dilluns, de febrer 15, 2016

The Anti-Beyoncé Protest Rally – who's racist now?

The singer’s halftime Super Bowl routine in support of #BlackLivesMatter may cause angry activists to descend on the NFL’s HQ
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Beyoncé steals the show: Super Bowl half-time highlights
Publishers are invited to get in touch with Lost in Showbiz regarding a proposed coffee-table book, which would celebrate the most embarrassing direct actions of the modern era. (Working title: PROTEST TOO MUCH).
Obviously, one of its lavish arthouse photospreads would document that time when a tank was driven to the BBC – complete with a man got up as a Fathers4Justice version of the Stig – to deliver a petition protesting about the suspension of Jeremy Clarkson for punching an underling over the absence of a steak. But that cultural moment looks likely to be matched in awkwardness by a demonstration planned for next Tuesday, in which people are being asked to mass outside the NFL’s Manhattan headquarters to protest against Beyoncé’s Super Bowl halftime performance.
On the one hand, it’s good news, because you know that all war, child poverty and whatnot must be over if people are reduced to marching against Beyoncé. On the other … let’s recap. The rest of the world has long known that the most intensely analysed aspect of America’s premier sporting event is the adverts that happen in its breaks – you don’t get that with the World Cup final, of course, but I’m sure they know best. This year, however, even the commercials were forced to play second fiddle, with Beyoncé’s majestic entry into the #BlackLivesMatter movement just that bit more electrifying than attempts to get you to buy Doritos.
Only a non-racist could have failed to be outraged by a routine that confronted police brutality and included Black Panther-style backing dancers, and consequently the call has gone out for people to mass – or certainly gather, ideally in double digits – outside the NFL offices. “Do you agree that it was a slap in the face to law enforcement?” runs the clarion call for the Anti-Beyoncé Protest Rally. “Do you agree that the Black Panthers was/is a hate group which should not be glorified? Come and let’s stand together. Let’s tell the NFL we don’t want hate speech & racism at the Super Bowl ever again!”
We must wish them all the best in returning the Super Bowl to its prelapsarian state of Honda ads and head traumas. At the very least, I’d hope that fast-paced commercial negotiations will ensure that the Anti-Beyoncé Protest Rally can be brought to you in reassuring association with some product or other. I would suggest EMPIRE by Donald Trump – the cologne that “captures the spirit of the driven man” – but leave the matter in their capable, if idle, hands.