And you thought your last business meeting was a mess… An actress has been left slack-jawed by a business meeting she had with a writer that went extremely sideways.
It sparked a bit of a debate about the red flags women often receive from male colleagues and what they should be expected to do about them.
The man’s girlfriend showed up to their business meeting to interrogate them about their intentions.
Actress and TikToker Emily Joy Lemus shared the story in a video filmed in her car immediately after the altercation, which left her stunned.
She shared that she knew from the start that the man she was meeting with, a screenwriter, was into her because he’d used flirtatious emojis—like the heart eyes and flames—in the Instagram DMs where they set up the meeting.
But other than that, things remained professional, and since she was definitely not interested in the guy in any other context, she forged ahead — an all-too-common situation for women in any field, but especially in entertainment.
“Mind you,” she said, “we decided to meet at like 4 p.m., which you know, it is too late for lunch and too early for dinner.” So, there was no reason to assume there was anything more to the meeting. “I’m like, it’s coffee, like; we’re just getting coffee.”
But it quickly became apparent that the man was meeting with her for more than just business reasons.
But when Lemus arrived, the meeting was at a nice restaurant. A woman greeted her and knew exactly where the guy was sitting, which became significant later on. And then, about an hour into the meeting, the man took his shot, asking, “How’s your dating life?”
Photo: CREATISTA / Shutterstock
She wasn’t interested, so she quickly demurred, steering the conversation back to the entertainment industry, the script they were discussing, and her career. And then things took a huge turn.
Suddenly, the guy became very agitated. “He’s like, ‘Oh, I gotta go to Long Beach. I gotta go to Long Beach right now,’… and he starts standing up, and I’m like, what? Are you just abruptly leaving?”
At that point, his girlfriend stormed up to the table, demanding to see their DMs.
It turns out the woman who directed her to her table was, in fact, the man’s girlfriend, spying on them. “The same girl who came up to me earlier and told me where he was sitting comes up to the table, and she’s like, ‘Did you know that was my boyfriend?'”
Lemus was, of course, caught off guard and “stunned,” and then things escalated. “She starts raising her voice and she starts yelling at him,” Lemus said.
In a follow-up video, Lemus shared a recording of the altercation in which she explained that her understanding was that the meeting was strictly professional, but the woman was undeterred and demanded to see their DMs.
Lemus felt she had nothing to hide and quickly handed them over, which only made the woman more angry. “The entire restaurant is looking, and I’m like, what is happening? What am I in the middle of right now?”
She finally put a stop to it, telling them, “You guys should work through what’s going on because clearly, there’s something going on.” She then thanked him for the meeting and said, “I think we’re done here.” But the altercation left her “shaking.”
Commenters were divided between those who empathized with her and those who thought she should never have gone in the first place.
“All I’m hearing is that the girlfriend had every right to be weirded out,” one commenter wrote. “You lost me at the ‘I think he’s into me,’ then continued to meet,” another added.
Others felt that was a bit ridiculous since business lunches and dinners are standard practice in many fields, including, and maybe especially, entertainment.
Photo: Dean Drobot / Canva Pro
As is, unfortunately, the inappropriate blurring of boundaries. I have a female friend who works in entertainment who once told me, “If I skipped every meeting with a man who was obviously flirting with me, I’d practically never have any meetings to go on.” #MeToo didn’t start in the entertainment industry by chance, after all.
“I have biz lunches like this ALL the time in my industry,” one woman added. “This is super common. I feel for her.”
There’s certainly room to consider her judgment, which may have been a bit off. Still, given what we know about the business world, the entertainment industry, and how women are routinely treated in work settings, it’s probably best to leave the blame on the guy trying to cheat on his girlfriend.
John Sundholm is a news and entertainment writer who covers pop culture, social justice, and human interest topics.