Lainey Wilson is catching a little heat from the always very calm and reasonable members of the Beyhive.
A few days ago, Lainey popped up during Snoop Dogg’s Christmas Day halftime show at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis — a fun (and honestly pretty random) mix that also included other guests like Netflix’s K-Pop Demon Hunters crew. It was a cute moment, but some Beyoncé fans think parts of it looked a little too familiar.
Last Christmas, Beyoncé headlined Netflix’s Christmas Day halftime show during the Texans vs. Ravens game, featuring songs from Cowboy Carter and a guest appearance from Post Malone. She wore an all-white look with a white cowboy hat — and this year, Lainey also showed up in a similar winter-white vibe. That’s basically what kicked off the “copying” accusations.
But let’s be real: it’s Christmas, and winter-white outfits are about as standard as snowflakes. Plus, Netflix produced both events, so if anything felt similar, that’s more on the production choices than on Lainey. She wasn’t even the main headliner — she was a featured guest on “Snoop Dogg and Friends.” With Snoop in red, the obvious contrast is someone in white. It’s not exactly groundbreaking visual math.
Some fans also dragged in the Grammys angle. Earlier this year, Lainey lost Best Country Album to Beyoncé (Cowboy Carter), in a category that also included Lainey’s Whirlwind, Post Malone’s F-1 Trillion, Kacey Musgraves’ Deeper Well, and Chris Stapleton’s Higher. Beyoncé also took Album of the Year and Best Country Duo/Group Performance for “II Most Wanted” with Miley Cyrus.
Lainey’s been pretty classy about all of it, saying she’s never done this just to collect trophies — she’s focused on playing shows, filling seats, and making people feel something. She’s also said she met Beyoncé at the Grammys and that the respect goes both ways. In her view, big artists stepping into country is part of why the genre feels so “on fire” in mainstream culture right now.
None of that stopped certain corners of the internet from going full conspiracy mode, though — claiming Lainey “copied” Beyoncé’s look, “stole” ideas, or was doing some kind of “cheap remake” of last year’s halftime show.
So, yeah: a holiday outfit + a Netflix-produced halftime show + the internet = predictable chaos.