Amy Schumer Says Beyoncé ‘Formation’ Video Was ‘NEVER a Parody’
Amy Schumer insists her parody of Beyoncé’s “Formation” was meant to be for fun, though she received backlash for it on social media.
The Trainwreck star addressed the controversy in a Medium post on Thursday, explaining that the parody video, which also stars Goldie Hawn, Joan Cusack, Wanda Sykes and Raven Goodwin, “was NEVER a parody.” In fact, Schumer revealed Beyonce and husband Jay Z approved it before its release.
“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,” Schumer, 35, clarified.
“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,” she emphasized.
In the “Get in Formation” video, posted on Tidal one week ago, Schumer and Hawn do their best to copy the original “Formation” video choreography while dancing in a jungle wearing what appeared to be dirty clothing.
“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,” Schumer continued in her post. “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.”
The comedian concluded her message, “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.”
Schumer previously responded to the criticism with two Instagram posts along with the captions: “You know you that b—- when you cause all this conversation,” and “Where’s the music?”
