Laverne Cox has shared her hilarious reaction to a fan mistaking her for Beyoncé when she attended the US Open to support Serena Williams.
On Instagram on Monday, the 50-year-old shared a screenshot of a tweet that showed her cheering in the stands at the tournament. At the event, she could also be seen in an all black outfit and wearing a black face mask.
The fan mistakenly addressed Cox as Beyoncé, prompting a wide range of responses on Twitter, including one from the Orange is The New Black star herself.
“Not me getting mistaken for @Beyonce at the #USOpen tonight then trending on Twitter as the internet cackles over the mistaken identity,” she wrote on Instagram, as she shared screenshots from Twitter of fans’ reactions to the mistake. “These tweets are funny as hell. Enjoy!!!Go @serenawilliams.”
While multiple people corrected Twitter user @Choni_, who shared the initial tweet, they also noted how his mistake could be viewed as a compliment.
“Baby this is Laverne Cox,” one Twitter user wrote.
“2nd biggest winner tonight: Laverne Cox who was mistaken for Beyonce all night. Which is a career highlight for literally anyone,” another person wrote.
A third person in the comments of Cox’s Instagram post added: “You DESERVE! You had [the] queen’s essence radiating from behind the mask.”
On Twitter, @Choni_ acknowledged his celebrity mixup and also found humour in the situation, writing: “I’m starting to think that my mix up of @Lavernecox and @Beyonce at the #USOpen [may] actually be ok…I’ll give it twenty four hours to see. I think it may actually be a compliment.”
The Inventing Anna star has shared multiple responses regarding the incident on Twitter, including one to someone who was quite confused about if it was Beyoncé or Cox at the tennis tournament. In her tweet, Cox wrote: “Girl it was me. Lol.”
In her other posts, Cox showed her support for Williams, as she made it to the second round of the US Open. On Monday night, the Grand Slam champion won the event six times, during the first match of her farewell tour.
Earlier this month, Williams announced her upcoming retirement in an essay published by Vogue, where she said that she was “evolving away” from tennis and focusing on different things, including being a mother to her four-year-old daughter, Alexis Olympia, who she shares with husband Alexis Ohanian.
“I’m here to tell you that I’m evolving away from tennis, toward other things that are important to me,” she wrote. “My goodness do I enjoy tennis. But now, the countdown has begun. I have to focus on being a mom, my spiritual goals and finally discovering a different, but just exciting Serena.”
