Beyoncé and Jay-Z were nowhere to be seen on television’s biggest night — and for the producers of the 2025 Emmy Awards, that was a hard pill to swallow

The power couple were nominated in the same category for “Beyoncé Bowl” and “The Apple Music Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show Starring Kendrick Lamar.”

Beyoncè Knowles in ‘Beyoncè Bowl’.Credit: Netflix

Beyoncé and Jay-Z were nowhere to be seen on television’s biggest night — and for the producers of the 2025 Emmy Awards, that was a hard pill to swallow.

While the power couple is notorious for skipping several high profile red carpets and events every year — they were also absent from the VMAs despite Beyoncé being nominated for Artist of the Year — fans wondered if this years Emmys might be different, given they were both competing for Outstanding Variety Special (Live). In the end, they were no shows and Jesse Collins Entertainment producers Jesse Collins, Dionne Harmon and Jennae Rouzan-Clay came to accept that… after the show started.

“We figured it out when they weren’t in the seats,” Collins told Variety after the show, admitting that was the moment he realized, “‘Oh, you guys aren’t coming!'”

Beyoncé performs in Christmas Day NFL halftime show special, ‘Beyoncé Bowl’.Netflix

Prior to the show Collins, who was also an executive producer on both Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s nominated specials, told the outlet that while he wasn’t sure if the couple would show, he already had their seats saved.

“She can make anything happen,” he said. “It doesn’t matter where she is in the world right now, if she wants to be here, she’ll be here, and there will be a seat for her. Several. We’re ready for them and whatever they want to do… those are my bosses, so it’s up to them.”

Ultimately, Queen Bey and her husband didn’t miss their chance to take the stage because the award went to Lorne Michaels for Saturday Night Live‘s star-studded 50th anniversary special, SNL50: The Anniversary. The long-running sketch comedy show beat out the 2025 Oscars broadcast, the SNL50: Homecoming Concert, Beyoncé’s Christmas Day NFL halftime performance, billed as Beyoncé Bowl, and the Jay-Z produced Apple Music Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show Starring Kendrick Lamar.

Michaels, who was presented the award by his SNL protegé Tina Fey, was nostalgic during his speech, referencing the show’s very first win in the category five decades prior.

“I won this award for the first time 50 years in 1976. I was younger and had a lot of dreams about what would happen in my life,” Michaels said. “Not one of those dreams was me doing the same show for the next 50 years.

Lorne Michaels accepts the Outstanding Variety Special (Live) award for “Saturday Night Live” onstage during the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards at the Peacock Theatre at LA Live in Los Angeles on Sept. 14, 2025.VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty

He went on to thank NBC and Comcast, sharing, “The [anniversary] show was two years in the planning and they said, ‘We don’t care what it costs as long as it’s good.’ Maybe they didn’t say that, maybe that’s just what I heard.”

As for Beyoncé, the singer still has something to celebrate coming off of the 77th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards. Last month, the TV Academy announced the first slate of winners in juried categories including animation, costume, emerging media programming and motion design. Among them was Queen Bey, who won as a costume designer for her halftime show performance. The win put her halfway to EGOT status — a hard won position considering it took 11 Emmy nominations for her to get there.