I Am Very Charmed By Cardi B and Penn Badgley Being Star-Struck By One Another [UPDATED]

Penn Badgley, an actor smart enough to rarely tweet, has had an exciting couple of days on Twitter, courtesy of Cardi B.

A Cardi B stan account recirculated a 2019 video from a press tour of Netflix’s You, featuring Badgley and his then-co-star, Shay Mitchell, discussing the pluses and minuses of social media. Badgley pointed out that while his serial killer character Joe Goldberg unveils the dark side of the medium—using it to stalk strangers and study their movements with alarming precision—it’s ultimately a tool, and “there’s nothing inherently wrong about that tool at all.”

“I really admire people like Shay who have an authentic relationship with social media,” Badgely said. “When I try to do something on social media, it’s pathetic… I think about it too much. And therefore when I do use it, it actually lacks that authenticity, that fluidity.”

But it’s those qualities he apparently lacks that he believes to be second nature to rapper Cardi B.

“[I] actually really appreciate people who have this sort of… second nature relationship to [social media]… Cardi B is a great example!” he said. “She has such an authentic relationship. It’s this incredibly nuanced place to be… and that’s why people like her so much.”

Once this clip hit Cardi’s timeline over the weekend, she flipped in typical Cardi fashion.

“OOOOMMFFFGGGGGG HE KNOWS ME !!!” Cardi tweeted. “OMMMGGGG!!!!!!Yoooo like I’m famous famous.”

Cardi B has been “famous famous” for years now, moreso than Badgley. But assuming Cardi B, like many other young Millennials, watched her fair share of Gossip Girl as a teen, it’s easy to see why she was star-struck. Even if you out-fame celebrities you loved growing up, it hits different when they acknowledge your existence.

On Wednesday, Badgley responded to Cardi with a simple—and delightfully overwhelmed—“I—.”

But I, for one, don’t know why Badgley was being so hard on himself. He should absolutely use social media more if it’ll give us quippy gems like this:

Update, (October 21, 2021, 10:40 a.m.): Okay, Badgley and Cardi have swapped Twitter avatars. This is disgustingly wholesome.