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BeyonceVMA16.jpg

Beyoncé And John Oliver Make Their Cases For Becoming Superheros

By Emily Cutler | Celebrity | August 29, 2016 |

By Emily Cutler | Celebrity | August 29, 2016 |


Sundays are usually big TV nights. But with Game of Thrones, Shameless and now Last Week Tonight all on breaks, it’s been unusually quiet. Luckily HBO and the VMAs teamed up to give us the real superhero face off we’ve been waiting for all year. Yeah, Civil War, I’m still angry with you.

John Oliver made his claim with Johnny Strong: conqueror of cats and defeater of clarinet teachers everywhere.

I feel bad speaking ill of anything Oliver wants to put out, but I feel like this maybe isn’t his best work. It’s definitely not the funniest or most joyous web exclusive he’s given us. But he’s on his way to becoming Pajiba Hall of Fame so I don’t really feel I’m in a position to question him.

Beyoncé I really don’t feel in a position to question. And I get it. The Beyoncé praise and fandom can get overwhelming. The abject devotion to her Beyness is not only off-putting for non-fans, but is so extreme that it must be “over-exaggeration,” right? When her fans fawn over literally her every move, it only proves that she’s not as good as they say she is. That the fans are more enraptured with the idea of Beyoncé than they are the artist/performer. That even if she’s good, she’s not so flawless as to warrant the praise she receives. Because no one is that good, right?

Wrong. Listen, I’m not a big enough fan to have “Beyoncé Doesn’t Procrastinate” tattooed on my arm, but she’s legitimately amazing.


THEBEYONCEWORLD.COM - Lemonade Medley (MTV VMA 2016) from Fansite Freak on Vimeo.

This was a performance that: Touched on domestic violence, female empowerment, black empowerment; showed a woman could be tough, openly sexual and sexy, and be taken seriously; was deeply personal while being universal; and featured dozens of female dancers without degrading or objectifying any of them. All while bringing the goddamn house down. Yep, that’s a superhero.