Jennifer Hudson looked dazed after being smacked in the face with a basketball while on a date night with her boyfriend, Common.
The Dreamgirls icon, 43, was watching the New York Knicks play the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday night when she accidentally became the star of the show.
Knicks player Miles McBride lost control of the ball, and it went flying towards the EGOT winner’s face.
Jennifer’s glasses were knocked off as the ball hit her square on the head — with the crowd gasping and Miles, 24, rushing over to check on her.
Her specs appeared to have been bent during the impact as she checked them over but hung them from her top, rather than wearing them again.
From one angle, Common, 52, could be seen wrapping his arm around her as she snuggled into his shoulder after the shock of the accident.
One of the TNT commentators clocked what had happened and interrupted his colleague to declare: ‘Protect Jennifer Hudson. ‘
The Grammy winner first broke out in 2006 when she played Effie White in the 2006 film adaptation of the stage musical Dreamgirls, also starring Beyoncé.
‘Oh no, not the glasses,’ the second commentator said. ‘Those look real expensive, too.’
They even replayed the footage to check if Common — real name Lonnie Rashid Lynn — had attempted to protect his girlfriend, who went public last year with their romance.
‘Common is making sure everybody’s okay,’ the first commentator added, saying he had attempted to block the ball.
However, his co-worker joked that the rapper didn’t do enough to ‘protect’ the Respect star, sparking a debate.
The Testify rapper could be seen reaching his hand out to attempt to stop the speeding ball from hitting his girlfriend.
‘Common with the quick reflexes,’ wrote 1Freebandzzz on X as DjOmegaMVP said: ‘Jennifer was about to cry 😭.’
‘Protect Jennifer! Hope she is ok,’ added AuraAddress, while princessofsoul_ declared: ‘Protect the world’s youngest female EGOT winner in history!’
Date night watching a game is a fairly regular occurrence for the couple, who were rumoured to have started dating in 2022.
She said he was a ‘beautiful man’ as rumours heated up after the pair were pictured together enjoying dinner at Nobu in Malibu, California in February 2023.
In June 2023, Common heaped praise on Jennifer, saying on the Today show: ‘I’ve always been inspired by her. She’s one of the most beautiful people I ever met on the planet.
‘Incredible heart, and she’s just dope, man.’
Since going public, the pair have been loved up and even worked together on a Christmas album which proved an eye-opening experience for Jennifer.
The Oscar-winner told Seth Meyers: ‘He’s a bit bossy when it comes to being Common.’
‘Common and Rashid are two different people musically, but he’s a musical genius, so it’s an honor to be able to work from him, work for him, work with him, and on his album and my album.’
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