Following a series of apparent rebuttals on social media to the backlash surrounding her take on Beyoncé's "Formation" video, Amy Schumer has released a more formal response with a new essay. Schumer shared "Information About My Formation" on Medium Thursday, claiming Beyoncé approved the clip before its Tidal premiere and that it was "never" intended as a parody.
"I did not mean to detract any of the meaning from the video," Schumer said, noting that she felt inspired by both Lemonade and Hillary Clinton's historic campaign while shooting in Hawaii. "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. It was a way to celebrate bringing us all together. To fight for what we all want. And to do it together."
Though damn near everyone saw the clip as a straight-up parody, Schumer asserts that interpretation as inaccurate. "It was NEVER a parody," Schumer said. "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." According to Schumer, the clip is supposed to be all about the fun.
"The movie we made is fun and the women in it are strong and want to help each other," Schumer explained. "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." At the time of publication, Schumer's "Formation" had amassed roughly 14,000 dislikes against 6,000 likes on YouTube.
