Deon Cole recalls Root Picnic security preventing him from meeting Beyoncé, but he ignored the order and introduced Jay-Z.
Deon Cole had a lot of experience hosting Roots Picnics, but the event didn’t go exactly as planned.
The comedian showed up ready to introduce Jay-Z’s performance, but security had other ideas about his place backstage.
Cole sat down with the All The Smoke podcast to explain what the day was like.
“I hosted Roots Picnic and we had a comedy show the day before. It was me, Jay, Dave Chappelle. We did it for Black Thought. He had a comedy show. It was me, Jay, Dave Chappelle. We did it for Black Thought. He had a comedy show. Afterwards, we walked across the street to this venue. Jay We’re rehearsing. We go in there and we’re in the back room. We go in there and we’re in the back room and he’s just wearing this hoodie and he’s rehearsing.
The real drama began when security decided Deon Cole wasn’t allowed anywhere near Beyoncé.
“They put a door, I swear to you. I’m not lying. They put a door between me and Beyoncé and them so I couldn’t get through. They put the door there and I was like, I’m not going to move. I’m going to stand up. Finally, B’s bodyguard saw me and told them to move the door and let me get through.”
Cole wasn’t supposed to introduce Jay-Z at all, but he had other plans.
“They asked me to just introduce everyone on the tour except Jay. They said Jay had his own package. So, don’t introduce Jay. I was like, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah.’ You thought I was going to come here and not introduce Jay? So, I held the mic the whole time. I gave him a virtual mic and put a mic on me.”
As he was making introductions, security tried to kick him out, and Cole ended up missing about 15 minutes of Jay-Z’s impromptu performance.
Despite the chaos, Cole said the event was still a good time. He expressed his gratitude to Questlove, Tariq, Erykah Badu, Brandy and Kelis for making the Genno picnic memorable.
The whole situation shows just how tight security can be at large events, especially when a celebrity like Beyoncé is involved.
Deon Cole’s determination to do his job as host, even when security tried to stop him, led him to share a crazy backstage story.
