What if they throw a Beyoncé protest and the ones organizing it don’t show up?
That’s the question that no doubt went through the minds of the singer’s supporters, and New Yorkers in general, who awoke on a rainy Tuesday morning ready for a face-off with anti-Beyoncé demonstrators, only to discover that their adversaries didn’t show up to their own event.
The planned anti-Beyoncé protest was sparked by the singer’s performance of her new single, “Formation,” which embraces black American life and culture, at the halftime show for Super Bowl 50. Beyoncé performed on Super Bowl Sunday with a cadre of dancers whose costumes — black leather, black berets and ’60s-style Afros — recalled the garb of the Black Panthers in their heyday.
Members of the NYPD and National Football League security showed up today, prepared for the expected showdown, according to CBS2 New York. Opponents, including former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, expressed outrage at the singer and the song. Some of their ire was also leveled at the National Football League itself, for providing what they said was a platform for “cop-killer entertainment.” The anti-Beyonce group Proud of the Blues took to the Eventbrite event-promotion service to announce a protest set for this morning, outside the NFL’s main offices on Park Ave. in Manhattan.
But no one for the other side showed up. WCBS and WINS radio reported that about three dozen Beyonce supporters gathered on the sidewalk outside the NFL building, and nobody else.
“I’m disappointed,” protester Spencer Jones told CBS2. “I really wanted to talk to them and hear their side. I’m not sure why they’re not here. I am kind of sad about that, but I still think coming out here was worth it.”