Who can forget Cuba Gooding Jr. and Tom Cruise shouting back and forth in the movie “Jerry McGuire? What was the infamous phrase? “Show me the money!”
That scene wasn’t fiction, it really is the way things go in the business world, and some people are coming down on Beyoncé for her commitment to her business.
The celebrity business world revolves around the celebrities themselves. They are what is being sold to the general public, and sometimes the public misses this glaring reality.
When you watch someone on the screen or hear one of your favorite stars sing, you feel connected with them. You are in the club, even if you are just a fan. And you follow their personal lives on all the available social network platforms available to you.
Celebrities’ names become the brand that people what to have in their lives, and the brand brings in lots of business… which means money.
So Beyoncé is one of those big celebrity brands and she is currently coming under fire from the LGBT community for performing in Dubai. This is a known city that is anti-LGBT, so much so that being gay comes with the death penalty.
The iconic Grammy-winning star has been accused of “casting a shadow” over any past support for the queer community. Many are saying that she doesn’t even need the money she is getting.
The number of fans criticizing Beyoncé is growing into the thousands, they are saying she is “selling out.” They are pointing out the inconsistency of her latest album, Renaissance, being dedicated to her Uncle Jonny who identified as gay and battled with HIV.
Peter Tatchell, an LGBT rights activist, said, “Ditching her own progressive values, she put a money-grabbing pay cheque before human rights. On top of that, her music set excluded all tracks from her 2022 Renaissance album, which was a homage to queer black dance pioneers.”
People feel betrayed by Beyoncé, but they just don’t get that it’s really the business of Beyoncé.