the flirty pics. While Ethan said “both,” his daughter corrected him, saying the answer was “RihRih by a long shot.” To be fair, Ethan said he’s been to a Gaga show, but really would like to see Rihanna live sometime. Then, in a total dad moment, Ethan said he remembers taking Maya to see Lady Gaga once, with his daughter correcting him by noting that they went to see Madonna and Gaga was sitting near them at the show.

“We did have an amazing year where we went to see Madonna, Taylor [Swift] and Adele, and it was highly educational, very motivational year for me,” said Maya, who is also a recording artist who released her Moss album last year. If you’re keeping score, Ethan kind of got it when asked to name the first song Maya ever wrote, remembering that the tune was written at their family home in Nova Scotia, though she was a bit fuzzy on how many Oscar nominations her dad has had (the answer is four, if you’re keeping score).

Watch the Hawkes discuss the Rihanna incident below.