#BoycottBeyonce

Overview

#BoycottBeyonce is an online campaign launched in protest of American pop singer Beyoncé's music video and Super Bowl 50 halftime performance of her 2016 bounce hip hop single "Formation," which contains several lyrical references and commentaries aimed at the issue of racial inequalities in the United States, including the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, police brutality controversies and other aspects of racism against the black people. Upon its release in early February 2016, the music video came under intense scrutiny from conservative bloggers and critics of the #BlackLivesMatter movement for its alleged "race-baiting" subtext and promotion of anti-law enforcement attitudes.

Background

On February 6th, 2016. Knowles released the music video for her song "Formation," which features references to the 2005 Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, Louisiana and various police brutality controversies (shown below). In the first 10 days, the video gained over 26 million views and 33,000 comments.

The following day, some Twitter users began protesting Knowles' impending Super Bowl halftime performance and criticizing the video along with the hashtag #BoycottBeyonce, claiming it contained anti-police imagery (shown below).

Notable Developments

Super Bowl Performance

On February 7th, 2016 at approximately 8 p.m. (EST), the halftime show kicked off at the 50th National Football League championship game with Coldplay playing their hit songs, including “Viva la Vida,” “Paradise,” and “Adventure of a Lifetime,” before they were joined by Bruno Mars’ performance of his 2015 pop funk hit Uptown Funk and Beyoncé’s live debut of “Formation” (shown below).

On February 8th, Tennessee resident Patrick Hampton made a Facebook^[2] page titled "Boycott Beyoncé" to protest Knowles' " disrespecting Law Enforcement Officers in blue" in the "Formation" video. One week later,, Hampton claimed to have received death threats for creating the page.^[3] On February 14th, Saturday Night Live featured a parody trailer for a film in which white people suddenly realize that Knowles is black (shown below).

Protest

On February 16th, an" Anti-Beyonce Protest Rally"^[1] was held at the NFL headquarters in New York City. The rally was organized by former New York City mayor Rudy Guiliani to protest "race-baiting stunt at the Super Bowl," as well as the political tactics used by the groups Black Lives Matter and the Black Panthers. That day, Twitter user Glenn Schuck posted photographs showing only counter protesters present at the event (shown below).

Search Interest

External References