Beyonce issued a strong political statement with her halftime show at Super Bowl 50 on Sunday with backing dancers dressed as members of armed rights group the Black Panthers.
The superstar brought the dancers on for her new single Formation which is being widely touted as a rallying cry for the Black Lives Matter movement.
At one point during the song, the supporting performers formed an ‘X’ on the field – thought to reference black rights campaigner Malcolm X – and then raised their arms in the air in a gesture referencing the black power salute by Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics.
Following the show, several of the dancers were pictured giving the same salute around a piece of paper that reads ‘justice 4 Mario Woods’ – a black man shot dead by police in San Francisco last December. Afterwards Beyonce said that she ‘wanted people to have love for themselves’.
At one point during the performance the dancers raised their arms in the air in a gesture referencing the black power salute by Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the Australian Olympics
Several of the backing dancers posted this image online following their performance demanding ‘justice 4 Mario Woods’ a black man shot dead by police in San Francisco in December last year
The superstar had been expected to deliver a political statement during her performance of new single Formation after releasing the video yesterday which featured graffiti reading ‘stop shooting us’. Above she and her dancers are pictured performing at the Super Bowl
Tina Knowles, Beyonce’s mother, also uploaded this image to her Instagram of herself and the dancers giving the black power salute
Beyonce used her slot during the Super Bowl 50 halftime show to make a highly political point by performing with backing dancers dressed in the distinctive black berets of the Black Panthers (left)
Woods, 26, was shot dead by around a dozen armed officers after apparently refusing to drop a knife – but his killing angered activists who argue there were other ways to subdue him.
