On Friday morning, Madonna shared a doctored photograph of Beyoncé and JAY-Z at the Louvre. Instead of looking at classic art as seen in the original image from the Apes**t video, the pair is staring up at a collection of the pop icon’s album covers.

The caption for the image reads, “Learning from the Master…………..lol. #art #equals #freedom.” The posting sparked mixed reactions from diehard Bey fans and others defending the gesture as a joke or promotion of the married couple’s Everything is Love album.

Some angry fans took aim at Madonna’s age writing things like “thought you were like…you know…dead”, and “Bey and Jay visiting the cemetery”. One fan even drew a racial critique writing, “Did you really just post a pic of 2 Black people looking at you and refer to yourself as “the master”?

Madonna supporters and others who are aware of the friendship between the two women provided context and history to Madonna’s post. In 2013, after a screening of her visual album Beyoncé, the singer said to the crowd, ” I felt like I wanted to follow in the footsteps of Madonna and be a powerhouse and have my own empire.”

Beyonce
Madonna