(CNN) — A Miami police union is urging a nationwide boycott by law enforcement labor organizations of Beyonce’s forthcoming world tour, which is scheduled to begin in the city on April 27 at Marlins Park.
But the backlash started almost immediately after the superstar singer’s release of her controversial “Formation” music video and Super Bowl 50 halftime show performance earlier this month.
Critics have objected to the #BlackLivesMatter themes in both, and specifically to her backup dancers at the halftime performance being outfitted in Black Panther-like regalia.
In one portion of the music video, a young African-American boy wearing a hoodie dances before a line of police officers wearing riot gear before the words “Stop Shooting Us” appear in graffiti on a wall.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani was a vocal critic, telling CNN’s Don Lemon that he found it emotionally offensive. Giuliani also said the singer should use her celebrity to encourage people “to respect the uniform, not to make it appear as if they are the enemy.”
The National Sheriffs’ Association blamed Beyonce’s “anti-police ‘entertainment’ ” performance for four officer deaths last week, and after shots were fired outside his home this week, a sheriff in Tennessee held a news conference saying her video may have provoked the shootings.
Later, in a Facebook post, Rutherford County, Tennessee, Sheriff Robert Arnold said his comments “reflect the violence and senseless killing of seven deputies in the U.S. since the show aired. My comments are an observation of the violence that has occurred but in no way is meant to offend anyone.”
A statement from the Stop Mass Incarceration Network said, “At a time when people have been rising up against the genocidal tide of police terror and mass incarceration in ways we haven’t seen since the 60’s, backward fascist reactionaries like Rudolph Giuliani and various national police organizations have unleashed a torrent of abuse attacking Beyonce and accusing her of ‘cop killer entertainment.’ “
The group, which was founded in part by social activist Dr. Cornel West in 2011 to draw attention to what they allege to be the police brutality and mass incarceration of minorities, also added, “The problem is people murdered by the police with impunity. People cannot allow the supporters of police terror and brutality to get away with attacking and trying to intimidate prominent people when they speak out against police brutality.”
Houston Police Officers’ Union president Ray Hunt told CNN the union is allowing officers to decide on their own whether to boycott Beyonce’s tour. He said he that while he watched the music video, he can’t tell for sure what it means and is hoping Beyonce will explain.
The New York Police Department’s Sergeants Benevolent Association quickly announced it would back the boycott, and Bill Johnson, the executive director of the National Association of Police Organizations, said Friday that “We fully support individual officers’ and their unions’ call for the boycott. Why would any group of working men and women support a rich celebrity who openly glorifies murderers? Why would anybody?”
The Massachusetts Police Association said it is just beginning to discuss the issue of the boycott, while other police unions are starting to hold meetings to decide how they will handle the situation.
In a statement, Javier Ortiz, president of the Miami Fraternal Order of Police, accused the singer of using her recent Super Bowl performance “to divide Americans by promoting the Black Panthers and her antipolice message.”
On Thursday, Ortiz wrote that he “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,” but that “on another day while flipping through the television channels, I did mistakenly watch her ‘Formation’ video.”
A representative for Beyonce was not immediately available to comment. But a spokesman for the Miami Police Department told the Huffington Post that the union spoke only for itself and that “there’s no indication that anything that is said there will translate into police officers not working the job.”
The office of Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado did not respond to an email request for comment.
CNN’s Sheena Jones and Shawn Nottingham contributed to this report.