Two weekends ago, Beyoncé dropped her new single, “Formation” AND a music video to go along with it. And of course, the internet went absolutely crazy. The next day, she performed at the Super Bowl with Bruno Mars and Coldplay. The public’s reaction to her performance was surprising to me. There was a media craze, talking about how controversial her performance was, and people were even calling it a “backlash.” I just thought to myself, “Did I watch the same performance as all these people did?” I had no idea why people were freaking out over her performance. I, for one, loved her performance, as usual and really appreciated the choreography and medley with “Crazy in Love” and Uptown Funk.” I decided to re-watch the Super bowl performance to see why people were freaking out.

Her live version of the song at the Super Bowl had back-up dancers dressed as female Black Panthers. Black Panthers was a group in the 60s and 70s that protested black oppression by the police. People are mad because they think Beyoncé is “anti-police.”

One of those people is Rudy Giuliani, former mayor, called Beyoncé’s performance “terrible” and said, “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.”

However, Beyoncé has every right to stand up for what she believes in. I don’t believe she was trying to be “anti-police” after watching her video and Super Bowl performance. She’s against police violence, which everyone should be. She wants the police to stop hurting innocent people, just because of their race. And why not express this through her music? Music is a form of art, and art can be used to express a person’s ideas or thoughts, so using her music to express her opinions on police violence makes complete sense. Beyoncé wants to use her popularity and platform to make a change in America, and I think we should let her.

Instead of writing songs about how “Crazy in Love” Bey is with Jay-Z, she decided to write about something different… something that matters. Don’t get me wrong, I love songs like “Drunk in Love” and “Partition,” but this time, Beyoncé is using her platform to help make a change.

#BoycottBeyonce started trending on Twitter, and people organized a meet up to protest her performance. On February 16^th, it was held at the NFL headquarters in New York City.

The Boycott’s Turn-out?

Only 3 people showed up…

Maybe next time, haters.