Beyoncé's Charity Criticized for Honoring Controversial Blogger On Social Media - INTO
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Beyoncé’s Charity Criticized for Honoring Controversial Blogger On Social Media

Juwan J. Holmes

Beyonce at the World premiere of 'The Lion King' held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, USA on July 9, 2019.
Beyonce at the World premiere of 'The Lion King' held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, USA on July 9, 2019. | Shutterstock

As if bloggers/vloggers haven’t made enough headlines this week, especially as it relates to royals, another one has stirred controversy simply for receiving recognition from a charitable organization started by the one and only Beyoncé. Let’s take a trip down the slippery slope of stan-dom, shall we?

BeyGOOD, a foundation created by Beyoncé in 2014, honored Justin James — known online as “The King of Reads” — for “being an advocate for and activist in the Black LGBTQ+ community.”

The Twitter account for the foundation posted a picture of him alongside Kyemah McEntyre, a fashion designer, artist and visionary, under a quote from Jay-Z reading, “I will not lose/for even in defeat/there is a valuable/lesson learned.”

Naturally, James welcomed the recognition.

Others, however, were not. 

Many of the Beyhive expressed their dismay or outrage over the foundation’s choice, pointing to past criticisms James had made about the foundation’s creator and her family.

It’s safe to say many of her biggest supporters took issue with the charity’s choice.

https://twitter.com/Dang_Rashad/status/1496528609758097411

Some also pointed out to past remarks about trans women and other controversial statements he has made in social media posts or videos on YouTube and TikTok.

Critics pointed to this as evidence that James wasn’t deserving of recognition for LGBTQ activism.

There were some commenters coming to his defense though… 

https://twitter.com/Dang_Rashad/status/1496598501471490052

https://twitter.com/Dang_Rashad/status/1496651691516698626

…Or at least had theories as to why this choice was made.

At the least, James himself tweeted through it, expressing that he was uninterested in the noise.

BeyGOOD also posted a tweet, including a quote from Barack Obama, which some suggest was posted in response to the criticism.

Either way, the stans are not okay.

Juwan is a bisexual journalist and multipotentialite from Brooklyn, New York who was previously the Associate Editor of INTO and LGBTQ Nation. He served as the Weekend Editor of LGBTQ Nation from October 2019 to January 2021. Juwan has also written for Bustle, Mediaite, The Independent, Xtra Magazine, and more. See all articles by Juwan J. Holmes.

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