"Hip Hop Honors" sparks debate: Is it the Beehive or the Beyhive?

Hip-hop’s best came out to pay tribute to Lil’ Kim, Salt-N-Pepa, Missy Elliott and Queen Latifah at VH1 Hip Hop Honors: All Hail the Queens] on Monday night (July 11). But who would have thought a special guest surprise would spark the anger of the Beyhive?

Diddy came out at the end of Kim’s tribute set, and Kim was clearly in shock because her Bad Boy brother told her he couldn’t attend. “I want you to let me honor you,” he told her. “Your hardcore raps, the way you walk, the way you talk — there’s only one Queen Bee.” He ended his speech with, “All hail the queen!” before leading the audience in singing “Happy Birthday.”

That’s where things went left. Angry Beyoncé fans began to swarm after Diddy. Take a glance at his Instagram, and you’ll see the Beyhive is stinging.

“Lil’ Kim the queen bee so you best take heed, shall I proceed? / Yes, indeed.” She rapped this line on “Crush on You,” back in 1996. So either Bey’s fans don’t know their history, or they felt Diddy threw shade during a well-intended tribute to his longtime friend.

But this is confusing. It’s true that Lil’ Kim has been calling herself Queen Bee long before Beyoncé, and long before the era when people bestowed cutesy nicknames upon their fandoms. But now, after 20 years, Kim has donned her fans “the Killer Beehive.” That name is _maybe-kinda-slightly _coincidental, and she did thank the Killer Beehive during her remarks on Monday’s show. This still doesn’t explain why there’s a war in Diddy’s mentions!

So what do you think? Is it Beehive or Beyhive? Do we even have to choose?!