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NYC: Protest Against Beyoncé Turns into Pro-Beyoncé Rally

HeadlineFeb 18, 2016

And in New York City, a protest against Beyoncé’s politically charged Super Bowl performance turned into a pro-Beyoncé, anti-racist demonstration Tuesday after Beyoncé’s supporters vastly outnumbered her opponents. The event outside the NFL headquarters was billed as a protest against “race-baiting” by Beyoncé, whose Super Bowl performance invoked the Black Panthers, Black LIves Matter and Malcolm X. But only about two or three people actually showed up to criticize Beyoncé, while dozens showed up to defend her. This is an exchange between a Beyoncé critic and two supporters.

Beyoncé supporter 1: “So can you go back to when you were telling us the political statement that Beyoncé’s Super Bowl performance made?”

Beyoncé critic: “Yeah, it seemed—it came off—it just came across to me that there was a political statement, which—listen, which is fine. Everybody has that. But this is a football game. Let’s just keep it to a sports game.”

Beyoncé supporter 1: “But what was the political statement?”

Beyoncé supporter 2: “Have you seen it since?”

Beyoncé critic: “I’ve seen it on the news a couple of times.”

Beyoncé supporter 1: “You know it’s on YouTube.”

Beyoncé supporter 2: “Have you seen the entire performance?”

Beyoncé critic: “Start to finish? No, I didn’t see it, start to finish.”

Beyoncé supporter 2: “So then you cannot speak as to whether or not it was a political statement.”

Beyoncé critic: “OK, fair enough.”

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