If you are like me, your whole world would have stopped on Sunday morning when you heard the news that Beyoncé had released a new song. New Queen B was out in the world, so it was automatically going to be a good day. However, perhaps the world wasn’t ready for the powerful messages she had in store for us- but she sure as hell made us pay attention. If you’ve been living under a rock for the past few days, or you just want to re-watch it for the 1000th time, feast your eyes:
Embracing her, her family’s, and her people’s heritage, Beyoncé thrust the plight of Black Americans (and in particular, Black American women) into the world spotlight. It’s incredibly powerful, and obviously meant a lot to a lot of people.
Then, Beyoncé went one step further and delivered the best Super Bowl Half-Time Show ever. Stealing the slot from Coldplay (who was actually performing) as well as Bruno Mars, Bey paid homage to the Black Panthers and the #BlackLivesMatter movement with her back up dancers- once again putting the plight of African Americans smack bang on prime time TV. It’s the most watched sporting event in the US, and even the world, and Beyoncé just made everyone pay attention. Amazing, right?
Wrong.
It seems a few people are a bit butthurt that the Queen wasn’t including them in her message. Some even went to say that her performance was “anti-police” and even “anti-women” – and some are *really* angry.
Now, calls to stage an anti-Beyoncé protest have been made, and weirdly enough, people are up for it. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani even went so far as to call the performance “ridiculous”, and said “This is football, not Hollywood. I thought it was really outrageous that she used it as a platform to attack police officers.”
Lead by FOX News, the outcry has become so much that a protest is now going ahead. It’s to be held on February 16, outside the NFL headquarters in Manhattan. Trying to remove “hate speech and racism” from future Super Bowl performances, the organisers have called Beyoncé’s performance a “race-baiting stunt” and have called the Black Panthers a “hate group”- an act which shows just how much they have missed Beyoncé’s point entirely.
Instead of listening to what she is saying, and maybe paying attention to the damn near race war their country is going through right now, these people have cried reverse racism and are set on proving their stupid, misguided point. Thankfully, however, there are a few good eggs still left in the world, and an anti-anti-Beyoncé rally is also set to be held at the same exact time and place as their enemies.
Let’s just hope the anti-Beyoncé people prepare themselves – the Beyhive is not a group you want to mess with.
Image: Billboard