Over the weekend, Beyoncé returned to her hometown of Houston, Texas for a stop on her sold-out Formation tour.
However, not everyone appeared pleased to welcome the star back.
A small group of police offers staged a protest against her concert, believing that aspects of the singer’s most recent work were “anti-police”.
The group from the Pasadena Police Department and of the Coalition for Police and Sherriffs shone a blue light at the NRG stadium in the city and told local news agency KHOU “police lives matter”.
Accusations of the 34-year-old’s performances being “anti-police” started after she released the song “Formation” in February and performed it at the Super Bowl two days later. In the politically-charged video for “Formation”, Beyoncé is seen on top of a New Orleans police car submerged in flood water, later on in the video a young black boy dances in front of a group of white police officers who surrender their hands before the camera pans to a wall which has “Stop Shooting Us” written across in graffiti.
Following the video, there were calls by some to “Boycott Beyoncé” - something she recently made light of by selling “Boycott Beyoncé” merchandise at her concerts. Following the Super Bowl, an anti-Beyoncé protest was organised in New York, however, it was reported only three people turned up.
Beyoncé recently addressed the accusations in an interview with ELLE, saying: “Anyone who perceives my message as anti-police is completely mistaken. I have so much admiration and respect for officers and the families of officers who sacrifice themselves to keep us safe. But let’s be clear: I am against police brutality and injustice. Those are two separate things.”
A representative for Beyoncé declined to comment.
