First came the video, then the backlash, then the explanation. The cycle is complete.
Hot off explaining what happened at her recent Tampa, Florida, show, Amy Schumer has turned her attention to the “Formation” video released on Tidal last weekend—which featured her, Goldie Hawn, Wanda Sykes, Raven Goodwin, and Joan Cusack dancing to the Beyoncé song—to assure us it wasn’t a parody. She was just inspired by Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama:
While we were shooting our movie in Hawaii this summer we were all crazy for the album and also for Hillary Clinton. We would rush back to our televisions or phones to watch a stream of CNN to see the convention and watch Hillary and Michelle and so many extraordinary women speak. All of the women on set were bonded together from this music and from the election simultaneously. It was such a powerful time.
She goes on to say she didn’t mean to “detract any of the meaning” from the original video, which features images of black womanhood and post-Katrina New Orleans. In fact, Beyoncé approved it.
It was NEVER a parody. It was just us women celebrating each other. The video Beyoncé made was so moving and I wouldn’t ever make fun of that. There is absolutely no way to.
The video has more than 1 million views—and more than 13,000 dislike votes.