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| Beyonce’s ‘Lemonade’ Lyrics Entangle a Celebrity Chef | |
| (about 9 hours later) | |
| Minutes after Beyoncé released “Lemonade,” an album in which she touches on marital infidelity, fans in the Beyhive declared it a very bad evening for two people: her husband, Jay Z; and the mystery woman the singer fleetingly mentions as a mistress. Let’s call that poor soul Becky. | Minutes after Beyoncé released “Lemonade,” an album in which she touches on marital infidelity, fans in the Beyhive declared it a very bad evening for two people: her husband, Jay Z; and the mystery woman the singer fleetingly mentions as a mistress. Let’s call that poor soul Becky. |
| The lyric is embedded at the end of the song “Sorry,” and it goes like this: “He only want me when I’m not there. He better call Becky with the good hair.” | The lyric is embedded at the end of the song “Sorry,” and it goes like this: “He only want me when I’m not there. He better call Becky with the good hair.” |
| Soon after watching Beyoncé swing a bat at cars and set her surroundings on fire in the televised album viewing event, the Beyhive carried out the virtual equivalent of a car smashing against the reputation of the designer Rachel Roy, whose relationship with Jay Z had long been a matter of speculation. | Soon after watching Beyoncé swing a bat at cars and set her surroundings on fire in the televised album viewing event, the Beyhive carried out the virtual equivalent of a car smashing against the reputation of the designer Rachel Roy, whose relationship with Jay Z had long been a matter of speculation. |
| It did not help that Ms. Roy alluded to her good hair in an Instagram post on Saturday night, the night the album was unveiled. “Good hair, don’t care,” she wrote. That was all the evidence the Beyhive needed to unleash its wrath. | It did not help that Ms. Roy alluded to her good hair in an Instagram post on Saturday night, the night the album was unveiled. “Good hair, don’t care,” she wrote. That was all the evidence the Beyhive needed to unleash its wrath. |
| But then it got stranger. The TV chef Rachael Ray was accidentally pulled into the fray — because of her similar name. | But then it got stranger. The TV chef Rachael Ray was accidentally pulled into the fray — because of her similar name. |
| This photo is a fairly accurate representation of what happened next: | This photo is a fairly accurate representation of what happened next: |
| The Beyhive largely reversed course after discovering that Ms. Ray, the Food Network fixture who prefers to go by “Rach,” was the victim of an unfortunate misspelling. But her Instagram page remains a smoldering wreckage of lemon and bee emojis. Ms. Roy was so inundated with comments that she set her own account to private. | The Beyhive largely reversed course after discovering that Ms. Ray, the Food Network fixture who prefers to go by “Rach,” was the victim of an unfortunate misspelling. But her Instagram page remains a smoldering wreckage of lemon and bee emojis. Ms. Roy was so inundated with comments that she set her own account to private. |
| To be sure, there are other things in “Lemonade” that are more important than punishing Becky, such as Beyoncé’s use of powerful imagery and spoken-word poetry to tell a story of the resilience of black womanhood and her elevation of black female voices through her work. (Our critic wrote: “It’s a process. Black women are good at lemonade.”) | To be sure, there are other things in “Lemonade” that are more important than punishing Becky, such as Beyoncé’s use of powerful imagery and spoken-word poetry to tell a story of the resilience of black womanhood and her elevation of black female voices through her work. (Our critic wrote: “It’s a process. Black women are good at lemonade.”) |
| But the rapturous dismantling of Ms. Roy’s social media accounts briefly took center stage. Users harassed the designer on Instagram and Twitter, and someone edited her Wikipedia page (“Died: Under a lemonade stand,” it appeared to read at one point). Ms. Roy’s daughters, Ava, 16, and Tallulah, 7, also received an onslaught of abusive comments on their Instagram pages. | But the rapturous dismantling of Ms. Roy’s social media accounts briefly took center stage. Users harassed the designer on Instagram and Twitter, and someone edited her Wikipedia page (“Died: Under a lemonade stand,” it appeared to read at one point). Ms. Roy’s daughters, Ava, 16, and Tallulah, 7, also received an onslaught of abusive comments on their Instagram pages. |
| Some of the backlash against Ms. Roy was focused on the specific use of “good hair,” a phrase that has been used as shorthand to describe hair texture associated with white, light-skinned or Asian women. | Some of the backlash against Ms. Roy was focused on the specific use of “good hair,” a phrase that has been used as shorthand to describe hair texture associated with white, light-skinned or Asian women. |
| Some commented that Ms. Roy’s acknowledgment of her own “good hair” was, essentially, a racist act. | Some commented that Ms. Roy’s acknowledgment of her own “good hair” was, essentially, a racist act. |
| After hours of being targeted, Ms. Roy commented on Sunday — not on her use of “good hair,” but on her respect of marriage. | After hours of being targeted, Ms. Roy commented on Sunday — not on her use of “good hair,” but on her respect of marriage. |
| A couple of days later, the dust seems to be clearing. If you’re reading this, congratulations: You survived the rapture. And it looks as if Jay Z is going to be just fine: “Lemonade” is another high-profile delivery to his music service, Tidal, and his marriage appears to be intact. | A couple of days later, the dust seems to be clearing. If you’re reading this, congratulations: You survived the rapture. And it looks as if Jay Z is going to be just fine: “Lemonade” is another high-profile delivery to his music service, Tidal, and his marriage appears to be intact. |
| On Monday, Ms. Ray hadn’t addressed the brouhaha, and instead used her Twitter account to praise a musical. (This seems like a good Internet rule of thumb: When in doubt, bring up “Hamilton.”) When it comes to her, the mob seems to have moved along. | On Monday, Ms. Ray hadn’t addressed the brouhaha, and instead used her Twitter account to praise a musical. (This seems like a good Internet rule of thumb: When in doubt, bring up “Hamilton.”) When it comes to her, the mob seems to have moved along. |
| The same can’t be said for the woman who was accused of being Becky. The Internet abuse appears to have leaked into her professional life: Ms. Roy pulled out of a work engagement Monday morning, citing a personal emergency, BuzzFeed reported. | The same can’t be said for the woman who was accused of being Becky. The Internet abuse appears to have leaked into her professional life: Ms. Roy pulled out of a work engagement Monday morning, citing a personal emergency, BuzzFeed reported. |