Everybody just calm down. On Saturday, February 13, one week after Beyoncé unleashed the controversial music video that is “Formation” upon the world, Saturday Night Live aptly captured the public outrage and panic that has ensued.
In a trailer for a faux movie called The Day Beyoncé Turned Black, the cast members of the sketch comedy show paint a world in which unassuming white people are startled to learn, with the release of “Formation,” that Beyoncé is indeed black.
“For white people, it was just another great week,” a voiceover begins the clip, in which a number of people go about their daily routines. “They never saw it coming. They had no warning. Then, the day before the Super Bowl, it happened.”
Cue the haunting first tones of Beyoncé’s chilling “Formation,” and a montage of real news clips in which “Beyoncé embraces her black heritage.”
The video then cuts to white people panicking over the news and saying increasingly ridiculous things, akin to discovering the existence of zombies or aliens.
“Guys, I don’t understand this new song,” one woman says at the office as she takes her earbuds out.
“Hot sauce in my bag. Swag?” another man says, perplexed. “What does that mean?”
“Maybe this song isn’t for us,” another employee says, looking alarmed.
“But usually everything is!” the first woman says, looking like she’s about to have a meltdown.
SNL’s take on Beyoncé’s much talked-about music video — and Super Bowl halftime performance — comes after a week in which critics have attacked the 34-year-old singer’s politically charged message.
“I thought it was really outrageous that she used [the Super Bowl] as a platform to attack police officers, the people who protect her and protect us and keep us alive,” former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani said on Fox & Friends on Monday, February 8.
But Beyoncé’s loyal fans and pals aren’t taking the haters’ comments lightly.
“I thought everybody’s interaction on stage was absolute perfection,” Kelly Rowland told Us Weekly at the Delta Airlines Grammy party in Hollywood on Friday, February 12. “[Beyoncé] was absolutely amazing. … I think we live in a country where you have the freedom to say how you feel and talk. And it’s really from a peaceful place. I think that they’re blowing it out of proportion. Giuliani should just shut up.”
Watch the hilarious clip above!
