Beyoncé Mocks Netflix’s Live Streaming Fiascos as Halftime Show Hype Explodes

I hope Santa Claus doesn’t have a fragile ego. If he does, Queen B is about to transform him into The Grinch, because the hype for Beyoncé’s NFL Halftime Show performance on Christmas Day is reaching a level that’s threatening to overshadow St. Nick’s big day—especially now that a final teaser has been released.

Apparently there is a football game that will be bookending the Beyoncé concert: She will be performing during halftime of the Christmas Day showdown between the Baltimore Ravens and the Houston Texans, being played in her Texas hometown. Beyoncé has already dubbed the day “A Cowboy Carter Christmas,” stoking anticipation that she will finally perform music from her recent country-tinged album, which was released in March.

The Christmas Eve teaser also gave fans something that they’ve been demanding since the album’s release: visuals. The 36-second clip features a football rolling on a field to Beyoncé’s foot, as the camera pans up to reveal her strumming the banjo to the opening bars of her Grammy-nominated hit single, “Texas Hold ‘Em.”

The Ravens-Texans game kicks off at 4:30 p.m. ET, with Beyoncé expected to perform around 6 p.m. ET. It’s the second of two football games streaming live on Netflix on Christmas. Given the streamer’s disastrous track record of airing live events—the outrage over the service glitching and freezing may have eclipsed the Jake Paul-Mike Tyson fight itself—the Beyhive is buzzing, ready with its stingers should any such snafu interrupt Beyoncé’s set.

To wit, the singer made fun of that very possibility, with the last seconds of her teaser buffering before concluding with Beyoncé winking.

On Instagram, Beyoncé’s mother Tina Knowles wrote that her daughter “put her heart and soul into this performance! Sleepless nights in Houston.”

Fans online are speculating whether the halftime show will be followed by a surprise drop of Cowboy Carter visuals, the announcement of a world tour, or if it’s merely shrewd Grammy Awards campaigning—the ceremony is in less than 40 days. One thing that is certain—the excitement. After all, Beyoncé is known for putting on a legendary halftime show.

Even Ravens star quarterback joked—maybe—that he’s skipping the locker room meeting in order to see Beyoncé perform. “I’m going to go out there and watch,” he told reporters on Monday. “First time seeing Beyoncé perform, and it’s at our game—that’s dope. I’m going to go out and watch. Sorry [head coach John] Harbaugh, sorry. Sorry fellas.”