BET Awards 2016: Beyonce’s Mom, Tina Knowles, Blasts Fans Who Questioned Daughter’s Quick Departure

The mother of music superstar Beyonce, Tina Knowles, is lashing out at fans who claim that the reason she gave for her daughter’s immediate departure following her 2016 BET Awards performance was a lie.

On Sunday night, following the rousing opening performance of the track “Freedom” from the album Lemonade, Beyonce quickly scrambled to board a flight for London to continue on with her ongoing Formation World Tour. Knowles, who stayed behind to accept two awards on her daughter’s behalf, relayed to the audience that Beyonce’s next show was just hours away, but several fans were swift to point out that the next actual performance date wasn’t until Tuesday.

Taking to Instagram to vent her grievance on Monday evening, the 62-year-old fashion designer angrily addressed the “haters” with a lengthy explanation that took up two separate postings.

“I just got a wind of the mess that has festered since last night,” she began. “First of all, I did make a mistake on the city and the day. I [did ask] why she [had] to leave early, and was told by a member of her staff that she, ‘had to get back in time for her concert,’ and that she actually should have been there [two] days before, as the tour has been down for a month. I assumed the date was Monday and the city was London, [but] it turned out to be in the UK on Tuesday.”

Knowles went on to share that there was a nine-hour time difference between Los Angeles, where the BET Awards took place, and England, and that the flight itself would last nearly 12 hours, which meant that Beyonce might not get to her final destination for about a day or so.

“I am hurt and disappointed because I know what kind of work, sacrifice, and personal money it took for her to [perform at the BET Awards], and give her fans [who will not] get [a chance] to attend the concert a piece of her show,” she continued. “That was really important to to her.”

Knowles also included a necessary mention of a section of the speech she gave to the crowd for Beyonce’s Video of The Year win, where she stated that due to the loss of so many prominent musicians over the past few months, fans should always be sure that their idols are aware of their adoration while they’re still with us.

“This is exactly what I was talking about — we start lies and false rumors about our entertainers, we celebrate when they stumble, we hope that they fall, [and] we put them against each other when it’s room for them all,” Knowles raged on. “We talk [negatively] about them, and even their children, [who] should be off-limits. When they are gone, we cry and say how much we loved them, and cherish them we salute them in tributes. Well, how about we [instead] do that [while] they are here?”

Although her words were obviously filled with a mother’s touch, Tina Knowles swore that her response to those who claimed that she was lying was solely expressed to defend herself and not Beyonce.

“I know I owe no explanation to anyone,” she says, “but I am tired of [other] people writing my story, so I [choose] to tell my own.”

Beyonce’s next Formation World Tour date will see her take the stage at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales on June 30. The melodic excursion is currently set to close out on October 2 in Nashville. Read Knowles’ full statement below.

[Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision/AP Photos]