Beyoncé wins the holidays with an ultra-clever Netflix joke

Rio de Janeiro-Brazil 18 october of 2011 show of BEYONCE, Hsbc arena

(Image credit: A.RICARDO)

Beyoncé is promoting her Christmas Day half-time NFL football game performance
She produced a special video to do so
Questions about Netflix's ability to handle it remain

If you're amped for Netflix's first-ever live Christmas Day NFL football game, you're probably even more excited about the halftime show: Beyoncé. That's right, the megastar will perform at the midpoint, probably playing tracks from her wildly successful country album, Cowboy Carter. But you might also be a little worried.

Last month, the streaming giant struggled through the live Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul boxing match, where at least 108 million simultaneous viewers tuned in to see Paul take out an aging champion in an embarrassing fashion. The embarrassment was actually on Netflix's part, though, which presented its iconic spinning wheel of disconnection to millions of would-be viewers.

Naturally, we're all wondering if Netflix can handle what could be an even larger audience tuning in just to see Beyoncé perform live...and that apparently includes the iconic singer.

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Beyoncé took to X (formerly Twitter) on Christmas Eve to promote her half-time show with a little country picking. In the brief video, below a tweet that said, "I’m sending you big joy and love on this Cowboy Christmas Eve I’ll see y’all tomorrow, in my city HTX," Beyoncé is seated with a banjo on her knee, causally strumming when...the Netflix spinning circle appears and Beyoncé is temporarily frozen.

I’m sending you big joy and love on this Cowboy Christmas Eve ❤️ I’ll see y’all tomorrow, in my city HTX 🤟🏽🏈🪕🌵🎄 pic.twitter.com/DFNmOjZNLrDecember 24, 2024

I know I watched the video wondering if now X's own servers were struggling under the weight of Beyoncé's enormous star power – and that's when the video resumed and the luminescent star cheekily winked at the camera.

Oh, you clever Beyoncé.

Clearly in on the joke, Netflix quickly responded, "Now hold on..."

Kidding aside, worries that Netflix won't be up to the musical task remain.

A few weeks after the Paul vs. Tyson debacle, Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos tried to explain away the issues at a conference. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Sarandos said, “We were pushing the ISP, every ISP in the world, right to the limits of their own capacity. We were stressing the limits of the internet itself that night.”

That much was clear. How Netflix takes those learnings and avoids another night of red, spinning circles is another matter. At least Beyonce seems to know what she's in for.

A 38-year industry veteran and award-winning journalist, Lance has covered technology since PCs were the size of suitcases and “on line” meant “waiting.” He’s a former Lifewire Editor-in-Chief, Mashable Editor-in-Chief, and, before that, Editor in Chief of PCMag.com and Senior Vice President of Content for Ziff Davis, Inc. He also wrote a popular, weekly tech column for Medium called The Upgrade.

Lance Ulanoff makes frequent appearances on national, international, and local news programs including Live with Kelly and Mark, the Today Show, Good Morning America, CNBC, CNN, and the BBC.