Selena Gomez, cowboy hat on and phone out, has found herself in the middle of a pop culture shootout after telling fans she was watching a basketball game during Beyoncé‘s highly anticipated Cowboy Carter tour stop at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium.
While Queen Bey belted ballads and twanged through her country crossover renaissance, Selena’s focus was split: partly on the stage and mostly on the Knicks vs. Pacers NBA playoff showdown.
And now the BeyHive, sports Twitter, and casual spectators are spiraling.
How It All Went Down
Selena showed up to the concert like the rest of us would dream, rocking a Cowboy Carter merch hat and paying her respects with the caption: “To the queen B we praise.” So far, so good. Then came the twist. In her private suite (which has more bar area than Beyoncé), Selena shared a story about her phone stuck to the glass, streaming the Knicks game. Behind it was Beyoncé, mid-performance, while her phone displayed a basketball game.
© Selena GomezShe captioned it: “Still got my eye on the game.” Seconds later, the Internet ignited.
The response was swift and brutal. A viral tweet with nothing but a screenshot of Selena’s story and a digital tomato barrage summed up the vibe. “She must be her own biggest enemy because imagine going to a Beyoncé concert, sitting your ass way back there, watching basketball on your phone AND being PROUD ENOUGH TO POST THAT,” a person wrote on X.
Then came the harshest blow: “All I’m gonna say is a true musician wouldn’t treat a Beyoncé concert as background noise.”
© WireImageTeam Selena Enters the Chat
Still, not everyone was ready to throw tomatoes. Many defended Selena, pointing out that this wasn’t just any game—it was the Eastern Conference Finals. And if you’re a Knicks fan, you watch the game.
A New Yorker on Reddit chimed in: “I live in NYC and plenty of my friends who went to the Cowboy Carter show last night also had the game on their phones… I’m not a basketball fan but apparently it’s been a big deal.”
© GC ImagesAnd then came the relatable sports fans: “I’ve been at concerts I’ve loved while frantically refreshing my tennis scores app, so I get it.”
To be fair, Selena didn’t disrupt the concert; she wasn’t loud, and she didn’t disrespect Beyoncé directly. But the fact that she broadcast the moment to 428 million followers sparked heat.
© Getty Images for Rare BeautySelena Gomez watching basketball at a Beyoncé concert is basically 2025 in a nutshell. We’re all distracted, we’re all juggling FOMO, and we all have too many tabs open. Should she have kept the moment private instead of posting it to millions? Probably. But in the end, Selena was just being herself: a woman who loves Queen Bey and playoff basketball. And if that’s a sin, let the first stone be thrown by someone who hasn’t live-tweeted a date or texted during a wedding.
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