Tina Knowles-Lawson took to Instagram on Tuesday, Aug. 24, to defend her daughter Beyoncé after the singer received major backlash following her Tiffany & Co. campaign launch alongside Jay-Z.
The controversy surrounding the initial “About Love” campaign, which was released earlier this week, relates to the rare Tiffany Yellow Diamond necklace the 39-year-old wore in the ad’s photos. Many accused the “Drunk in Love” vocalist of wearing a “blood diamond” or an uncut gem removed from an area of conflict and traded illegally.
The Tiffany Diamond, as the company states, originated from the “Kimberly diamond mines in South Africa in 1877.” It wasn’t until the following year that Tiffany & Co. founder Charles Lewis Tiffany obtained the “287.42-carat stone.” for $18,000. Following its purchase, the stone was then transported to Paris, where it was trimmed down to 128.54 carats.
Knowles-Lawson shot back at those who criticized Beyoncé for wearing the diamond after being made aware of the initial comments on The Grio’s Instagram page. She wrote on the site’s comments section,“How many of you socially conscious activist own diamonds? I thought so ! How many of you socially conscious activist own diamonds? I thought so! Well, guess what did you go to try to check to see where the diamond came from? Probably not!”
The mother of two wrapped up her rant by trying to tell the “righteous” people not to purchase particular items because they come from “another country.”
As Knowles-Lawson’s remarks went viral, many people claimed that the person behind the keyboard wasn’t the 67-year-old but Beyoncé herself.
“I’m convinced this be Beyoncé writing from her Moma page 😂😂😂😂😂.”
“We all know Beyonce uses Tina’s account to address things 😂 smart, but obvious at this point.”
“I feel like Beyoncé uses Tina’s Instagram to clap back..”
“It’s Beyonce in disguise under her moms account. I would curse y’all out that way too.”
While a multitude of individuals made their assumptions, others pointed out how the bottom half of Knowles-Lawson’s comment made no sense. One wrote,”I know she means well, but she need some proof reading before checking someone.” Another said, “Tina should have gotten someone else to write this because chile😳.” One Instagram user brought up that the critics made Knowles-Lawson so upset that her post was filled with typos. “All them typos yeah y’all done pissed her off 😂😂😂.”
Despite the negative feedback, Beyoncé made history the day the campaign launched on Aug. 26 as the first black woman and the fourth woman in the world to wear the rare diamond necklace.
