John Oliver Confirms That Beyoncé Was Photoshopped Into 'The' 'Lion King' Group Picture

The cast photo was released earlier this month

John Oliver is addressing those Beyoncé Photoshop rumors.

After fan speculation that the pop star had been digitally added into The Lion King cast photo released earlier this month, the late night host addressed the rumors during a recent appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

Oliver voices Zazu in Disney’s live-action remake of the iconic 1994 animated film, while Beyoncé stars as adult Nala.

“There’s a lot of speculation here that everybody else in this photo is actually there, except not Beyoncé,” host Stephen Colbert explained. “People are speculating she was photoshopped in. And you’re right next to her — can you tell us whether she was there?”

“She wasn’t there,” Oliver, 42, responded, adding, “I think almost everybody else was there.”

“I remember Chiwetel [Ejiofor, who voices Scar] — we were setting up the shot and Chiwetel was sitting in the front and he said, ‘You need to be careful where your foot is,’ ” Oliver recalled. “I looked down and there was just this piece of tape on the floor with Beyoncé’s name written on it.”

“Just the future presence of Beyoncé was so intimidating — if you look at my face in there, I look really intimidated,” he continued. “That’s because what I’m doing is imagining that I am about to be put into a photo with Beyoncé one day. And that was nerve-wracking enough.”

THE LION KING
The cast of The Lion King. Beyoncé/Kwaku Alston/Disney

Colbert, 55, then pointed out the sizable gap between Oliver and Beyoncé in the photo.

“It’s only appropriate that there’s a significant gap between me and the actual queen,” Oliver joked.

Over the weekend, The Lion King dominated the box office, earning an estimated $185 million at 4,725 theaters in the U.S. and Canada, according to Entertainment Weekly.

The remake marked the highest-scoring domestic launch ever for a PG-rated film and the highest July film opening ever.

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Ian West/PA Images via Getty;Charles Sykes/Bravo/NBC via Getty

Oliver wasn’t the only Lion King cast member to be starstruck by Beyoncé.

Billy Eichner, who voices the meerkat Timon in the movie, recently opened up to PEOPLE about appearing on the classic track “Can You Feel the Love Tonight?” alongside the star.

“I am on a track with Beyoncé, which not many people can say, which is really bizarre and insanely cool,” the Billy on the Street host, 40, said.

Though they didn’t record together in the studio, Eichner has since gotten to meet 37-year-old Beyoncé (and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle!) at The Lion King’s London premiere.

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