Beyoncé: Miami police union votes to boycott singer’s concert over Super Bowl performance
Despite the overall popular response, 'Formation' has upset some conservatives and police unions
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Your support makes all the difference.A police union in Miami has voted to boycott a Beyoncé concert due to her apparent “anti-police message” conveyed in her politically charged Super Bowl performance and internet-breaking video for "Formation".
The Miami Fraternal Order of Police have voted “to have all law enforcement officers boycott Beyoncé’s concert” at the Miami Marlins Stadium in April.
Beyoncé surprisingly dropped the video for "Formation" two weeks ago. The empowering video contains scenes including the singer on top of a New Orleans police vehicle submerged in flood water and a young boy dancing in front of police officers who surrender their hands before the camera pans to a wall which has “Stop shooting us” emblazoned across it in graffiti.
When the 34-year-old joined Coldplay for their Super Bowl halftime performance a day later, she performed the song with a troupe of dancers dressed in leather and berets as homage to The Black Panther party.
The Miami police union list both the video and Super Bowl performance in their statement explaining the concert boycott, according to the Miami New Times.
“The fact that Beyoncé used this year’s Super Bowl to divide Americans by promoting the Black Panthers and her antipolice message shows how she does not support law enforcement," it states.
The President of the union signs off the statement: “We ask all law enforcement labour organisations to join our boycott across the country and to boycott all of her concerts.”
Despite Beyoncé’s video and performance being widely praised for highlighting racial inequality on a mainstream platform and celebrating black empowerment, there are others aside from the police union who have decried "Formation".
An anti-Beyoncé protest rally was organised outside the NFL’s headquarters in New York on Tuesday. However only three people actually turned up, leading it to it be branded “the worst-attended protest ever”.
The Independent has contacted a representative for Beyoncé for comment.
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