Rudy Giuliani on Beyonce's VMAs performance: "I saved more black lives"
Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani is not happy about Beyonce’s MTV VMAs performance.
On “Fox & Friends” on Monday, he called her performance “anti-police.” The singer’s set included a part in which her backup dancers fell to the floor one by one as each of their spotlights turned red, undoubtedly a reference to gun violence and police shootings. A man in a black hoodie -- which became a famous image after Trayvon Martin was shot wearing a hoodie -- stood behind Beyonce, holding her shoulders.
The former mayor is peeved because he believes he has done more for black lives than singers like Beyonce have.
“I ran the largest and best police department in the world, the New York City Police Department,” he said. “I saved more black lives than any of those people you saw on stage by reducing crime, and particularly homicide, by 75 percent — of which maybe 4,000 or 5,000 were African-American young people, who are all alive today because of the policies I put in effect that weren’t in effect for 35 years.”
Giuliani added that celebrities like Beyonce have not done enough to improve black communities.
“You also should symbolize why the police officers are in those neighborhoods,” he said. “What are you going to do about that?”
The outspoken politician blasted Beyonce after her Super Bowl performance as well, saying, “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.”
Giuliani has been steadfast in his criticism of the Black Lives Matter movement.
“When you say black lives matter, that’s inherently racist,” he said. He has also stated that he believes African Americans must explain “how and what they’re doing among themselves about the crime problem in the black community.”
“If you want to protect black lives, then you’ve got to protect black lives not just against police,” Giuliani told CBS’ “Face the Nation.”