Pop Culture Without Culture: Examining the Public Backlash to Beyoncé’s Super Bowl 50 Performance

Abstract

On February 7, 2016, Beyoncé took the stage of Super Bowl 50 as a featured artist during the halftime show. Immediately after, her performance was classified as an anti-American act of terrorism. The public took to social media, not in the usual fan craze, but to condemn and damn Beyoncé for her celebration of Black culture. This condemning is a reflection of the marginalized treatment of Black popular artists which prohibits them from speaking out on Black issues. Consequently, Black popular artists are forced to shed off their cultural identities in order to achieve and maintain mainstream/pop culture success. This article provides a detailed examination of Beyoncé’s celebration of Black culture and its aftermath, along with other contemporary Black popular artists and celebrities, and will highlight the contemporary damnation of Black entertainers. These analyses will create a foundation for challenging the race-neutral categorization of Black popular artists.