A Miami police union called for a nationwide boycott of Beyonce's concert tour this spring because the singer promoted the Black Panthers during her Super Bowl halftime act, a performance widely seen as anti-police.
"While Beyonce physically saluted the 50th anniversary of the Black Panthers movement at the Super Bowl, I salute NYPD Officer Richard Rainey, who succumbed to his injuries on February 16, 2016 from being shot by two Black Panthers who he had pulled over in a traffic stop," Javier Ortiz, president of the Miami Fraternal Order of Police,
said in a Tuesday letter.
"I also salute the dozens of law enforcement officers that have been assassinated by members of the Black Panthers," he added.
The Miami police union represents 1,100 officers, and is just the latest law enforcement body to express disapproval for Beyonce's new single, "Formation."
"A lot of our members are still quite upset with the division that’s being projected," said James Preston, president of the Florida State Fraternal Order of Police, which has about 20,000 members,
The Washington Post reported.
"The officers are pretty much fed up with the narrative that’s out there now that is anti-police across the nation."
In the days following Beyoncé's halftime performance, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani denounced it as an "attack" on law enforcement, as did members of the National Sheriffs Association.
Mets fans also decried the announcement that Beyoncé will be playing at Citi Field, and an anti-Beyoncé rally was staged outside of the NFL's headquarters in New York.
Ortiz said it was not just Beyonce's promotion of the Black Panthers that was anti-police. The "Formation" music video also portrayed the "Hands up, don't shoot" rallying cry that was based on a claim that was in time contradicted by forensic evidence.
"I challenge Beyonce to review the eighty-six page report written by the United States Department of Justice on the death investigation of Michael Brown," Ortiz wrote in his letter.
"As detailed throughout the USDOJ report, those hands up, don’t shoot accounts are inaccurate because they are inconsistent with the physical and forensic evidence. Countless others contradicted or recanted their accounts of what transpired. Hands up, don't shoot was built on a lie."
© 2023 Newsmax. All rights reserved.