The Super Bowl is one of the most popular televised events around the world for as many as 114.4 million people who clear their schedule to watch the championship game along with the commercials and the halftime show. The halftime show has been around for many years playing mainly pop culture music and having dancers perform in front of millions. After a long week, people look forward to this game because it has nothing to do with politics or work, just eating food on the couch and watching the game. However, this year was different. Famous award winning artist Beyonce performed her new song “Formation” promoting the anti-police message of the Black Panthers.

The Black Panther party was a revolutionary organization that stood up for black life in the face of police brutality and took up guns against this brutality. Mainly active during the civil rights movement, the organization was prevalent during the Vietnam war in search of four simple desires; equality in education, housing, employment and civil rights. The organization did not agree with Martin Luther King’s nonviolent movement and decided to take action into their own hands. It was so dangerous that the FBI said the organization was “the greatest threat to the internal security of the country.”

Many people believe this is Beyonce’s most radical political statement in all her star-studded years. Beyonce’s outfit bore a resemblance to Michael Jackson and her backup dancers wore black panther attire including black leather clothing and berets. At the finale of the performance, the group held up their fists signifying black power. At the end of the show backup dancers held up a sign with the words “ Justice 4 Mario Woods,” who was killed by police in San Francisco, the host city of super bowl 50.

Beyonce’s new video “formation” describes the police brutality and promotes anti-police  for the blame of the matter. Her video features a NYPD car sinking as she lays on top of it symbolizing hurricane Katrina and the recent riots of protest against the killing of unarmed black people. Also in the video there is a young boy dancing in front of the riot police putting up his hands for “don’t shoot” as the next scene pans to a wall with graffiti tagging that says “ stop shooting us.”

Police officers responded negatively towards the video as some state police are voting not to protect the pop artist on her 2016 tour. Many police officers are boycotting her “formation” tour. Many also believe she is inciting bad behavior and endangering police officers and law enforcement. After the super bowl performance, seven police officers have been killed. Officers believe she was using the super bowl to divide the people with her controversial message. Former New York Governor Rudy Giuliani 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,”
Many people have been supporting their beliefs on twitter with the hashtag #BoycottBeyonce and #BlackLivesMatter. With a few months until Beyonce’s world tour in Miami, she is still performing without the protection of the police departments.