These days, Beyonce is practically beyond gentle criticism, much less outright mockery. She has built an empire off her musical talents and has become one of the most famous people in the entire world. Once upon a time, though, she was far less glamorous, and the entire internet was littered with one embarrassing moment from her after another.
We’re talking moments where she’s busted for lip synching and moments when her boobs…well….”bust out.” Times that she’s injured herself performing, and times that she got downright gross with fans. These are the moments the modern internet likes to bury, but don’t worry: we brought a shovel.
Now, without further ado, here are the most embarrassing Beyoncé moments that everyone has now forgotten about!
Lip-synching at the inauguration
When Barack Obama was elected president in 2008, it felt like a truly historic moment for America. After all, we were about to have our first Black president! And his re-election in 2012 felt just as historic. Rather than rejecting this new president, America had embraced his leadership for another four years. To commemorate this achievement, Beyoncé was hired to sing at Obama’s 2013 inauguration ceremony.
She gave what seemed to be an awesome performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” but there was just one problem: she didn’t sing it live. Beyoncé later revealed that she had lip-synched the whole thing, which felt like a big deal. To this day, we don’t get it…like, if he was just going to play a Beyoncé CD, it would have been far cheaper to just hit the PLAY button than fly a famous musician out to fake her performance!
Swinging herself right to the floor
Part of what has made Beyoncé so popular is her energetic performance style. Sure, she sounds great when you listen to her tunes on platforms like YouTube and Spotify. But the reason that fans fill stadiums to see her is that she gives energetic stage shows like nobody else on the planet.
Sometimes, though, a show is memorable for all the wrong reasons. During one performance in Orlando, Beyoncé was swinging her hair back and forth and generally dazzling the audience with her long, luscious locks. However, one of her swings was a little too vigorous, and she ended up swinging herself right to the floor.
It didn’t take long for Beyoncé to recover…physically, at least. But we have a feeling she still has nightmares about busting her butt like that in front of the crowd!
Getting her hair caught in a fan
By now, you’re probably wondering if anything can get more embarrassing than the last one. After all, the one thing worse than accidentally slamming into the stage is doing so because you whipped your hair a little too energetically. As it turns out, though, this singer can’t get a break when it comes to those long locks. And when they aren’t being used to accidentally send her flying into the stage, they are getting caught in a fan on stage!
Back in 2013, Beyoncé was performing in Montreal. Her performance included plenty of fans onstage to give her that epic, windswept look she is so famous for. However, the singer’s hair actually ended up getting caught in one of those fans in a scary moment that made everyone wonder if she was about to cancel the show.
Fortunately for audiences, Beyoncé was a real trooper and just kept performing. And she finished this rendition of “Halo” before she could remove her hair from the fan that was serving as her own unwanted halo.
Beyonce’s own Super Bowl wardrobe malfunction
Pop quiz: who do you think about when you think about the term “wardrobe malfunction?” Most think of Janet Jackson, whose breast famously popped out during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime performance. Most don’t think about Beyoncé, which is a bit surprising. After all, the singer had her own wardrobe malfunction during the 2013 halftime show!
During the show, Beyoncé wore an all-black ensemble that made her look both chic and stylish. At one point, though, it left little to the imagination when one of her nipples popped out. The good news is that the singer was able to tuck it in and ultimately save her reputation from online ridicule.
Being gross, honest, and funny
Most of the embarrassing Beyoncé moments on this list are accidents…the kind of thing that no singer could ever predict or prepare for. However, we saved the best for last, and it’s completely Beyoncé‘s fault. Once upon a time, she admitted that her boogers are part of what scares her most during a performance.
Why is she scared or snot, though? A fan once asked what her biggest fear was, and Beyoncé revealed that she’ll feel mucus in her nostrils but not have an opportunity to blow her nose while performing. Because of this, she is always scared fans will see the “occasional bubble” of snot that pops up from her nose!
This story is gross, honest, and funny, all at the same time. And it reveals that even stars as big as Beyoncé have moments that always bring them back down to Earth!