Beyoncé’s Grimacegate: Pop Star Bans Independent Photographers From Shooting World Tour

By Laura Ferreiro

It's hard to forget the less-than-flattering images of Beyoncé that circulated around the Internet after the 2013 Super Bowl. The contorted grimace and unseemly scowl of the usually perfectly coiffed pop star were captured during her halftime performance and posted online

ad nauseum.

After Buzzfeed ran the images, Beyoncé's publicist requested that the website take down the unflattering pics, but Buzzfeed instead added fuel to the fire, posting a story with the headline, "The 'Unflattering' Photos Beyoncé’s Publicist Doesn’t Want You to See." Not surprisingly, the story and the images made their way around the world, and soon Photoshopped pictures of Beyoncé making her look like a Star Wars character, a lobster lady, an Olympic weightlifter, and the Incredible Hulk were popping up everywhere.

This time around, Beyoncé isn't taking any chances. The star has reportedly instituted a ban on independent professional photographers to shoot her ongoing Mrs. Carter World Tour, according to the New York Post and The Guardian. Instead, news outlets are being given a link to a website featuring pre-approved photos of Beyoncé taken by ONE photographer.

This may end up working against the star, as news outlets compete to run original images and may end up using amateur photos taken from the crowd--with bad lighting. Oh, the horror!