By The Editorial Board
In the spirit of spooky season, Beyoncé had been dubbed a murderer and Kanye was the good guy all along (terrifying) — all of it was allegedly uncovered in the wake of Sean “Diddy” Combs’ arrest in September.
We’ll give you a little summary. Combs was arrested in September and charged with sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution. Since his arrest, more than 100 alleged victims have come forward with accusations against him. In addition to these allegations, TikTok sleuths have concocted countless conspiracy theories in conjunction with the charges.
Since the news, people have noticed his long-time friendship with Jay-Z and Beyoncé. Conspiracists have slandered Beyoncé as the mastermind behind the deaths of Michael Jackson, Aliyah and TLC’s “Left Eye” Lopez, with help from Combs and Jay-Z. The apparent proof lies in J. Cole’s song “She Knows,” where he references the three passed artists. To make the situation fishier, many have connected the song title with Beyoncé’s maiden name, Knowles.
Now that we know Beyoncé is in actuality a stone-cold killer, let’s look at some award acceptance speeches. When Adele won Album of the Year at the Grammy’s in 2017, she thanked Beyoncé. The same thing happened with various, seemingly random artists who thanked Beyoncé when they received awards. The list includes Britney Spears, Lizzo, Lady Gaga and now Jojo Siwa — yes, Jojo Siwa. As the theory goes, artists thank Beyoncé in their acceptance speeches so she will spare their lives.
If you’re not done making your tin foil hat, don’t worry. The conspiracy goes one step further. We all remember Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at the 2009 VMAs and Kanye West’s interruption to — you guessed it — thank Beyoncé. What was in 2009 an obvious attempt to undermine a naive 19-year-old country music artist now being dubbed a noble effort to spare Swift from Beyoncé’s fury. It’s a sweet sentiment, really, and we would love to think that Kanye was protecting her all along. We know TikTok loves the bad-guy-turned-good cliché.
So, there you have it. After the arrest of Combs, Beyoncé — along with her bedazzled cowgirl boots — is a serial killer, J. Cole with his 2013 hit song is the boy who cried wolf and Kanye West is Taylor Swift’s knight on his white horse.
Here’s the facts of the matter: Combs was arrested because he did some horrifying things and deserves punishment. We won’t go so far as to say Beyoncé is perfect (though we loved Texas Hold ‘Em), but we also don’t think she’s a murderer. The bottom line is there are hundreds of victims looking for justice in correlation with Combs’ crimes. Focusing on petty conspiracies to entertain ourselves takes attention off of the bigger issue, and satirizing the situation reduces hundreds of victims’ trauma to a fun dinner conversation.
