Beyoncé debuted her new song “Formation” at halftime of the Super Bowl. In the video, she’s shown on the roof of a police car that is sinking in a sea of water. Another shot depicts a graffiti-laden wall pleading “Stop Shooting Us.”
Many have decried the video as anti-police. Members of the National Sheriff’s Association—watching the game during their annual meeting—even turned the performance off.
Now, a sheriff in Tennessee is blaming the video for the rise in violence against police officers. Rutherford County Sheriff Robert Arnold, in an email to The Tennessean, wrote that, “The senseless killing of four law enforcement officers just this week—on the heels of the anti-police ‘entertainment’ at the Sunday Super Bowl halftime show—reminds us that the men and women in law enforcement take a solemn oath that includes putting their lives on the line every day to protect our citizens.”
