By Blake Edwards
Kim Kardashian and Beyoncé allegedly are not friends. Even though they’re seen together occasionally, the friendship is reportedly rather one-sided, with Kardashian allegedly bending over backward to get into Queen Bey’s good graces…and failing miserably. Why aren’t these superstars BFFs? Let’s find out.
Maybe Beyoncé keeps her distance from Kardashian because of Kardashian’s husband, rapper Kanye West, who won’t stop spreading rumors about Bey and her man.
E! News reported that at a stop on his since-cancelled Saint Pablo Tour in November 2016, West ranted from the stage, “Beyoncé, I was hurt ’cause I heard that you said you wouldn’t perform unless you won video of the year over me and over ‘Hotline Bling.'” He added, “Now, don’t go trying to diss Beyoncé. She is great…We are all great people. We are all equal, but sometimes we be playing the politics too much and forgetting who we are just to win.”
The expletive-laden tirade went on and on. West eventually set his sites on Bey’s husband, Jay Z, saying, “Jay Z—call me, bruh. You still ain’t called me. Jay Z, call me…Jay Z: I know you got killers. Please don’t send them at my head. Just call me. Talk to me like a man.”
Seriously? With friends like Kimye, who needs enemies?
Designer Rachel Roy is close friends with Kardashian, but Roy is allegedly arch enemies with Beyoncé. Roy is often fingered as the woman who sparked the infamous 2014 elevator fight between Jay Z and Beyoncé’s sister, Solange, after the Met Gala. Sources told the New York Daily News, “Rachel is a little too close to Jay Z. Solange doesn’t like it, and Beyoncé doesn’t like it.” Insiders echoed that chatter to E! News, alleging Roy was very flirty with Jay and turned on the charm even more at the after-party.
Roy’s presence is rumored to be a big reason the Carters skipped Kardashian and West’s wedding (and perhaps the couple’s engagement), but the bad blood doesn’t end there. Roy was even rumored to be the infamous “Becky” from Beyoncé’s hard-hitting “Sorry” track. Roy played into the rumors herself, launching an unprecedented stinging spree from the Beyhive.
On her reality show, Kardashian has documented everything from a crumbling 72-day marriage to her engagement to West and the smell of her own private parts. Could you imagine Beyoncé doing anything remotely close to that? The world didn’t even know when the singer’s last two albums were coming out until they dropped; no one knew about Beyoncé and Jay Z’s 2008 wedding until it was over; and hardly any published photos of the big day exist save for the footage included in a handful of videos. Kardashian and West, meanwhile, court the very publicity that Hov and Bey try to avoid.
A source told Page Six, “[Beyoncé] always gives Kanye a lot of grief whenever he does anything for the show [Keeping Up with the Kardashians].” An insider also told Page Six that Kardashian and West’s obsession with fame irritates Bey and Jay. “[Jay Z] likes his own space and is private. They’re very much not the same person. Jay’s immediate circle is very insular, and Kanye is just a guy who always wants something in the spotlight.”
Sources told the New York Daily News that before their first public sightings together, Kardashian was “trying to do whatever she can to get close to Beyoncé,” yet some claim Bey’s vitriol toward Kardashian even manifests in name-calling. “Bey does not like Kim at all. She’s cool with Kanye, but can’t stand Kim,” an insider told Radar Online. “B calls Kim a ‘scandalous social climbing wh*re’ behind her back.” Someone ring the alarm!
West reportedly lashed out at Jay Z during a concert in October 2016 for not hanging out with his family after Kardashian was robbed at gunpoint in Paris. “Don’t call me after the robbery and say, ‘How you feelin’?’ You wanna know how I’m feelin’? Come by the house…Bring the kids by the house like we brothers,” West fumed (via Page Six). “Our kids ain’t never even played together.”
A source told Page Six their friendship is more business than bros. “Jay can’t stand him,” the insider said. “He looks at him as this crazy, eccentric motherf**ker he can tolerate in small doses. Kanye is a nut job. Everyone knows that.” The source added that the pair collaborated on Watch the Throne not for creativity or kicks, but for cold, hard cash. “[Jay Z] tolerated [West because] there was so much money to be made. Jay was like, ‘I’m gonna knock this out. We’re going to do a tour to bring in millions of dollars. I can tolerate that.'”
When Jay Z dropped his album 4:44 in June 2017, one of the things people immediately noticed was the massive amount of shade he threw at West on the track, “Kill Jay Z.” In it, he raps “But you ain’t a saint, this ain’t kumbaye / But you got hurt because you did cool by ‘Ye / You gave him 20 million without blinkin’ / He gave you 20 minutes on stage, f**k was he thinkin’? / “F**k wrong with everybody?” is what you sayin’ / But if everybody’s crazy, you’re the one that’s insane” The lyrics seem to be a clear reference to West calling out Beyoncé and Jay during those aforementioned on-stage meltdowns.
Behind all this banter is a real fracturing of the business partnership between West and Jay Z’s streaming service, Tidal. According to Billboard, both West and Jay Z each claim the other is in breach of contract. West claims he wasn’t paid for subscriptions brought to the service with his The Life of Pablo album, and Tidal claims West “failed to deliver” music videos for which he was contracted. The two rappers seem to be at an impasse with negotiations, and sources even told Billboard that West will no longer honor Tidal’s exclusivity rights due to “failure to honor its financial obligations.” With these two battling it out in both the boardroom and on the mic, even if their wives were friends before this, things would definitely be awkward now.
Kardashian has been accused of trying to steal Beyoncé’s spotlight by revealing far too much on social media. When Beyoncé’s Lemonade album dropped in 2016, Kardashian simultaneously posted a spree of sexually suggestive photos from a pal’s wedding to her Instagram account while making no mention of her supposed friend’s magnum opus. This triggered a Beyhive attack from the singer’s fans, who thought Kardashian’s customary selfies were, um, selfish.
It wasn’t the first time Kardashian was cornered for supposedly cramping Beyoncé’s style. In May 2012, Bey rocked a sheer, stunning Givenchy gown at the Met Gala. Three years later, Kardashian wore a white Roberto Cavalli dress to the same annual event, and people noticed how similar it was to Queen Bey’s number. Kardashian insisted she was inspired by Cher.
West once indicated that Bey and Kardashian are friendly rivals.”They love each other. They respect each other. When Beyoncé’s working on her album, she has pictures of Kim on the wall because Kim represents powerful women,” the rapper told 105.1 FM (via Vulture). “Kim plays ‘7/11’ for our daughter. They definitely respect each other. But maybe there’s a LeBron James/Kobe [Bryant] element to it, but I can’t say that.”
Leave a comment