A small group of Houston (and surrounding area) police decided that they had nothing better to do this past Saturday (May 7th) when Beyoncé came to town, but to stand outside of Houston’s NRG stadium and PROTEST the “Formation” singer.
Yep, you heard that correctly. While thousands of people gathered to see Beyoncé’s sold-out Houston show, a police group held an actual protest about a mile away from NRG stadium.
“Some of her performances we believe to be anti-police,” said Tony Ragsdale, who is a member of the Pasadena Police Department and of the Coalition for Police and Sheriffs (C.O.P.S.).
Some members of the law enforcement community are upset over imagery used in Beyoncé’s video for the song “Formation” and in her recent super bowl performance.
Bey’s “Formation” video does show an image of a New Orleans police car sinking into a flooded area (in reference to Hurricane Katrina) and other images such as SWAT team standing in formation, ironically, in front of a young black boy. There’s also a spray painted statement on a wall saying “stop shooting us”.
However, in a statement to ELLE magazine, Beyoncé reassures us that she indeed is not anti-police, but instead against police brutality. “I have so much admiration and respect for officers and the families of officers,” Beyoncé told the publication. “Anyone who perceives my message as anti-police is completely mistaken.”
Either way, the police’s attempt to protest was a serious bust as her fans, aka The Beyhive, defended the LEMONADE singer just as we thought they would.
“She can say whatever she wants, she’s Beyoncé,” said Andrea James, who drove from Memphis to attend the concert.
“That’s stupid, she’s not against cops,” said Mitchell Moser, who came to the concert from Austin wearing a t-shirt featuring a giant drawing of Beyoncé.
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