Some Are Making a Bizarre Connection Between Beyoncé and the Death of Liam Payne
Even by conspiracy theory standards, this one is pretty thin.
Published Oct. 18 2024, 10:30 a.m. ET
Probably precisely because she is one of the most powerful Black women in the world, people are always trying to connect Beyoncé to something. The singer's Instagram account was recently flooded by a combination of people and bots who accused her of having some illicit role in the crimes that Sean "Diddy" Combs committed.
Now, another theory has popped up that connects the singer to the tragic death of former One Direction member Liam Payne after he fell out of a hotel room window in Buenos Aires. Here's what we know about the totally unsubstantiated theory.
Explaining the Beyoncé and Liam Payne conspiracy theory.
Basically, the theory just suggests that Beyoncé was staying in the same hotel as Liam at the time of his death. There's also a clip circulating from one of Liam's earliest interviews with One Direction in which he says "Ignore Beyoncé."
Additionally, a clip has started circulating that shows Harry Styles, Liam's friend, winning Album of the Year over Beyoncé with Liam in the audience applauding.
All of this combined is somehow meant to suggest that Beyoncé played some role in Liam's death, with some even suggesting that he was killed because he knew too much about her relationship with Diddy.
Of course, none of this has been substantiated, and it seems like the claim that Beyoncé was staying at the same hotel at Liam was just made up completely. At the very least, there's no evidence to support it at the moment.
The rest of the evidence is so circumstantial and tangential that it hardly even makes sense. Beyoncé is killing everyone who ever once said that she should be ignored? Do we really think that? Or that Liam had some inside knowledge and Beyoncé is personally traveling the world to take out people who could implicate her for some sort of crime, the details of which are also maddeningly vague.
Conspiracies help us explain a chaotic world.
It is virtually impossible that Beyoncé had any role in Liam Payne's death. There's no evidence the two ever really interacted in any capacity. That hasn't stopped the rumors from spreading on TikTok, though, and that spread might be in part because believing in conspiracies is sometimes easier than believing that sometimes random, tragic things can happen to people.
You can choose to believe that Beyoncé had something to do with Liam's death if you want to believe that it wasn't just a horrible accident or some other personal tragedy. As flimsy as the evidence is, it might be easier to accept that version of events.
Beyoncé has a pretty good life, and these conspiracy theories might not even reach her ears. Regardless of whether they do, though, the suggestion that she's some sort of all-powerful, malevolent force is untrue. She's a person, albeit an exceptionally talented and wealthy one, and she doesn't need to be implicated in whatever random mess is being cooked up on TikTok.