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A viral video set fans in a frenzy whether it was Queen B who attended Williams' match or it was Orange is the New Black's Laverne Cox.
Laverne Cox was mistaken for Beyonce at the first round of Serena Williams's first-round U.S. Open match. A post of Cox wearing a face mask with the caption "#Beyonce at the #USOpen," began to circulate on Twitter gaining more than 200,000 views.
\u201c#Beyonc\u00e9 at the #USOpen\u201d— ChoniFrancis -Chonstradums (@ChoniFrancis -Chonstradums) 1661816576
Cox, who is an Emmy-Award-winning producer and prominent trans rights advocate, was the person who fans pinned as the Queen B.
In the video, she is wearing a sheer black corseted top paired with some gold hoops. Not only sporting a look that could have been worn by Beyonce, what fueled fans' suspicions further was Williams and Beyonce's long-standing friendship. The two are known to be close. The 40-year singer has been spotted attending Williams' matches in the past and even attended the sports legend's wedding to Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian in 2017.
Cox first reacted to the viral post and misunderstanding by responding "Absolutely! GO @serenawilliams #USOpentennis," to a tweet that wrote, "2nd biggest winner tonight: Laverne Cox who was mistaken for Beyonce all night. Which is a career highlight for literally anyone" on Twitter.
\u201cAbsolutely! GO @serenawilliams #USOpentennis\u201d— Laverne Cox (@Laverne Cox) 1661823875
Her subtle responses did not make the video have any less traction, and made Cox as number one trending on Twitter. This led her to inevitably post on Instagram.
"Not me getting mistaken for @Beyonce at the #USOpen tonight then trending on Twitter as the internet cackles over the mistaken identity. These tweets are funny as hell. Enjoy!!!" she captioned it. Her post contained the original video as well as a collection of memes that arose out of the confusion.
As fans of Beyonce and Cox pointed the mix-up out to the user, whose name is Choni Francis, he corrected himself, tweeting "I got to excited to see Beyonce and though it was her my bad.. it's Laverne Cox."
While misidentification can be serious, especially for people who color, Cox has completely taken it positively.
In the match where the infamous video was taken, Williams ended up winning in a 6-3, 6-3 victory against Danka Kovinic in what is likely her final Grand Slam tournament. Williams recently opened up about retiring from the sport earlier this month.
