Rihanna says she's never even met NBA player who told TMZ they were dating

The singer said '#thisactuallyhurtmyfeelings' in response to the claims. Ouch.

Rihanna (Getty)

If you’re going to lie about dating one of the most famous singers on the planet, it’s probably best not to go and tell the biggest gossip site on the planet, too, as basketball player Matt Barnes learned after claiming he was dating Rihanna.

The 35-year-old spoke to TMZ and said the relationship had “just passed the crush stage a little bit” and he was excited to see where it would go.

Predictably, they ran the story, and soon the rumours were flying everywhere that the two were an item, before eventually reaching none other than Rihanna herself.

There’s just one problem: she says they’ve never met.

Amused that she was apparently dating someone she’d never even met, the singer uploaded a picture of the TMZ video report on Instagram and adorned it with hashtags rubbishing the claims.

They are, in order: “'#bishwhere #thedevilisaliar #shesnotthatintoyou #shesnotintoyouatall #shesneverevenmetyou #thisactuallyhurtmyfeelings #defamationofcharacter'.

A photo posted by badgalriri (@badgalriri) on Aug 16, 2015 at 2:31pm PDT

Barnes hasn’t responded yet, but he’s definitely got some explaining to do.

Rihanna has become one of the more amusing pop stars on social media, from mocking tabloid claims she was taking cocaine to hiring uber-stylish henchwomen for her latest music video by scouting them on Instagram.

So the lesson here is: don't lie about dating ridiculously famous people if you don't want them to find out. Period.