Monday, March 18, 2024

Amy Schumer Defends ‘Formation’ Parody: I Had ‘Beyoncé and Jay Z’s Approval’

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(L-R) Wanda Sykes, Amy Schumer and Joan Cusack

*After her comedic take on Beyonce’s “Formation” backfired, comedian Amy Schumer has written a post detailing her intentions behind her decision to recreate the video.

“It was NEVER a parody. It was just us women celebrating each other,” Schumer wrote on Medium.com in a piece called Information About My ‘Formation’.

As previously reported, Schumer put her own spin on Beyonce’s black power anthem while on the Hawaiian set of her next film. She recruited co-stars Goldie Hawn, Joan Cusack, Wanda Sykes and female production members of the as-yet-untitled comedy to lip-sync the lyrics and reenact the video’s choreography.

Shortly after it was released exclusively on Jay Z’s streaming service Tidal, she was roundly accused of cultural appropriation and making light of the song’s support of the #blacklivesmatter movement and overall celebration of blackness.

“I did not mean to detract any of the meaning from the video. I am of course horrified and sickened by the events that are addressed throughout that video and didn’t see this as minimizing that and still don’t,” the comedian added. “It was a way to celebrate bringing us all together. To fight for what we all want. And to do it together.”

“The video Beyoncé made was so moving and I wouldn’t ever make fun of that. There is absolutely no way to,” Schumer wrote. “I make fun of myself a few times in the video as I do in everything I am a part of. I loved every second of working with those women to make this thing that lifted us up.”

Schumer added that the video was released with “Beyoncé and Jay Z’s approval.”

“Saying I love Beyoncé’s album ‘Lemonade’ is a huge understatement,” Schumer wrote. “I believe it is one of the greatest pieces of art of our time.”

Schumer ended her post:

If you watched it and it made you feel anything other than good, please know that was not my intention. The movie we made is fun and the women in it are strong and want to help each other. That’s what it was about for me. Of course I had Beyoncé and Jay Z’s approval. They released it on Tidal exclusively for the first 24 hours.

You have every right to feel however you feel about the video and me but I want you to know I’m not going anywhere. Use whatever hashtag you like. My mission is to continue to work as hard as I can to empower women and make them laugh and feel better and I won’t let anything stop me. #strongertogether #alllove

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