“You know you that bitch when you cause all this conversation – King Bey”
“They don’t hate Beyoncè. They hate Black pride”, says a Facebook user. According to reports, people are calling for a boycott of Beyoncè after her “Formation” video released on Saturday was deemed anti law enforcement.
The video, which features visuals of Black women rocking afros, the ugliness of Hurricane Katrina, and #BlackLivesMatter imagery, was set in New Orleans, Louisiana. In one scene, Beyoncè lays on top of a New Orleans police car as it sinks into the waters of Hurricane Katrina. In another scene, a little Black boy dances in front of cops in SWAT gear. The cops then raise their hands in the “hands up, don’t shoot” stance with the message “stop shooting us” displayed across the screen in graffiti. Watch the full video below:
In the lyrics of the song, Beyoncè praises her African heritage and ethnic features saying “I like my baby’s hair with baby hair and afros/ I like my Negro nose with Jackson 5 nostrils”. A day after releasing the song and video, Beyoncè performed the overnight hit during the Halftime show at this year’s Superbowl.
Watch the 2016 Superbowl Halftime Show HERE.
For her performance, Beyoncè’s dancers were dressed as the Black Panther party and formed an X as a nod to Black Rights Activist, Malcolm X. Beyoncè also donned an outfit similar to Michael Jackson’s when he performed at the 1993 Superbowl. Her performance during the most televised sports event screamed “Black Pride”, and some are not too happy about it.
Former mayor of NYC Rudy Giuliani stopped by Fox & Friends the Monday after the Superbowl and called Beyoncè’s performace “terrible” and “an attack on police officers”:
“I think it was outrageous. The halftime show I thought was ridiculous anyway. I don’t know what the heck it was. A bunch of people bouncing around and all strange things. It was terrible.”
“This is football, not Hollywood, and I thought it was really outrageous that she used it as a platform to attack police officers who are the people who protect her and protect us, and keep us alive. And what we should be doing in the African-American community, and all communities, is build up respect for police officers. And focus on the fact that when something does go wrong, okay. We’ll work on that. But the vast majority of police officers risk their lives to keep us safe.”
It’s interesting to note that NYC had one of the highest police brutality rates while under the mayorship of Giuliani between 1994 – 2001.
Since performing the Mike Will-produced track, the hashtag #BoycottBeyonce started trending, painting Beyoncè as anti law enforcement and a segregationist:
Anti-Black Pride social media users have tweeted and posted they will no longer watch any event where Beyoncè performs and plan to boycott her upcoming tour and album.
During their annual legislative meeting in Washington, members of the National Sheriff’s Association turned off the TV during the Superbowl’s halftime performance. The group’s president, Sheriff Danny Glick of Laramie County, Wyoming reportedly stated they watched most of the halftime performance, but turned off the TV when Beyoncè took the stage.
If promoting Black Pride is anti-law enforcement, what does that say about our law enforcement?
“Speak a little truth and people lose their minds” – Ice Cube of NWA
