Michelle Obama dressed like Beyoncé Knowles in a 36th birthday tribute on Twitter to the multi-Grammy winning singer. So did a lot of other people, but not with the former first lady’s punch.
Obama and everyone else wore a hat covering their eyes, with braided hair, like Beyoncé sports in her music video "Formation," People magazine said. Tennis star Serena Williams, singers Michelle Williams and Kelly Rowland from Destiny's Child, and Knowles' daughter Blue Ivy Carter, joined in.
The video to the song "Formation" and its 2016 Super Bowl performance by Knowles was criticized in the law enforcement community and elsewhere for being anti-police, something the singer has denied, Rolling Stone magazine reported. The video led to threats of boycotts by some police unions.
Knowles' mother Tina Knowles Lawson, mother-in-law Gloria Carter, and grandmother-in-law Hattie White also joined in the tribute along with others, per People.
A Houston native, Knowles added a link where people could donate money to support Hurricane Harvey victims in the area with the hashtag #BEYGOODHOUSTON.
"We have teamed up with Bread of Life, Greater Houston Community Foundation, and Texas Southern University, all of whom have been working with the displaced from the start of Hurricane Harvey's landfall," the donation website said.
People said Obama and Knowles have been friends for almost 10 years, noting the singer belting out the standard "At Last" during then-President Barack Obama's first inauguration.
Knowles also joined the former first lady on her "Let's Move" campaign to fight childhood obesity, People said, and Obama appeared onstage during Knowles' performance at the Global Citizen Festival in 2015.
"Formation" was a part of Knowles' album "Lemonade." The video connected with the album, which aired on HBO last year, won a Peabody Award in April, Variety said.
"'Lemonade' draws from the prolific literary, musical, cinematic, and aesthetic sensibilities of black cultural producers to create a rich tapestry of poetic innovation," Peabody judges said of the video, per Variety.