Beyonce fans took to Twitter after the singer accidentally cut an earlobe while she was performing at the TIDAL X: 1015 benefit concert in Brooklyn.
A braid of Beyonce’s hair apparently got caught in the earring and pulled it off, The Telegraph reported. The singer reportedly continued her performance and seemed oblivious to her bleeding ear.
The incident caused a ripple of support from Beyonce’s fans on Twitter who expressed solidarity with their “queen” by saying as the singer bled, they would also #CutForBeyonce and #BleedForBeyonce.
The disturbing hashtags trended on social media, with some of the posts being accompanied by what looked like disturbing images of self-harm.
“If the queen bleeds the hive must unify and leak our blood to restore her spirits. Beyhive we must #CutForBeyonce,” one post read. The post showed a photo of a bleeding arm.
If the queen bleeds the hive must unify and leak our blood to restore her spirits. Beyhive we must #CutForBeyonce pic.twitter.com/VeusI2fB5I
— cham (@chamonille) October 16, 2016
“I saw Beyoncé cut her ear so I cut my ear #CutForBeyoncé,” another one posted.
“If Queen B had to endure pain, so do I. Tonight we #CutForBeyonce,” yet another one wrote.
However, upon closer look and after doing some searches on Google, one would discover that most of the images were fake.
Some of the photos were used years ago at the height of the prank #CutForBieber campaign, which was started by a fan when Bieber was discovered to be smoking marijuana.
“Lets start a cut yourself for bieber campaign … Tweet a bunch of pics of people cutting themselves and claim we did it because bieber was smoking weed,” an anonymous user posted in 2013.
Apparently, the #CutForBeyonce and #BleedForBeyonce hashtags trended because the prank posts elicited many responses from other Twitter users urging people not to cut themselves or inflict self-harm.
“As a person who self-injured for years. Please don’t #cutforbeyonce or #bleedforbeyonce. Self-injury and cutting is not a joke,” one person posted to Twitter.
Others called on Beyonce to say something about the campaign being done in her name in order to stop the online trend, if indeed there were people who actually cut themselves for her sake.
Although many of the photos showing self-harm were fake, the proliferation of such photos online could still be harmful, according to Christian author Jennifer LeClaire.
“Cutting is a form of deliberate self-harm, self-inflicted violence in which people take a razor blade or other sharp object and cut into their flesh to the point of letting blood,” LeClaire wrote for Charisma News.
She explained that people suffering from deep hurt and anger harm themselves to distract themselves from the pain that they feel. She had personally talked to young people who referred to themselves as “cutters,” she said.
“Encouraging anyone to cut, even in a mock protest, is more than irresponsible,” LeClaire wrote. “It's a demon-inspired ploy to drive depressed teenagers deeper into bondage and lure curious youth to engage in an act they've never had the courage to act out.”
