Beyonce & Jay Z Face Criticism For Showing Justin Bieber’s Mugshot On Stage
Did Beyonce and Jay Z slight Justin Bieber on stage? Fans and critics are saying yes, thanks (or no thanks) to fan footage from opening night of their joint On the Run tour.
One clip (above) shows that Jay Z was performing his 2001 hit “Izzo (H.O.V.A.)” to celebrity mugshots being projected behind him. Only Beyonce’s were fake; the others of David Bowie, Puff Daddy, Tupac and more were real. The clip does show that Bieber’s mugshot was timed to Jay’s best line in “Izzo” (“So poof! / Vamoose, son of a b—-”). What it doesn’t show, though, is that Beyonce was also apparently addressing the crowd. “Even the greatest can fall,” she said, according to The Mirror.
Ultimately, though, people are panicking over nothing. To start, the “Izzo” verse that Jay Z performs is celebratory. It’s about how he escaped conviction as a drug dealer: “Haters want me clapped in chrome, it ain’t easy / Cops want to knock me, D.A. wants to box me in / But somehow, I beat the charges like Rocky.” And its overall idea, about he’s going to overcome the haters and his bad reputation – that’s a sentiment that Bowie, Puff Daddy and, yes, Bieber can appreciate.
The same could be said for what Beyonce reportedly said, “Even the greatest can fall.” Basically, that’s another way of saying, “Shit happens.” (Jay Z’s mugshot? That’s real.) Not that that even matters. To start, the fan footage above seems to disprove The Mirror‘s claim. Plus, again, Bieber’s mugshot popped up during the song’s best line. Why would she chime in right when fans were guaranteed to rap along? It’s easier to imagine her mugging to Hov’s hit instead.
Watch Bieber’s mugshot during Jay Z’s performance of “Izzo” up top, then see rehearsal footage of his and Beyonce’s On the Run tour below.
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