Emma Watson Clarifies Her Comments on Beyoncé's Sexuality After the Beyhive Calls Her a Hypocrite

The actress asked the singer's fans to revisit her original remarks for clarity

By Samantha Schnurr Mar 07, 2017 6:38 PMTags

Prepare for a tangled web of words regarding Emma Watson, Beyoncé, feminism and the Beyhive. 

As the Beauty and the Beast star shakes off criticism for a recent Vanity Fair shoot, Beyoncé fans are calling Watson a hypocrite for comments she made in 2014 about the singer and her first visual album, Beyoncé

To begin, some attacked Watson's feminist values when she posed for the magazine in a see-through bolero. Some claimed the photo was not in line with feminist philosophy because of the level of skin. 

"Feminism is about giving women choice. Feminism is not a stick with which to beat other women with. It's about freedom, it's about liberation, it's about equality. I really don't know what my t—s have to do with it," she responded to naysayers in an interview with Reuters. 

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However, fans of the "Formation" singer soon resurfaced an interview Watson did with Tavi Gevinson for Wonderland in 2014 and called her a hypocrite for discussing Beyonce's use of sexuality in front of what she described as a "male voyeuristic" camera while defending her own recent images. 

The actress fought back, tweeting the article in full and highlighting the remarks in question. "This is the part of my 2014 interview with Tavi where we talked about Beyoncé. My words are in bold," she wrote to her nearly 24 million followers. 

In the original, Watson is quoted as saying in part, "[Beyoncé] does make it clear that she is performing for [Jay Z] and the fact she wasn't doing it for a label, she was doing it for herself and the control that she has directing it and putting it out there, I agree is making her sexuality empowering because it is her choice."

"The second is that I would say you do get sense of, 'I can be a feminist, I can be an intellectual, I can be all these other things, but I can also be ok with my femininity, and being pretty and with all these things that I thought might negate my message or negate what I am about.' That really is the most interesting thing about the album. It is so inclusive and puts feminism and femininity and female empowerment on such a broad spectrum," she continued. 

Fans came to Watson's defense, praising the actress for standing her ground. "Did you even read [Watson's] interview?" one follower wrote to a critic. "She said the camera is male & that's why Beyoncé's sexuality is empowering."

What is your take on the discussion? Sound off in the comments!