Amy Schumer's "parody" of Beyoncé's "Formation" video didn't sit well with some people. Some thought it was racist. Others thought it was tone-deaf, and even a writer on The Root used it to declare war against white feminists.
There's no doubting the fact that everyone can have his or her opinion about the video, and Schumer has obviously heard the complaints and posted an article to set the record straight about it.
In a post on Medium, Schumer wrote of her love of Beyoncé's Lemonade album, and that she wanted people to realize her video wasn't a parody and that she was "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 writes:
“Lemonade” brought us all together. We listened to the album and danced every day, always making everyone feel better no matter what we were going through. We were so into it that we learned the dance to “Formation.” It got us through this summer. Meredith, my stunt double even got a “Lemonade” tattoo because of how real and meaningful it was to her, to us. We would use each location we shot at and do a part of the song. To have Goldie Hawn dancing with Wanda Sykes and Joan Cusack and Raven Goodwin and all the female writers and producers and crew from all over the world doing this together felt very powerful and right.
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. 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 went on to say that she had Jay Z and Beyoncé's approval and they were the ones to release it on Tidal (basically, if you want to blame someone, blame them).
Earlier this week, I tried to pinpoint exactly when Schumer became problematic to some people. Sure, there was that time she supposedly stole one of Patrice O'Neil's jokes. Then there was the racist Hispanic joke. Then there was the time she joked about men of color being more prone to catcalling her.
But I will be the first to admit I've watched her movie Trainwreck multiple times because I found it funny. And after viewing her version of "Formation," I didn't get riled up like a lot of people. I just chalked it up as another mediocre Schumer moment and moved on to the next subject. Which, ironically, was mediocrity.
Schumer ended her post by letting people know that she's not going anywhere. Basically, she doesn't care about your opinions. Or hashtags. I kinda don't blame her. If I were mediocre and able to make a living off of it, I wouldn't care, either. Next month she'll give people something new to complain about.