Last night was the London premiere of RENAISSANCE: A Film by Beyoncé. Once again, Beyoncé did not walk her own premiere carpet, once again she posted her official photos to her own website, once again Michelle Williams was there, but this time, some things were different.
Firstly, Beyoncé had two fits, a black cutaway dress with gloves and a gold fig leaf on her fanny—I actually love this, it’s a fun nod to the actual Renaissance and it’s a little bit disco, which are Renaissance vibes. Later, she changed into a spangly bejeweled bodysuit with a huge sapphire detail. It’s a little bit burlesque, it’s a little bit flapper, it’s a lot of fun. She was wearing this and a drapey coat when she and Jay-Z were photographed leaving Harry’s Bar in London.
There were also notable additions to the guest list. Blake Lively was there, as was Taylor Swift, returning the favor of Beyoncé attending her premiere for The Eras’ concert film. Tay was performing in Sao Paolo during Beyoncé’s world premiere, but she made it to the next stop on the press tour, leaving Travis Kelce behind in Kansas City (he’s playing against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday night). I know we’re all enjoying TNT: Real-Life Rom-Com, but I also love that we now have two episodes of Diva BFFs: The Tay-Bey Story.
Taylor Swift and Beyoncé are at the top of their respective games, they have the two biggest diva pop tours of the year, now their concert films are dominating cinemas. Through it all, they’re supporting each other. In a previous era, they would have been forced into a rival’s narrative, and I love it for all of us that they’re not going down that path, that amidst their literal world domination, they make time to be there for one another. Friend-coms are real, too!
But that’s not the only Tay news of the night. While Taylor and Blake were gal-palling in London with Beyoncé, the inimitable Tree Paine, Tay’s publicist, was there, too, and she took time out of her night to take a shot at DeuxMoi on Twitter:
Enough is enough with these fabricated lies about Taylor from Deuxmoi. There was NEVER a marriage or ceremony of ANY kind. This is an insane thing to post. It’s time for you to be held accountable for the pain and trauma you cause with posts like these. pic.twitter.com/cFi0wQc9cp
— Tree Paine (@treepaine) December 1, 2023
Tree Paine spoke up! You KNOW you’re over the line when Tree Paine is forced to talk at you. Apparently, the anonymous gossiper behind DeuxMoi is committed to the narrative that Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn had some kind of secret ceremony in the UK that was “described” as a “marriage” but wasn’t “legal”. DeuxMoi is an account known for posting whatever tips and info are sent her way, she freely admits she vets none of it, a lot of what goes on that feed is one step away from real-person fanfic, and obviously, Tree Paine has had enough of this particular narrative.
I don’t think Tree talked to protect Travis Kelce or Joe Alwyn, though. I don’t think this is about boys at all, I think it’s about DeuxMoi. That is an incredibly big, powerful platform—her book Anon Pls is being adapted into a TV series with Diablo Cody on board as a writer—and no matter what kind of quality control DeuxMoi is or isn’t running, publicists have to take the platform seriously because of its sheer size. The nameless gossip behind DeuxMoi insisting on ANY narrative to her very large follower base basically forces publicists into commenting, even Tree Paine, who rarely makes herself the story.
But it is interesting Tree uses the words “held accountable” and “pain and trauma you cause” regarding DeuxMoi’s unfiltered posts. Publicists only like gossip when they can control it, and there’s no controlling DeuxMoi. Does she really cause “pain and trauma”? I don’t love the real-time posting of celebrities’ locations, it’s rude and a stalker’s wet dream come true, but mostly it’s just dumb sh-t people make up about celebrities, except, well, DeuxMoi posted an email from someone speculating that Taylor experienced a pregnancy loss (which has since been deleted but you can see here, if you need the receipts). Yikes on bikes, y’all. Even if you knew on lock someone had a miscarriage, don’t post about it. There’s lines, and then there’s LINES. Tree went after DeuxMoi for the fake marriage post, but I bet that other one had something to do with her temper snapping, too.
But Deuxmoi does get some real tips in the mix, too, there’s just so much noise it’s sometimes hard to tell legit from fake until an actual news story breaks later. But if the power publicists start coalescing around the idea that DeuxMoi needs to be “held accountable”? That could lead to a tectonic shift in the gossip landscape.
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