Nowadays, it seems like Beyoncé is impenetrable. The celebrity that she's cultivated for herself allows her to vanish from the public in a moment's notice. It's probably a hell of a gig rather than be in the public eye all the time. However, this setup has also rubbed a lot of people the wrong way, especially country fans and some of its artists. It makes it seem like she's too good to be around them. It didn't always used to be this way though. Justin Timberlake remembers when Queen Bey was open enough to do skits on Saturday Night Live.
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Recently, JT spoke on the Peacock documentary Ladies & Gentleman... 50 Years of SNL Music. There, he talks about the parody for Beyoncé's "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)." "[Samberg] said Bobby Moynihan has this great idea for a sketch about you, me and him being Beyoncé's background dancers that never made the cut," Timberlake recalls. "I was like 'full leotard'? And he's like, 'yeah.' I was like, 'This is too funny. We have to do this.'"
Justin Timberlake Recalls Beyoncé Being Hesitant to Do Music Video Parody on SNL
Initially, Beyoncé was completely out. There's no telling if she didn't think the idea was funny or if she thought it might've been disrespectful to her song. But she gives Justin the cold shoulder at first. "She was very polite about it, but she was very hesitant. And when I say hesitant, I mean like, she was not having it," Timberlake says. "I'm like: Does she know how funny this is gonna be? How beloved this whole moment will be?"
What better way to convince her than to show how those leotards look? "I put the leotard and the heels and the hose on and everything, and put a robe on. I walked and knocked on her door, I threw the robe down and put my hands on my hips and she was like, 'No you didn't!'" Timberlake adds.
As somebody who loves Andy Samberg's weird, occasionally cringy comedy, I see the vision a little bit. Check it out below.
