While appearing on Stephen Colbert, John Oliver confirmed that Beyoncé was, indeed, Photoshopped into the Lion King cast promo picture.
But though she was absent for the shoot, the television host claimed it was still stressful appearing 'next to' A-list royalty in the picture. Most of the time Photoshop conspiracy theories aren't real - but Oliver easily confirmed the details during the show.
While appearing with Colbert, their talk turned to Oliver's appearance as Mufasa in The Lion King.
"There's an amazing cast and there's this beautiful photo," Colbert says, showing off a Disney press photo (above). "There's been a lot of speculation. Here's you, right there, okay, and there's Beyoncé who plays Nala, the love interest for Simba and there's a lot of speculation here that everybody else in this photo is actually there except not Beyoncé, people are speculating she was Photoshopped in and you're right next to her. Can you tell us whether she was there?" he asks.
"No, she wasn't there," Oliver quickly confirms, although he thinks almost everyone else was at the shoot. Despite the fact that Queen B was not present (she is quite busy), a piece of tape with her name on it was put next to him, which he said was almost as stressful as standing next to the former Destiny's Child member. "Just the future presence of Beyoncé was so intimidating!" he says, explaining why he looked "really intimidated" because he's imagining that he's "about to put into a photo with Beyoncé one day."
"It's only appropriate that there's a significant gap between me and the actual queen," he jokes. Oliver finishes up his Beyoncé praise by saying, "If you had a choice between Beyoncé and Queen Elizabeth II, is anyone, including Queen Elizabeth II taking the second one?"
It seems like everyone who worked on The Lion King was equally excited to be in the presence of Beyonce - just look at castmate Billy Eichner, who couldn't stop singing B's praises, while even bonafide Duchess Meghan Markle seemed in awe of the 'Crazy in Love' singer.
This offers definitive proof that Queen B truly is royalty in America - quick, someone Photoshop a crown on her head immediately.
