Reuters/LandovWas Beyoncé banned from the Egyptian pyramids?!
In a recent interview with the Independent, Zahi Hawass, a controversial archaeologist and the former Egyptian Minister of State for Antiquities, recalled a dramatic encounter he had with the 32-year-old pop star back in 2009 that apparently resulted in Jay Z's other half being kicked out of the famed tourist site.
"Most people I take on tours are very nice and we become friends. But this lady..." Hawass recently said of Bey. "She said she would come at 3 p.m. but she came late. I said, 'You have to say I'm sorry I'm late.' But she didn't open her mouth."
"I brought a photographer and she also had a photographer and a guard," he continued. "When my photographer started to shoot, he said 'No, Stop! I am the one who says yes or no, not you.' I said, 'In that case since you almost hit my photographer and you are not polite, out! I am not giving you the privilege of having you on my tour.' I said Beyoncé was stupid and I left."
However, Beyoncé's rep exclusively tells E! News nothing of the sort happened during her visit to the site. "This never happened," her rep tells us. "The last time she was in Egypt was on tour in 2009. Nothing like this happened. Lies and more lies."
Back in 2009 around the time of her visit to Egypt, local reports did surface claiming that Beyoncé and Hawass did indeed have a bad encounter at the pyramids.
Journalist Summer al-Gamal was quoted regarding the encounter, saying that Hawass "stopped being diplomatic and said in anger, 'She's a stupid person and she doesn't understand a thing and she doesn't want to understand.'"
Drama aside, Bey and Hawass did pose for a lovely photo op together in front of the breathtaking desert scenery during her visit to the site.
—Reporting by Alicia Quarles