Tina Knowles Defended Beyoncé Against Trolls After Her Christmas Day NFL Performance

"It is mind-boggling to me that you would take your precious Christmas day and watch a performance of someone you hate and you don’t think has talent so that you can go talk ish about it later," Knowles wrote on Instagram.

Beyoncé performs during the halftime show for the game between the Baltimore Ravens and the Houston Texans at NRG Stadium on December 25, 2024 in Houston, Texas.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

A friendly word of warning to any aspiring internet trolls out there: Don't target Beyoncé with any hate unless you're prepared to face the wrath of her mother, Tina Knowles.

The 70-year-old proved that a mother's "Fierce Mama Bear" era has no expiration date on Friday when she took aim at online critics following Beyoncé's NFL Christmas halftime performance during the Houston Texans-Baltimore Ravens game on Wednesday, December 25.

Knowles hopped on Instagram to re-shared a post by marketing and branding specialist Kris Iman...along with some additional thoughts of her own.

"Irrespective of if you like Beyoncé's music or not, it is PROOF and motivation that no matter how undeniably talented you are, people will always, ALWAYS, always have something negative ish to say," the text of Iman's original post image read. "Watching Beyoncé made me not care what anyone thinks of me anymore 😭 😭 ."

The graphic, which also included a crop from Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter album cover art, went on decry trolls and praise the "Texas Hold 'Em" singer's attitude amidst criticism.

"The amount of hatred, and trolling this woman can receive for a FLAWLESS FREAKING PERFORMANCE is unreal to me," the text continued. "Moral of the story is do you. If Beyoncé ain't worried about the haters, you shouldn't be worried either. Go be great Beyoncé 👏🏾"

In her caption, Iman seconded the sentiment of the text from the post's image, calling Beyoncé's Christmas halftime performance "flawless" across the board and noting that "if one the most beautiful, talented woman in the world gets this amount of hate, we damn sure ain't exempt from it."

"And people will STILL have some negative ish to say about the performance," Iman continued. "Can you ride on a horse and not miss a note?…Don’t worry, I’ll wait 😭."

After praising the "artisty and performance" and adding that the "execution was flawless, the visuals, the vocal collabs with the other beautiful black women were literally breathtaking," Iman ended her post with a call-to-action, encouraging her followers to be fearless in creating their own art to share with the world—after all, the trolling and criticism Beyoncé faces is proof that trolling and criticism are literally unavoidable.

"My point is-Go make the course, do the video, create the content, GO DO IT," Iman wrote. "People will always, always, alwayssss have something negative to say regardless. So do you."

If you were moved or inspired reading Iman's post, your'e not alone. Knowles reposted the graphic from Iman and expanded on her thoughts about it in a lengthy caption of her own.

"My sentiments exactly! It is mind-boggling to me that you would take your precious Christmas day and watch a performance of someone you hate and you don’t think has talent so that you can go talk ish about it later😂😂," she wrote, before cutting to heart of the issue and pointing out the role that jealousy likely plays in a lot of trolling. "Obviously you are so obsessed with them, addicted to them, and secretly admire them, wish you could be them, that you cannot help but to watch and critique and comment and say dumb ridiculous stuff that makes you look like a joke!!"

Knowles also had a solution for her daughter's vocal haters: If you don't like watching Beyoncé perform, then...just don't watch Beyoncé perform. And if any of those trolls don't know where to turn the channel, Knowles had a few helpful suggestions for alternative viewing that might be more their thing.

"So go to another channel when it’s halftime watch goofy cartoons or Bozo the clown or something you can relate to and see yourself in," she wrote, before ending on a more serious note. "Said with love❤️❤️ PS I have learned so much from her warrior spirit, of when they go low I work harder “No weapon formed against me shall prosper” one, two, three waiting for the fake bots to come."

So, once more for people in the back: Don't mess with Tina Knowles, trolls.

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Contributing Editor at Marie Claire

Kayleigh Roberts is a freelance writer and editor with over 10 years of professional experience covering entertainment of all genres, from new movie and TV releases to nostalgia, and celebrity news. Her byline has appeared in Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, ELLE, Harper’s Bazaar, The Atlantic, Allure, Entertainment Weekly, MTV, Bustle, Refinery29, Girls’ Life Magazine, Just Jared, and Tiger Beat, among other publications. She's a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.