CULTURE

Beyoncé and Jay-Z Dedicate “Young Forever” to the Victims of the Grenfell Tower Fire

The superstars paid tribute on the one year anniversary of the disaster.


Beyonce and Jay-Z
Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images For Parkwood Entertainment

It’s been a year since a fire at the Grenfell Tower apartment building in London took the lives of seventy-two people and injured dozens more, and superstars Beyoncé and Jay-Z, currently performing in London as part of their On the Run II tour, took time out of their show last night to pay tribute. Wearing green heart badges to support the Justice for Grenfell campaign, the married moguls dedicated the last song of the night, “Forever Young,” to the victims. “I’d like to dedicate this song to the friends and families of the victims of Grenfell,” said Beyoncé at the show the day after the one-year anniversary of the fire, according to the Independent. “Young Forever,” which samples the Alphaville song “Forever Young” (and has nothing to do with the Bob Dylan song “Forever Young” that was also the Parenthood theme), is an appropriate choice for a tribute, as it deals with growing older, loss, and even death. The On the Run II tour, or OTR II, has one more scheduled performance at the London Stadium, for tonight.

Last night’s performance also drew a celebrity crowd, including Game of Thrones star Emilia Clarke and Fleabag creator-star Phoebe Waller-Bridge. The two women star in the recent Solo: A Star Wars Story.

The Twitter account for the Justice 4 Grenfell campaign tweeted its appreciation for Bey and Jay’s shout-out, and clarified that though they sent the two stars the green pins, the pins are actually the logo of Grenfell Speaks, tweeting, “We are grateful that Jay Z and Beyonce dedicated their last song to Grenfell tonight, they said their thoughts were with the families & survivors. We are glad they wore the green heart badges that we sent over! Thank you ?#Justice4Grenfell @grenfellspeaks” and then, “We just want to make clear that the beautiful green heart badges worn by Jay Z & Beyonce last night are not from our campaign, as some media is suggesting this morning, but from @grenfellspeaks ? we only sent them to Jay Z & Beyonce!”

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