Are Beyoncé and Jay Z Consciously Uncoupling?

By now, you've probably seen the grainy black-and-white video of Solange Knowles attacking her brother-in-law Jay Z in an elevator while Beyoncé looks on. You may have even participated in a discussion about it or overheard various people speculating about the situation (which just happened to me at the pharmacy). What started as a private family matter captured on a security camera over a week ago has now spiraled into our very own Watergate. Here's how quickly things escalated: TMZ released the footage on Monday at 11:22 ET. It immediately made its way into the news, and was initially made light of with the trending Twitter hashtag #WhatJayZSaid that had people joking about what could have caused the altercation.
After the initial jokes, people started realizing that the situation could be indicative of a larger issue, either with Solange personally or the Knowles-Carter family. Page Six quotes sources who said that Solange was drunk at the time and had gotten into other arguments earlier in the night. The Daily Mail asserts the attack was the result of "months of tension about Solange's stalled career" and the fact that Jay Z wanted to go to Rihanna's post-Met Gala part without Beyoncé. Even more fuel was added to the fire when Solange deleted all photos of Beyoncé from her Instagram account.
Then came the "but wait; things are fine!" headlines. TMZ posted a story about Jay Z and Solange going jewelry shopping together in New York. Jay and Bey went to a Nets game on Monday night. They also added more performance dates to their joint summer tour. Today, Beyoncé shared four photos of herself with Solange on Instagram. It seemed like this whole thing might die down, and we'd be left to [hopefully] realize important things about privacy and how no one should ever make light of physical violence. But then, eagle-eyed conspiracy theorists made a new discovery. At the aforementioned Nets game where Beyoncé and Jay Z appeared every bit the contented couple, Bey wasn't wearing her massive engagement ring. Not only that, her ring finger bore a red scar that appeared to be from removing the "IV" tattoo she used to have that symbolized the couple's birthdays and wedding date. The super sleuths started combing through recent photos of B's hand and noted one Tumblr snap in which she had a bandage on that same finger.
So now, despite the fact that no one personally involved in the situation (Beyoncé, Solange, or Jay Z) has made any public statement (besides sharing Instagram photos) about what actually transpired, the narrative has shifted to speculation about the state of the Carter union. What was your immediate reaction to the headline on this post? If it was something along the lines of "Ugh, who cares?" or "Seriously, REDBOOK?!" you're not alone. In the age of information overload, this story has hopefully reached its saturation point--or, at the very least, the point at which we mentally check ourselves and realize it's not our business.