*Days after performing her new song “Formation” during the Super Bowl 50 halftime show on Sunday, Beyoncé continues to generate negative feedback from police who are taking the singer to task for what they feel is total disrespect for law enforcement displayed in her video for the tune.
Chatting with Fox Business hosy Jo Ling Kent, Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke, a black man, took the grievance a step further by comparing Beyoncé’s performance to someone dressing up as a member of the Ku Klux Klan, Media Matters reports.
“Look, musicians have long used their music, their trade to make political statements in their music. We may not like it, but I don’t want to make a huge deal about it,” said Clarke, who acknowledged the right of a music artist to make a political statement before slamming Beyoncé. “Them coming out, Beyoncé in those Black Panther-type uniforms, would that be acceptable if a band, a White band came out in hoods and white sheets in the same sort of fashion? We would be appalled and outraged.
“The Black Panthers are a subversive hate group in America,” he continued. “I think she could have done a better job, but I think Bruno Mars was a better halftime act anyway.”
Clarke’s criticism echoes many who labeled Beyoncé’s performance “racist” for promoting a group that often battled against police.
Media Matter notes that despite its run-ins with law enforcement the Black Panther Party was created to combat police brutality, much like the efforts of today’s generation of activists who are also fed up with unfair treatment of black people at the hands of the police. As a result, the Panthers “took on more control in Black neighborhoods and kept tabs on police activity in those areas.
“The Panthers also never claimed to be anti-White, but anti-racism,” the site pointed out.
Premiering Saturday along with the song, the video for “Formation” features scenes that seem to reference police brutality, including one showing Beyoncé laying on top of a New Orleans police, a spray-painted wall that said “stop killing us” in another, and particular part where a person in a hoodie danced in front of a row of officers.
As a result, National Sheriff’s Association members voiced their disdain for the clip by turning off the halftime show while watching the Super Bowl during their annual meeting.
The association members aren’t the only ones who took offense by Beyoncé’s performance. Social media was lit up with comments from those who felt a certain way Beyoncé and her dancers performing “Formation” while paying homage to the Black Panther Party with dressing in black leather jackets and wearing wore berets with afros. Sunday marked the 50th anniversary of the pro-Black political group, who was known for dressing in similar fashion.
So much so that a Facebook and Twitter page has been created to focus on boycotting Beyoncé, complete with an icon saying “Blue Lives Matter.” Individually, other police supporters have started using #BoycottBeyonce on their social media pages to further show how they feel.
Among those blasting Beyoncé was a woman who posted the following comment on the entertainer’s Facebook page:
“As the wife of a police officer, I am offended by this entire video,” she wrote. “Rise above and stay above the strife. For a girl who grew up in a privileged, wealthy family, she has no business pandering to those who didn’t.”
