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Rep. Pete King (R-New York) released a lengthy statement on Monday condemning Beyoncé's latest video and the media for embracing it.
"Beyoncé may be a gifted entertainer but no one should really care what she thinks about any serious issue confronting our nation," King said.
Beyoncé released her new video, "Formation," ahead of Sunday's Super Bowl halftime show, during which she performed the song.
The video featured a number of nods to the Black Lives Matter movement. It opened with the singer lying atop a police cruiser and ended with a young boy confronting police officers in formation.
These nods rankled King, a law-and-order Republican who once considered running for president.
"The mainstream media's acceptance of her pro-Black Panther and anti-cop video 'Formation' and her Super Bowl appearance is just one more example of how acceptable it has become to be anti-police when it is the men and women in blue who put their lives on the line for all of us and deserve our strong support," King said.
King took particular exception to the video apparently referencing the death of Michael Brown, the 18-year-old who was shot and killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014:
Not unexpectedly, the video makes the ritualistic reference to Michael Brown and Ferguson, Missouri by featuring a scene of innocent people with their hands raised high above their heads in surrender. This fable of an innocent Michael Brown being murdered by police while attempting to surrender, which dominated the airwaves for months in 2014, has been thoroughly discredited. In simple language it was and is a lie from beginning to end.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) also criticized the video on Monday as "outrageous" and for serving as a "platform to attack police officers."
Beyoncé may be a gifted entertainer but no one should really care what she thinks about any serious issue confronting our nation. But the mainstream media's acceptance of her pro-Black Panther and anti-cop video "Formation" and her Super Bowl appearance is just one more example of how acceptable it has become to be anti-police when it is the men and women in blue who put their lives on the line for all of us and deserve our strong support.
Not unexpectedly, the video makes the ritualistic reference to Michael Brown and Ferguson, Missouri by featuring a scene of innocent people with their hands raised high above their heads in surrender. This fable of an innocent Michael Brown being murdered by police while attempting to surrender, which dominated the airwaves for months in 2014, has been thoroughly discredited. In simple language it was and is a lie from beginning to end.
Michael Brown was a criminal who had robbed a convenience store and then attempted to kill Police Officer Darren Wilson. Michael Brown never raised his hands above his head and never tried to surrender. He was killed in self-defense by Officer Wilson after Brown first attempted to take the officer's weapon away and then charged at him. Officer Wilson was exonerated not just by a local prosecutor but by the Justice Department of Eric Holder and President Obama. Officer Wilson should be praised, not condemned, for his courageous action against a dangerous criminal.
Yet the big lie continues by Black Lives Matter, by pandering politicians and now by Beyoncé who gets star billing at the Super Bowl.
Maybe it's because I've attended too many police funerals and because my father proudly served in the NYPD for more than 30 years but I strongly believe that this false and irresponsible narrative of police violence premised on lies and distortion endangers police officer lives, such as NYPD Officers Liu and Ramos, and is extremely damaging to our nation and to people of all races and backgrounds. For example, no organization has done more to save innocent black lives than the NYPD.
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