John Oliver: ‘Yes, Beyonce was photoshopped into Lion King cast photo’

Posing for a photograph next to Beyonce is always going to be a nerve-wracking experience.

But as it turns out, her fellow Lion King castmates didn’t actually get the chance to stand alongside Queen Bey, who voices Nala in the new live-action remake of the Disney classic, for their cast picture.

After much speculation over the rather large gap between the singer and the rest of the Lion King stars, comedian John Oliver confirmed that no, she was not actually present for the occasion.

Well, Beyonce is a busy woman, after all. And photoshop can do wonders nowadays.

Oliver, who plays Zazu in the film, said even the “future presence” of the star was “intimidating”.

Speaking to fellow late-night TV host Stephen Colbert, Oliver said: “No, she wasn’t there… I think almost everyone else was there.

“I remember Chiwetel [Ejiofor, who voices Scar], we were setting up the shot and Chiwetel was sitting at the front.

“He said, ‘you need to be careful where your foot is’. And I looked down and there was just this piece of tape on the floor with Beyonce’s name written on it.

“And literally it was like an electrical reaction, just going ‘oh, f***’. Just the future presence of Beyonce was so intimidating.

“So if you look at my face in there, I look really intimidated, and that’s because what I’m doing is imagining that I am about to be put into a photo with Beyonce one day.

“And that was nerve-wracking enough.”

When asked about the “significant gap” between himself and Beyonce, OIiver said: “That’s only appropriate. It’s only appropriate that there’s a significant gap between me and the actual Queen.”

When the audience was slow to react to the joke, Oliver said: “Wow. It didn’t seem like that was that controversial a thing to say.

“If you had a choice between Beyonce and Queen Elizabeth II, is anyone – including Queen Elizabeth II – taking the second one?”

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(c) Sky News 2019: John Oliver: ‘Yes, Beyonce was photoshopped into Lion King cast photo’