Beyoncé appeared to be less than thrilled when her husband and rapper Jay-Z was speaking with Nicole Curran, the wife of the Golden State Warriors majority owner Joe Lacob, during game three of the NBA finals.
The “Drunk in Love” singer — in between her husband and Curran — was seated courtside at the Wednesday night faceoff between the Warriors and the Toronto Raptors. In a video shared by ESPN on Twitter, Curran is seen leaning over at one point to speak to Jay-Z, just before he and Beyoncé wave to the camera. Shortly after, the rapper and Curran resume talking — seemingly to the annoyance of Queen Bee.
Social media users were quick to note the expression on the singer’s face. Beyoncé later shifts over toward Curran — a move some fans argued online appeared to be the singer setting a boundary.
ADELE EXPERTLY RAPS NICKI MINAJ, DANCES TO BEYONCE AT PARTY POST-DIVORCE ANNOUNCEMENT
“Beyoncé just scooted this woman out of her personal space,” a Twitter user claimed.
“Beyoncé don’t like that girl beside her at all,” wrote another.
“How dare her talk across Beyoncé,” said a third.
“Beyoncé was not feeling that lil lady leaning over her to chat with her man,” wrote a fourth.
Photos of the “Partition” singer’s seemingly displeased face also quickly became a meme.
BEYONCÉ TEARFULLY DEDICATES GLAAD AWARD TO DECEASED UNCLE WHO LOST BATTLE WITH HIV
“Me whenever someone just doesn't get that they are all in my personal space,” wrote one fan.
Per Buzzfeed, the encounter went so viral that fans later found Curran’s Instagram page and flooded the comments on her photos with bee emojis — eventually leading her to disable the comments section altogether.
By Thursday afternoon, it appeared Curran disabled her entire account. According to an ESPN writer, Curran made the decision after reportedly receiving death threats from some Beyoncé fans.
"Just spoke to Nicole Curran, the wife of Warrior's owner Joe Lacob, about the 'incident' with Beyoncé last night. She was in tears. Said she had been getting death threats on social media all night this morning she disabled her IG account just to make it stop," Romona Shelburne, a reporter for the sports outlet, said on Twitter.
Prior to disabling her account, Curran, seemingly referring to the viral moment, posted a photo of herself and Beyoncé alongside the caption: “We should all help and support each other.”