Has your social media feed somehow turned into streams of memes and posts showering Beyonce with “thank you” notes while you’re absolutely terrified of her singing “She Knows” by J. Cole in the background? Are you as confused as the next person as to why this emerging TikTok trend has suddenly become a movement in its own right? If you answered yes, stay until the end to finally explore the conspiracy theories and the magic of satire.

Beyonce and her husband Jay-Z are often viewed as godlike, untouchable beings in the music industry. A new conspiracy theory on social media doesn’t help them gain a relatable identity, but rather pushes them further away from it and positions them as people to be feared. This internet rhetoric took shape as disgraced mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs has been at the center of countless headlines since his arrest in September on sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges. The embattled artist is known to have enjoyed a long-standing friendship with Queen Bey and her rapper husband, and the pair have even been spotted at P Diddy’s infamous parties.

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Thanks, Beyoncé’s conspiracy theory explained

Since then, fans have noticed that numerous musicians often thanked Beyonce on stage, even if their wins had nothing to do with the “Cowboy Carter” singer. The group’s most memorable case undoubtedly dates back to 2009, when Kanye West notoriously interrupted Taylor Swift during her VMAs acceptance speech. “I’ll let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time!” he said at the time, inviting many images of dropped jaws and endless panting.

Forbes also pointed to Adele’s 2017 Album of the Year award at the Grammys. In her speech, the English songbird not only praised Queen Bey as the “artist of my life”, but was also ultimately linked to an urban legend. The Skyfall hit artist broke her trophy that night, and years of speculation suggest she did so intentionally to share part of her Grammy with Beyoncé. Although the Mean Girls-like invention turned out to be false, the rumor’s resurgence only added spice to the ongoing series of viral trends.

While it’s not uncommon to express gratitude for creative inspirations during awards season, the new “Beyoncé trend” is becoming ever-present given the recent developments surrounding Diddy. The conspiracy theory meme-turned-meme is no longer limited to TikTok. Over the past month, other SNS platforms have also embraced the satire, as netizens doubled down on their habitual comments about how they can’t afford to thank Beyoncé if they care about her life.

What is the connection between She Knows and Beyoncé Knowles?

Meanwhile, other strands of the theory have also drawn on the death of one of the most famous R&B singers of the ’90s: Aaliyah. The singer reached her peak in the early stages of her career and still had a long road full of milestones ahead of her. However, her path was tragically cut short when she died in a plane crash in the Bahamas two months after the debut of her self-titled album in 2001. The incident occurred shortly after she finished filming her music video “Rock the Boat.”

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Elsewhere on social media, you can now find internet users who perceive Beyoncé as the leader of a secret, cult-like group. Furthermore, some of these (far-fetched?) speculations even entertain the possibility that Queen Bey played an active role in not only Aaliyah’s death, but those of Michael Jackson and Left Eye as well. That’s because J Cole raps about her in his hit “She Knows”: “The only thing bad about a star is that it burns/Rest in peace to Aaliyah/Rest in peace to Left Eye/Michael Jackson.” , I’ll see.” Yes/ As soon as I die.”

Another aspect of the theory posits that Cole’s song implies that Beyonce “knows” everything about Diddy’s “white” parties and even everything that happened in the early hours after the majority of guests left.

After successfully sneaking out of the Kendrick Lamar-Drake feud, J Cole delved into another piece of pop culture lore

When the discourse surrounding the musical couple got out of hand, J. Cole’s “She Knows”, an eleven-year-old song, more than came to life again. Its resurgence is undoubtedly attributed to the new age meme culture. The track was added as background music video after video, suggesting the alleged suspicious involvement of Beyoncé and Jay-Z. In one particular video, the names “Shawn” (Jay-Z’s real name) and Knowles (Beyonce’s last name) were highlighted, suggesting that Cole’s song title was a subtle nod to their names.

It didn’t help that Diddy’s first name is also “Sean,” which has the same pronunciation as Jay-Z’s name. What made matters worse was that the 2013 hit, which was brought back to life amid explosive conspiracy theories on social media, was removed from YouTube in the last week of September. There were alleged claims that Jay-Z’s label Roc Nation (which signed Cole in 2009) allegedly issued a DMCA takedown notice to get rid of the song this year. Akademiks noted, “This just makes them look guilty about who on their team approved this lmao.”

However, Variety’s report eventually clarified that a number of songs were removed from the platform due to a legal dispute between YouTube and SESAC, an organization that “controls the public performance of over 1.5 million songs on behalf of its over 15,000 affiliated songwriters, Composers, and music publishers including such well-known names as Bob Dylan, Neil Diamond, RUSH, Adele, Jack Harlow, Ariana Grande, Disclosure, Zac Brown, Rosanne Cash, Lady A’s Hillary Scott, Lee Brice, Margo Price, Nicky Jam and Blanco belongs to Brown and many more.”

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Not all Internet users reacted equally to the new Beyoncé conspiracy theory

Regardless of where this meme train goes, not everyone has responded positively to the trend. Some Beyoncé fans blasted these conspiracy theories, saying they were being used to fuel a smear campaign against the legendary musician. One of the Beyhive members was outraged at raised who thanked her ironically, but not because they were trying to survive?? Survive what??”

Another fan replied: “It’s unfortunate how people are brainwashed. They are falling for this narrative created by clowns who can’t stand the fact that a successful black woman has been running the game for 20 years, minding her business, living a nice life and has never been involved in drugs or drugs. “a major scandal in her career.”

A third replied: “I’m SO tired of Beyoncé being the butt of all jokes.” She’s one of the last greatest entertainers and is constantly disrespected.

Racist classes were soon included in the debate: “It’s ONLY racist and I won’t go into it. This would be national news if people played around with Taylor Swift’s name like that. It’s fucking sick.”