Beyoncé joined a long list of celebrities and performing artists who banded together earlier this weekend for the One World: Together at Home broadcast. The pop star used her massive platform on Saturday night to shed light on how the virus has impacted black communities.

Beyoncé addressed statistics showing how black Americans have been disproportionately affected by the coronavirus. The pop star, Lady Gaga, Global Citizen, WHO, and other celebs all joined together to host the virtual fundraiser.

Regarding her speech, first and foremost, Beyonce started it off by thanking all of the healthcare workers out there who have been helping combat the illness.

After thanking all of the workers who have been doing their jobs, despite potential safety risks, Beyonce commented on how black Americans are among many who don’t have the luxury of working from home.

Furthermore, Beyonce addressed statistics from her hometown of Houston, Texas, which showed that of all the COVID-19 deaths in the city, 57% of those were African-Americans. Even though the nature of her words were somewhat harrowing, Beyonce went on to offer words of encouragement.

The news of the virus’ effect on African-Americans first began earlier this month, with even Donald Trump and the Surgeon General, Jerome Adams, addressing the deleterious impact on the listed communities.

However, Jerome took heat from the media for encouraging black communities to limit drug and alcohol consumption as a preventative measure, which some found offensive.

Tragically, the news of the coronavirus’ impact on the aforementioned communities comes not long after many black celebrities came out to address conspiracy theories surrounding the virus. For instance, it wasn’t uncommon for users on social media to suggest the virus was only impacting white people and not black people, which obviously isn’t the case.

Advertisement

Geto Boys rapper, Scarface, was just one who came out to address these rumors by explaining his own experience with the virus. The rapper said it was important for him to come out with his own story as a way of showing that, yes, black people are also affected.