After Beyoncé’s Superbowl performance of her smash-hit single “Formation,” a significant part of the world was deeply offended by the supposed anti-police message and the Black Panther outfits that Beyoncé and her dancers wore during the show. As a result of this outrage, a group of protesters decided to get together to form an anti-Beyoncé rally, as previously reported by TheInquisitr. Well, that anti-Beyoncé rally took place, but it didn’t exactly turnout the way Beyoncé’s haters hoped it would.
According to Deadspin, the event was planned via Eventbrite and scheduled at 8 a.m. today (February 16) at the headquarters of the National Football League in New York. You can read the description for the anti-Beyoncé rally below, accusing the singer of hate speech by using Black Panther imagery.
“Are you offended as an American that Beyoncé pulled her race-baiting stunt at the Superbowl?”
“Do you agree that it was a slap in the face to law enforcement?”
“Do you agree that the Black Panthers was/is a hate group which should not be glorified?”
“Come and let’s stand together. Let’s tell the NFL we don’t want hate speech & racism at the Superbowl ever again!”
Beyoncé. (Photo by Matt Cowan/Getty Images)
This gathering appeared to be a huge deal at the time it was planned, especially with tensions over police violence against minorities at an all time high. Many news outlets covered the event, anticipating it to be major outcry against one of the biggest pop stars of all time. But that so-called anti-Beyoncé rally didn’t turn out to be much of a big deal at all. In fact, it didn’t even turn out to be much of a rally.
Virtually no one showed up to the anti-Beyoncé rally. And those who did were outnumbered by Beyoncé fans who showed up to counter-protest. Several Twitter users began tweeting photos from the event, showing just how sparse the attendance was. Reporters appeared to be severely disappointed in the non-story they had driven out to cover.
Outside NFL HQ, at what was supposed to be an anti-Beyoncé protest. Only a few counter-protesters have shown up. pic.twitter.com/h8EiKnX9rc
According to WMUR, one counter-protester threw together an impromptu sign in response to the poor turnout of the anti-Beyoncé rally that simply said: “Where yall at?”
In hindsight, many people have questioned whether or not the call to organize an anti-Beyoncé rally was actually a sincere act of outrage or if somebody posted the Eventbrite page as a joke. Either way, it appears that those who were upset by Beyoncé’s performance are either less abundant than previously thought, or lack the conviction necessary to form an actual protest.
But the rally wasn’t completely devoid of anti-Beyoncé attendees. There were at least three people outside the NFL headquarters who claimed to be protesting the singer, including a man named Ariel Kohane who interpreted the half-time show as a “call for violence” against police officers.
Despite the failed rally, an internet group against the singer calling themselves “Proud of the Blues — Civilian Fleet” have popularized the hashtag #BoycottBeyonce in response to the Superbowl show. Deadspin reported that the Eventbrite page was retroactively credited to the “Proud of the Blues” group, but nobody’s really sure of its origins — or if it intended to plan a genuine anti-Beyoncé rally.
Coming to you live from the dueling Beyoncé rallies, aka the starting point of the Second American Civil War pic.twitter.com/SaNCa29gLO
