A recent trend started through social media where citizens and celebrities thank Beyoncé, an influential music artist, for an important event in their lives, which has stemmed from multiple conspiracy theories. It all began once people on social media noticed a trend in celebrities thanking Beyoncé when receiving an award, particularly at the Grammys. In 2017, singer and songwriter Adele accepted a Grammy for Album of the Year, even though she believed Beyoncé deserved the award, stating that Beyoncé became the “artist of her life.” Adele remains one of several celebrities to thank Beyoncé on stage while accepting an award, and others continue to follow the same pattern.
The trend of thanking Beyoncé seems innocent, but the concept behind it cannot prove the same. After people started noticing the trend among celebrities, they came up with a conspiracy theory: fans thanked her because of her godlike power. The theory started off as a dark story relating to the death of Aaliyah, a star that redefined contemporary rhythm and blues in the 1990s. Now that she owns the title of the Queen of Pop, a majority of people believe that Beyoncé possibly played a part in Aaliyah’s death so that she would succeed “Thank Beyoncé or face the consequences” became the new saying behind the conspiracy theories.
There remains uncertainty around when celebrities first started thanking Beyoncé, but for over a decade, celebrities added Beyoncé in their acceptance speech when receiving an award that Beyoncé stood in the running for. Aside from the dark aspect of the theory, fans base this trend almost on a religious reverence that they perceive Beyoncé with. After seeing the events of this new trend, people think that this recent movement mimics a skit from a famous Saturday Night Live (SNL) piece that refers to the consequences of not liking Beyoncé, but instead of receiving backlash for not liking her music, people instead thank her for basic wins in life.
“I think people thank Beyoncé because they could possibly end up missing or potentially pass away. After seeing videos on TikTok that would show evidence of her being involved in other celebrities’ deaths like Aaliyah and Tupac, I would believe she had part in their deaths. Especially after I saw a video of someone thanking her and once the performance was over they stopped posting on all platforms. Which leads me to believe she did all the stuff people accused her of doing,” sophomore Ava Lewis said.
The trend expanded to other brands and platforms. An example of a brand that thanked Beyoncé featured Ryanair when a passenger on their plane thanked them for two windows near their seats in an X post, to which Ryanair replied saying that Beyoncé deserved the credit.
“At first I participated in the trend before the scandal and allegations. They started thanking her because it was shocking and surprising how every time celebrities mentioned her ended up winning an award. Which led to a joke afterward. Even though I thought it was ridiculous I still believe in it because it connects some dots, especially with some of the theories, including the one related to the song ‘She Knows.’ I believe she is guilty of the things she is accused of because of all the articles and all the allegations that’ve been made about her,” sophomore Veve Pham said.
The fad continues to surge around the internet while celebrities continue to thank Beyoncé as the theories remain a mystery on whether it portrays the truth or not. While TikTok floods with posts and comments showing their gratitude before an important matter, others try to dig deep to find the truth behind this conspiracy.
