‘The Daily Show’ Smacks Down Haters Who Can’t Handle Beyoncé’s Blackness

Critics are calling for a boycott of the singer over the video for her song ‘Formation’ and her Super Bowl 50 performance.

Beyoncé performs during the Super Bowl 50 half-time show at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, on Feb. 7. (Photo: Christopher Polk/Getty Images)

Feb 9, 2016· 1 MIN READ
Culture and education editor Liz Dwyer has written about race, parenting, and social justice for several national publications. She was previously education editor at Good.

Who knew that backup dancers sporting black berets while Beyoncé sang, “I like my Negro nose with Jackson 5 nostrils,” on a football field could spark such controversy? But Queen Bey’s epic performance of her new song, “Formation,” during the half-time show at Super Bowl 50 has ignited a firestorm of criticism from supporters of law enforcement, some of whom are calling for a boycott of the artist.

Jessica Williams, The Daily Show’s “senior Beyoncé correspondent,” is not here for the haters. During Monday-night’s episode, Williams delivered a nearly four-minute-long satirical smackdown of critics, including Fox Business anchor Stuart Varney and Fox News contributor and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

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Varney and Giuliani are among the pundits blasting the nods in Queen B’s half-time performance to the Black Lives Matter movement, Malcolm X, and the Black Panthers. The music video for “Formation,” which features scenes of a New Orleans Police Department car sinking and a boy dancing in front of a line of police officers, also came under fire.

As seen in the clip below, Williams kicks things off with jokes about Beyoncé being “like a beautiful black Dumbledore.” But she also explains to viewers that the song and video are an unapologetic love letter to “Black Girl Magic,” that black people do live in fear of police brutality, and that the disenfranchisement of New Orleans’ residents after Hurricane Katrina is real.

Williams then shows a clip of Varney asking, “Is there anything in America that can exclude race? Why is race brought in at the half-time show of the Super Bowl?”

“Race was brought in because Beyoncé was brought in, and, brace yourself, you might want to sit down for this, but Beyoncé is black,” Williams says with a slight smile. “And as a black person, you walk around every day constantly reminded that you are black. We’re more likely to get paid less, more likely to get sent to prison, and more likely to win a dance competition. What? It’s not all bad,” she jokes.

She then takes Giuliani—who has said that black-on-black crime, not police brutality, is the nation’s real problem—to task for his comments on Fox & Friends on Monday. Giuliani told the show’s hosts that Beyoncé’s performance wasn’t “decent, wholesome entertainment” for folks living in middle America.

You know what’s right in the middle of America? “Ferguson, Missouri,” says Williams. She also questioned whether white people are so “delicate” that they can’t handle Bey’s performance.

“But you’re right. You know what? The fans deserve wholesome entertainment, like watching 300-pound men give each other concussions while a crowd cheers like we’re extras in the movie Gladiator. So what is wrong with Beyoncé, everyone? Were you not entertained?” Williams asks.

Meanwhile, Beyoncé’s Facebook page continues to be bombarded with people calling her a racist or asking for a boycott of the artist. But as educator, Black Lives Matter protester, and Campaign Zero activist Brittany Packnett wrote on Twitter, the backlash against Bey’s video and performance is a reminder of why the movement is still necessary.