Beyoncé’s mother reacts to criticism over Christmas Halftime Show

Beyoncé‘s mother, Tina Knowles, has responded to critics of her NFL 2024 Christmas game Halftime Show.

• READ MORE: Beyoncé – ‘Cowboy Carter’ review: country reinvention strikes gold

On Christmas day (December 25), Beyoncé headlined the Halftime Show for the NFL’s Christmas game in her hometown of Houston, Texas, where she performed songs from her 2024 album ‘Cowboy Carter’ live for the first time.

Though the performance saw widespread praise, with some fans dubbing it “the best Super Bowl performance of all time and it wasn’t even the Super Bowl”, it’s received its share of criticism, too.

Beyoncé’s mother, though, has a message for the haters. Taking to Instagram yesterday (December 28), Knowles re-shared a fan’s post calling out negative comments on the performance. “Irrespective of whether you like Beyoncé’s music or not, it is PROOF and motivation that no matter how undeniably talented you are, people will always, ALWAYS, always have some negative ish to say,” the fan’s comment read.

Knowles then wrote in the caption: “My sentiments exactly! It is mind-boggling to me that you would take your precious Christmas day and watch a performance of someone you hate and you don’t think has talent so that you can go talk ish about it later.”

She continued, “Obviously you are so obsessed with them, addicted to them, and secretly admire them, wish you could be them, that you cannot help but to watch and critique and comment and say dumb ridiculous stuff that makes you look like a joke!! So go to another channel when it’s halftime watch goofy cartoons or Bozo the clown or something you can relate to and see yourself in. Said with love.”

Knowles went on to say: “I have learned so much from her warrior spirit, of when they go low I work harder ‘No weapon formed against me shall prosper’ one, two, three waiting for the fake bots to come’.”

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A post shared by Tina Knowles (@mstinaknowles)

The event was live-streamed on Netflix, with replays available for just a few hours after in the US, and up to 24 hours internationally. However, luckily for fans who were unable to catch the performance before its removal, Netflix has since confirmed that the Halftime Show – now dubbed Beyoncé Bowl – is being released as a standalone special on the streaming platform later this week.

No concrete date or time has been shared, however the special already has a page on the Netflix platform, and fans can add reminders for when it goes live.

During the set, which ran for under 13 minutes, Queen Bey was joined by the likes of Shaboozey, Post Malone, Reyna Roberts, Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer and Tiera Kennedy. Her eldest daughter Blue Ivy Carter also joined along to dance to ‘Texas Hold ‘Em’.

She live-debuted a string of ‘Cowboy Carter’ tracks, including ’16 Carriages’, ‘Blackbird’, ‘YA YA’, ‘My House’, ‘Jolene’, ‘Levii’s Jeans’ and ‘Sweet Honey Buckiin”.

After the performance wrapped, Beyoncé took to social media to tease something for January 14, 2025. Fans have begun speculating that it could be an announcement for a tour behind ‘Cowboy Carter’. However, other fans have suggested that it could be an announcement for ‘Act III’ of the ‘Renaissance’ trilogy.

‘Cowboy Carter’ scored a five-star review from NME upon its release, with Jenessa Williams writing: “Even if interpreted only on the grounds of artistic spectacle, it’s an undeniable thrill to see her swing so big on a project that dares her to be so intimate and vocal-focused, while making way for country’s up-and-comers too.”

The album clinched the seventh spot in NME‘s 50 Best Albums of 2024 list, and ’16 Carriages’ was named the eighth Best Song of 2024.

In other Beyoncé news, in November she became the most-nominated musician in Grammy history. She previously tied Jay-Z with 88 nominations apiece, but has since been nominated for a whopping 11 awards at next year’s Grammys, all for ‘Cowboy Carter’. She now holds a record-breaking 99 nominations and in 2023 broke the record for most Grammy wins, taking home a total of 32 trophies.

The post Beyoncé’s mother reacts to criticism over Christmas Halftime Show appeared first on NME.