Beyoncé: Protest planned in New York against singer's Super Bowl halftime performance
A counter-protest has also been organised
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Your support makes all the difference.Beyoncé’s show-stealing, politically charged Super Bowl contribution has widely received rave reviews and praise for using such a platform to draw attention to an important cause. However, a group of people have taken such offence to it that they’ve organised an “Anti-Beyoncé Protest Rally”.
The planned protest was posted on Eventbrite, and is scheduled to take place next week outside the NFL’s headquarters in New York.
The justification for the rally is a short summary of points asking: “Are you offended as an American that Beyoncé pulled her race-baiting stunt at the Super Bowl? Do you agree that it was a slap in god face to law enforcement? Do you agree that the Black Panthers was/is a hate group which should not be glorified?”
Organisers signed off with a message for the NFL: “Let’s tell the NFL we don’t want hate speech and racism at the Super Bowl ever again” before including the hashtags “#BoycottBeyoncé, #BlueLivesMatter and #AllLivesMatter.
In a move reminiscent of when the singer unexpectedly dropped a self-titled album in 2013, Beyoncé surprised fans and the internet on Saturday with an unannounced video and single: “Formation”. The stirring video contains scenes including the 34-year-old sat atop of a New Orleans police car submerged in flooding water and a young boy dancing in front of police officers who later surrender their hands in the air shortly after the camera pans to a graffitied wall which reads: “Stop shooting us.”
Just a day later she performed the song when joining Coldplay for the Super Bowl half-time show on Sunday. The singer’s dance troupes were dressed in black berets and leather as homage to The Black Panthers party and danced in an X-shape, possibly a reference to activist Malcolm X.
In response to the protest, a counter “Anti-Anti-Beyoncé Protest Rally” has been announced and calls for supporters of the singer’s performance to “Get In Formation”. The event is scheduled for the same time at the same place as the other protest and the page asks: “Don’t let anyone make her [Beyoncé’s] powerful statement about the value of Black life be overshadowed by those who don’t believe that our lives matter.”
The Independent has contacted a representative for Beyoncé for comment.
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