Controversy Surrounds Beyoncé’s Super Bowl Performance

By: Neel Lakhanpal '16

Photo Courtesy of Getty Images

A few days after the Super Bowl, many figures have spoken out against Beyoncé’s half time performance, which, although certainly political, is being criticized as anti-police. The lively performance featured the Queen’s newest song, released just a day prior, “Formation.” Beyoncé had not released a single song through all of 2015. She certainly came back in full force, unabashedly featuring Black culture and speaking to police brutality and government ineptitude during Hurricane Katrina in the New Orleans area. While singing, she and her troupe sported decidedly Black Power fashion of the sixties and seventies, not unintentionally doing so in the movement’s birthplace, the Bay Area. The dancers all had natural afros and the classic black beret. All of this was seen as an obvious nod to the Black Lives Matter movement and to empowerment of the Black community through its culture.

Some were not so welcoming of this on the Super Bowl stage. Many were uncomfortable with the hip twirling and Beyoncé’s use of the word “Negro” which was a song lyric in “Formation.” Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York who brought down crime rates in Manhattan using controversial police tactics, was the most notable critic of this performance. Giuliani claimed that this sent a “divisive message,” and that it undermined the respect for cops we must all hold. He remarked that such a prominent national stage ought to feature more “wholesome” entertainment. Bey’s performance was loud and in your face; it was very lively and showcased modern Black culture. But many critics believe this performance too outwardly interwove the Black Lives Matter movement onto the stage, and that such a political and social debate should be divorced from music and occur in other forums. In response, a pro-police group is holding a rally outside the NFL headquarters on February 16th, in an effort to push the organization to not allow the Super Bowl to be used to spread the “anti-police message” the group claims Beyoncé conveyed in her performance. Beyoncé has yet to comment on the matter.