Beyonce in a scene from her visual album 'Black is King,' which was released on Friday, July 31, on Disney Plus. AP
Beyonce in a scene from her visual album 'Black is King,' which was released on Friday, July 31, on Disney Plus. AP
Beyonce in a scene from her visual album 'Black is King,' which was released on Friday, July 31, on Disney Plus. AP
Beyonce in a scene from her visual album 'Black is King,' which was released on Friday, July 31, on Disney Plus. AP

Twitter pays tribute to Beyonce’s 'Black is King' by turning the like button into two lions


Janice Rodrigues
  • English
  • Arabic

Twitter users who logged on to shower praise on Beyonce's highly anticipated film and visual album, Black is King, released on July 31, are in for yet another treat.

Fans who tweeted in the past two days using the hashtag #BlackIsKing found that the like button on the social media platform was transformed into an image of two lions forming a circle – the same picture used on the cover of Beyonce's 2019 soundtrack album, The Lion King: The Gift. The feature is clearly a nod to the new release being billed as a visual companion to that album, inspired by Disney's live-action remake of the classic film, in which Beyonce voices Nala.

Twitter users were more than a little impressed with this fun new feature, taking it as further proof that there’s little Beyonce can’t do.

In the past, Twitter has created custom hashtags that are paired with a graphic when used, but this is a first-of-its-kind feature.

Twitter has said it is a new function that is still being experimented with. "Because we know that some of the best moments deserve a little spark and delight, we are testing a product that lets partners customise Twitter's like button animation with iconic imagery that complements their campaign," a representative told women's lifestyle website Refinery29.

However, it looks like the feature was designed only to run for a short period of time, as it no longer seems to be available online.

Lion logo or not, there are still plenty of reasons to go give #BlackIsKing tweets a “like”.

The newly released video runs for an hour and 25 minutes and tells the story of a young African king who is cast out from his family and must navigate his own path as he embarks on a journey that takes him through "betrayal, love and self-identity".

It is a celebration of black culture and Beyonce called it a "labour of love" in an Instagram post.

"We are all in search of safety and light. Many of us want change. I believe that when black people tell our own stories, we can shift the axis of the world and tell our real history of generational wealth and richness of soul that are not told in our history books.

"With this visual album, I wanted to present elements of black history and African tradition with a modern twist and a universal message, and what it truly means to find your self-identity and build a legacy."

The cinematic album was produced over the course of a year and features Beyonce's children and husband, Jay-Z, as well as a diverse cast who are from the locations where it was shot, including New York, South Africa, West Africa, London and Belgium.

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Farage on Muslim Brotherhood

Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
"We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know.
“All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.”
It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Company profile

Name: Dukkantek 

Started: January 2021 

Founders: Sanad Yaghi, Ali Al Sayegh and Shadi Joulani 

Based: UAE 

Number of employees: 140 

Sector: B2B Vertical SaaS(software as a service) 

Investment: $5.2 million 

Funding stage: Seed round 

Investors: Global Founders Capital, Colle Capital Partners, Wamda Capital, Plug and Play, Comma Capital, Nowais Capital, Annex Investments and AMK Investment Office  

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Match info

Arsenal 0

Manchester City 2
Sterling (14'), Bernardo Silva (64')

The biog

Favourite colour: Brown

Favourite Movie: Resident Evil

Hobbies: Painting, Cooking, Imitating Voices

Favourite food: Pizza

Trivia: Was the voice of three characters in the Emirati animation, Shaabiyat Al Cartoon

 

 

 

Ipaf in numbers

Established: 2008

Prize money:  $50,000 (Dh183,650) for winners and $10,000 for those on the shortlist.

Winning novels: 13

Shortlisted novels: 66

Longlisted novels: 111

Total number of novels submitted: 1,780

Novels translated internationally: 66

Book%20Details
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Quick pearls of wisdom

Focus on gratitude: And do so deeply, he says. “Think of one to three things a day that you’re grateful for. It needs to be specific, too, don’t just say ‘air.’ Really think about it. If you’re grateful for, say, what your parents have done for you, that will motivate you to do more for the world.”

Know how to fight: Shetty married his wife, Radhi, three years ago (he met her in a meditation class before he went off and became a monk). He says they’ve had to learn to respect each other’s “fighting styles” – he’s a talk it-out-immediately person, while she needs space to think. “When you’re having an argument, remember, it’s not you against each other. It’s both of you against the problem. When you win, they lose. If you’re on a team you have to win together.” 

Results

3pm: Maiden Dh165,000 (Dirt) 1,400m, Winner: Lancienegaboulevard, Adrie de Vries (jockey), Fawzi Nass (trainer).

3.35pm: Maiden Dh165,000 (Turf) 1,600m, Winner: Al Mukhtar Star, Adrie de Vries, Fawzi Nass.

4.10pm: Handicap Dh165,000 (D) 2,000m, Winner: Gundogdu, Xavier Ziani, Salem bin Ghadayer.

4.45pm: Handicap Dh185,000 (T) 1,200m, Winner: Speedy Move, Sean Kirrane, Satish Seemar.

5.20pm: Handicap Dh185,000 (D) 1,600m, Winner: Moqarrar, Dane O’Neill, Erwan Charpy.

5.55pm: Handicap Dh175,000 (T) 1,800m, Winner: Dolman, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar.

Infiniti QX80 specs

Engine: twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6

Power: 450hp

Torque: 700Nm

Price: From Dh450,000, Autograph model from Dh510,000

Available: Now

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The years Ramadan fell in May

1987

1954

1921

1888

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets

GOLF’S RAHMBO

- 5 wins in 22 months as pro
- Three wins in past 10 starts
- 45 pro starts worldwide: 5 wins, 17 top 5s
- Ranked 551th in world on debut, now No 4 (was No 2 earlier this year)
- 5th player in last 30 years to win 3 European Tour and 2 PGA Tour titles before age 24 (Woods, Garcia, McIlroy, Spieth)

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FINAL RECKONING

Director: Christopher McQuarrie

Starring: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg

Rating: 4/5

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Karwaan

Producer: Ronnie Screwvala

Director: Akarsh Khurana

Starring: Irrfan Khan, Dulquer Salmaan, Mithila Palkar

Rating: 4/5