UK magazine Star published “world exclusive”Beyonce interviewJan. 17, but Beyonce’s representatives are calling it a “fake,” the BBC reported. “Beyonce has not done any interviews. This is fake,” her spokesperson is quoted by E! News as saying.
The interview includes quotes about Beyonce’s husband, Jay-Z, and comments on the couple’s newborn baby Blue Ivy Carter, according to the BBC.
Despite Beyonce’s spokesperson calling the interview “completely made up,” Star editor Anna Pointer told Access Hollywood that the interview is legitimate and was “bought…from a reporter in the US, who conducted the interview with Beyonce before the birth.” Pointer said that the U.S. reporter added “‘top-up’ info after the birth” of Beyonce and Jay-Z’s baby.
However, Access Hollywood noted that “the first line of the story” suggests Beyonce was interviewed after the birth because Star wrote: “Talking exclusively to Star in her first interview since giving birth…”
The article does not appear to be online. The Washington Post reported that “Sometime after Access Hollywood posted their story Tuesday evening, the interview’s original URL was taken down and now leads to a missing page.”
Star magazine is owned by Northern and Shell Media Publications, which also owns the Daily Express. We wrote in January 2011 when Northern and Shell withdrew its seven publications, including Star, from the jurisdiction of the UK print regulatory body, the Press Complaints Commission.
In March 2010, we wrote when German magazine NEON apologized to readers for publishing a fabricated interview with Beyonce. The interview was by a NEON freelance writer, Ingo Mocek, who was fired over the incident. Upon a review of the freelancer’s work, NEON found that Mocek not only fabricated the Beyonce interview, but also at least five other fake interviews since 2004.
We wrote earlier this month when Entertainment Weekly corrected its post on the baby’s name without including any update or notice to readers.
We have written to Star‘s Pointer asking how the magazine fact checked or verified the report, why the article was taken down from the website and why the article says it was an interview conducted after the birth, if it was supposedly conducted before the birth. We will update with any response.