Sense of humor alert: Beyonce laughs at screeching audio hoax

Mystery solved. It turns out that the tape that portended to be a board mix of Beyonce sounding awful on "The Today Show" was actually a hoax. Somehow, even knowing that, it's still funny. Listen to Howard Stern play it on his Sirius Satellite radio show here.

The person who created the faux board mix, who has not been named, was shocked that the hoax was not revealed immediately, telling TMZ, "It's a little bit crazy. No one in their right mind would sound like that, and no one would cheer for someone singing like that."

Beyonce's dadager, Mathew Knowles, who was less amused, released the following statement to TMZ:

If no one took the time to look at the biggest Inauguration in the history of America then shame on them.

If no one took the time to listen to Beyonce sing 'America the Beautiful' and 'At Last' at the Neighborhood Ball for the first dance of President Obama and the First Lady, and they question Beyonce's vocal ability, they've gotta be an idiot.

At 12 years into her career, the last thing someone should be questioning is her vocal ability.

That would be like questioning if Kobe Bryant could shoot a jump shot. The vocals were obviously altered.

But Beyonce wasn't as wound up by the whole ordeal as Papa Knowles. Hey, publicity is publicity. In this video, the singer told MTV, "Of course I'm just hearing about this today, and I haven't heard it but it sounds completely ridiculous.  Everyone's heard me sing live ... it's perfect timing, actually, because I'll be on the 'Today Show' tomorrow singing 'Halo,' or tonight you can watch me sing live on David Letterman! It's perfect promotion, whoever came up with that idea."

Beyonce's impressive ability to chuckle and smile about the whole ordeal makes her infinitely more likable. All those bejeweled gowns would lead one to assume the B took herself pre-tty seriously.

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Is that a cat in heat or Beyonce's board mix? You decide!

-- Stephanie Lysaght

Photo: Beyonce and Jay-Z at the Sprite Green Instrument Donation event. Credit: Wireimage