Vandals in North Carolina rearranged a church’s marquee into a message calling Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s newborn baby Satan, according to TMZ.com, but church officials said the incident never occurred.
The gossip site reported that Beulah Hill Baptist Church in West End, N.C. was the victim of vandalism after someone defaced their marquee to create the message, “Beyoncé had her baby. Satan is on Earth.”
TMZ reported that the church’s pastor claimed he discovered the message after receiving numerous complaints from locals, and later removed it.
But North Carolina’s Fayetteville Observer countered TMZ’s claims, identifying Beulah Hill’s pastor as the Rev. Curtis Barberry. According to the paper, Barberry claimed that TMZ misquoted him about the incident and said that nothing was vandalized.
“Listen, Satan was here a long time before her baby was born,” he said. Barberry added that TMZ’s picture of Beulah Hill’s marquee was fake.
“It’s never been our sign because our sign stays locked and the same phrase has been on it since Thanksgiving,” Barbery said. “Only one man has the key to it.”
TMZ stood by their report and insisted that the pastor made the claims in question.
Barbery said he believes someone likely edited a photo of the church’s sign and posted it on the Internet.