Watch ‘White Man’ Stephen Colbert Explain Beyonce’s ‘Lemonade’
After waiting 48 hours following the bombshell arrival of Beyoncé‘s Lemonade Saturday night, the late-night shows were eager to discuss the singer’s new LP on their Monday night programs, especially Late Show‘s Stephen Colbert. “This album is about so much more than Beyoncé’s marriage: It makes powerful statements about women being disrespected, especially black women, and I know you’ve been waiting for a white man to explain it to you. The waiting is over,” Colbert said.
The host then unveiled the segment “Stephen Colbert White-Mansplains: Lemonade.” “Now, if you are white, there may be some stuff in Lemonade that you are not familiar with,” the host said. “For example, Beyoncé refers to the woman Jay Z slept with as ‘Becky with the good hair.’ Now, you might think Becky is the actual name of the woman, but it turns out that is just a slang term for a kind of valley-girl type.”
Colbert then breaks down the Rachel Roy/Rachael Ray confusion, Beyoncé’s baseball bat named “Hot Sauce” and the Lemonade monster truck scene.
“I have to say, I totally get Beyoncé, I’ve doled out this epic, vindictive revenge myself,” Colbert said before telling a story about a girl who “curb-stomped” his heart 25 years ago; in a cruel act of vengeance, he canceled her Blockbuster card without her knowing.
Jimmy Kimmel Live also helpfully explained Lemonade to his viewers, but instead of Caucasian-ing the video album’s message, Kimmel instead relied on emojis to get the plot across.
Watch late-night hosts react to Beyonce’s new visual album ‘Lemonade.’