Not everyone in Beyoncé’s hometown of Houston was happy to see her return for her Formation World Tour stop in the city. On Saturday, a group of police officers in Houston held a silent protest outside of the sold-out concert venue where the superstar was performing.
Law enforcement across the country has been protesting Beyoncé and her concerts since her controversial Super Bowl halftime performance, which many believe was “anti-police.”
According to KHOU, Houston’s CBS affiliate, members of the Pasadena Police Department and the Coalition for Police and Sheriffs—who staged the protest—were upset by some of Bey’s recent performances and music videos, though they didn’t specify which ones. In addition to her Super Bowl performance, the imagery in Beyoncé’s “Formation” video was criticized for including a police car sinking into floodwaters among other nods to law enforcement.
Beyoncé has vehemently denied that her work is “anti-police.” In a recent interview with Elle, she made her stance clear: “I’m an artist and I think the most powerful art is usually misunderstood. But anyone who perceives my message as anti-police is completely mistaken.”
But that’s not all Bey wanted to clarify: “I am against police brutality and injustice. Those are two separate things. If celebrating my roots and culture during Black History Month made anyone uncomfortable, those feelings were there long before a video and long before me.”
Yet again, Beyoncé’s powerful work has managed to create an important national conversation.