On the new Dj Khaled song “Top Off,” Beyoncé—who has the best verse on this song and makes it listenable despite being accompanied by her husband and Future—raps, “If they’re tryna party with the queen, they gon’ have to sign a nondisclosure.”
It could’ve been a shot at comedian Tiffany Haddish, who publicly told of a private-party moment between the Queen Bee and a partygoer.
Nevertheless, Beyoncé isn’t the only one out here threatening folks with NDAs. According to the Washington Post, the president pressured top staff to sign nondisclosures because he’s messy and he knows it.
A draft agreement examined by Post Deputy Editorial Page Editor Ruth Marcus notes that the White House staffers’ agreements were tied to their time with the administration as well as “at all times thereafter.”
And here’s the kicker: Should they talk and release unauthorized or confidential information, they could be fined up to $10 million.
Marcus called the agreements, which appear to have been signed by all staffers, “not only oppressive but constitutionally repugnant.”
The agreement considers confidential information to be “all nonpublic information I learn of or gain access to in the course of my official duties,” including “communications [with] the press” and with “employees of federal, state and local governments.”
The information gathered inside the White House cannot even be used as a “work of fiction”; this excludes episodes of West Wing and 24, which accurately depict this tumultuous White House, as they were created long before this administration took office.