Miami Police Union Plans Protest of Beyoncé Concert

Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

In April, Beyoncé will head out on the Formation World Tour, named for her new single “Formation.” Her first stop is on April 27 at Marlins Park in Miami, Florida. The Miami Fraternal Order of Police, however, hopes that no law enforcement officers are in attendance at the concert due to her supposed “anti-police message.” Javier Ortiz, president of Lodge #20 (which represents 1,100 officers), announced earlier today that his union had voted to boycott the event and urged all officers to do so as well, according to The Huffington Post. It remains unclear whether Ortiz’s Fraternal Order has the jurisdiction to institute a boycott. Find Oritz’s full statement below, via Miami New Times.

Ortiz cites both the “Formation” video, which features Beyoncé atop a sinking cop car and graffiti that says “Stop shooting us,” and her Super Bowl halftime performance, for which Beyoncé and her dancers wore Black Panther Party-referencing outfits, as reasons for the boycott. He has also shared several anti-Beyoncé photos on his Twitter account.

Other Miami police officials have not backed Ortiz. Maj. Delrish Moss, a spokesman for the Miami Police Department, said:

Right now the union president has his First Amendment right to say whatever he wants to say, but that doesn’t always translate to reality. As far as we see, there’s no indication that anything that is said there will translate into police officers not working the job.

A spokesman for the Miami-Dade Police Department (which is associated with the Police Benevolent Association, a different union from Ortiz’s) added that, regardless of Ortiz’s comments, several law enforcement agencies tend to work such large events, meaning one group’s absence would not necessarily hinder it greatly.

Javier Ortiz and the Miami Fraternal Order of Police are not the only organizations upset with Beyoncé’s new song, video, and Super Bowl performance. A group called “Proud of the Blues” announced an anti-Beyoncé rally for February 16. As it turns out, though, only three protestors showed up, far outnumbered members of a pro-Bey group called “Black Girl Rising.” Additionally, a Tennessee sheriff blamed Beyoncé for gunshots that were fired at his home. Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani has also said of the halftime show, “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.”

Killer Mike recently discussed the controversy surrounding “Formation” on “Real Time With Bill Maher.” “Saturday Night Live” commented on the outrage about the song, too, with a sketch called “The Day Beyoncé Turned Black.”

Here is Ortiz’s full statement:

The Miami Fraternal Order of Police has voted to have all law enforcement officers boycott Beyoncé’s concert which is being held at the Miami Marlins Stadium on Wednesday, April 26, 2016. The fact that Beyoncé used this year’s Super Bowl to divide Americans by promoting the Black Panthers and her anti-police message shows how she does not support law enforcement.

I was one of the tens of thousands of law enforcement officers that didn’t watch the Super Bowl halftime show out of respect for our profession. On another day while flipping through the television channels, I did mistakenly watch her “Formation” video that shows scenes of a young black boy dancing in front of police in riot gear, who signal their surrender by putting their hands up, referencing the “Hands up, don’t shoot” anthem of the Black Lives Matter movement inspired by the 2014 death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. I challenge Beyoncé to review the eighty-six page report written by the United States Department of Justice on the death investigation of Michael Brown. As quoted by a witness that was interviewed by investigators, Witness 108 refused to provide additional details to either county or federal authorities, citing community sentiment to support a “hands up” surrender narrative as his reason to remain silent. He explained that he would rather go to jail than testify before the county grand jury. 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.

While Beyoncé 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. I also salute the dozens of law enforcement officers that have been assassinated by members of the Black Panthers.

We ask all law enforcement labor organizations to join our boycott across the country and to boycott all of her concerts.

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