Peter King is furious with Beyonce

Add Rep. Peter King to the voices debating the relative merits of the Super Bowl halftime show.

The Long Island congressman is furious at the overtly political message in Beyonce’s music video “Formation,” a message he termed “pro-Black Panther and anti-cop” in a Facebook post Monday afternoon.

King argued that Beyonce should not have been given worldwide platform that is the halftime show because her video makes the false argument that Michael Brown was surrendering when he was killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri.

“Yet the big lie continues by Black Lives Matter, by pandering politicians and now by Beyonce, who gets star billing at the Super Bowl,” King’s post said.

King doubled on Twitter, saying: “Beyoncé Formation video & #SB50 act was anti-police, shameful. Repeats big lie of Michael Brown innocence.Cops deserve support not criminals.”

The issue of violence against young black men by police, and the dangers police face every day, is a  complex one.

Artists can make strong points on such issues; that is what art does. And rebutting that message is what political leaders do.

We doubt, however, that King’s Facebook page will get as many likes.

Here’s a sample from the Facebook post:

“Beyoncé may be a gifted entertainer but no one should really care what she thinks about any serious issue confronting our nation. But the mainstream media’s acceptance of her pro-Black Panther and anti-cop video “Formation” and her Super Bowl appearance is just one more example of how acceptable it has become to be anti-police when it is the men and women in blue who put their lives on the line for all of us and deserve our strong support.

“Not unexpectedly, the video makes the ritualistic reference to Michael Brown and Ferguson, Missouri by featuring a scene of innocent people with their hands raised high above their heads in surrender.

“This fable of an innocent Michael Brown being murdered by police while attempting to surrender, which dominated the airwaves for months in 2014, has been thoroughly discredited. In simple language it was and is a lie from beginning to end.”

Earlier on Monday, former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani also called out Beyoncé for her Super Bowl act.

“This is football, not Hollywood,” he said during an appearance on Fox & Friends. “I thought it was really outrageous that she used it as a platform to attack police officers who are the people who protect her and protect us, and keep us alive.”

This appeared in The Point, the Newsday editorial board’s daily newsletter for insiders. To subscribe, click here.