Guitar legend Carlos Santana says negative comments he was quoted as making about Beyoncé were "regretfully taken out of context."
In a recent interview with the Australian Associated Press, he was quoted as saying Adele beat the fellow pop star ton win the major awards at the 2017 Grammys "because she can sing, sing," adding, "With all respect to our sister Beyoncé, Beyoncé is very beautiful to look at and it's more like modelling kind of music—music to model a dress - she's not a singer, singer, with all respect to her."
Naturally, he sustained the wrath of the Beyhive, who swarmed to her defense—even flooding a different Carlos Santana's Instagram page with bee emojis.
"My intent was to congratulate Adele on her amazing night at the Grammies (sic)," the guitarist wrote on Facebook Tuesday. "My comment about Beyoncé was regretfully taken out of context. I have the utmost respect for her as an artist and a person. She deserves all the accolades that come her way. I wish Beyoncé and her family all the best."
At the 2017 Grammys, both pop stars earned kudos for their onstage performances—especially Beyoncé, who wowed with artistic special effects highlighting her pregnancy. But Adele emerged the big winner of the night when her album 25 and song "Hello" beat Beyoncé's album Lemonade and song "Formation" to win Album of the Year, Record of the Year and Song of the Year.
Adele professed her admiration for Beyoncé in her final onstage acceptance speech, saying, tearfully, "I can't possibly accept this award, and I'm very humbled and very grateful and gracious, but my life is Beyoncé, and the album to me—the Lemonade album, Beyoncé—was so monumental, and so well thought out, and so beautiful and soul-bearing."
"We all got to see another side of you that you don't always let us see, and we appreciate that," she said. "All us artists adore you. You are our light. The way that you make me and my friends feel, the way you make my black friends feel is empowering, and you make them stand up for themselves. I love you. I always have. And I always will. Grammys, I appreciate it."
She later told reporters backstage, "What the f--k does she have to do to win Album of the Year?"