Meet The Youth Pastor Behind #BoycottBeyonce
Originally published on madamenoire.com
Meet Patrick D. Hampton.
He is a married father of four from Chattanooga, Tennessee who is none too pleased with Beyoncé’s new song, Formation. Hampton was so incensed by the singer’s controversial Superbowl performance that he decided to start the official Boycott Beyoncé Facebook page.
Why does he want to Boycott Beyoncé?
Well, according to the page’s “about” section, Hampton writes that he is tired of the racial division in the country and that he was particularly upset at the multi-platinum singer ”for disrespecting Law Enforcement Officers in blue…”
As no surprise, the page is filled with pro-law enforcement and anti-Beyoncé memes and articles including this conservative blog post entitled, “After Beyoncé’s Performance 8 Police Deaths in 8 Days, Maryland Sheriff Delivers a Sobering Message to Obama.” In addition to his feelings on Beyoncé and his support for the boys in blue, Hampton also uses the page to call out the Black Lives Matter movement, which in one particular post he likens to “The New Klan With A Tan.”
Thus far, the page has over 25,000 likes and counting. It has also been the subject of online harassment and even death threats. Yesterday, I got a chance to speak with Hampton about his motivation for starting the page, the reaction he is receiving and his alleged involvement with the failed anti-Beyoncé rally, which was supposed to happen earlier this week in New York City.
Read what he had to say below:
Charing Ball: So I take it you’re not a fan of Beyoncé, huh?
Patrick Hampton: “No, I’m not a fan of Beyoncé or pop culture. However I do go around explaining how toxic Hip Hop culture has become. And I do this mostly in churches, some schools, but mostly in churches. I talk about how Hip Hop culture is changing the culture of our youth.”
CB: You say that Beyoncé and Hip-Hop are “changing the culture” how so?
Hampton: From my perspective, it is changing how a lot of our young men treat women. How misogynist it has become. How all of the symbols and subliminal messages that are sent through the music is changing the ways they react to the police. And that is the reason why I started the Boycott Beyoncé page because as I am studying what she is releasing for this new album, I am also seeing a lot of the imagery that is being released in the video and then the connection with the Black Panthers and Black Lives Matter. That is what prompted me. Because it seems like every time I get a lot of the young men I mentor five-steps forward, it seems like these artists push us ten-steps back. And so it is a constant struggle to explain to them that there is a certain way to approach the police without being angry or thinking the police have these ulterior motives.
CB: So can you speak in more detail about how you feel Beyoncé, and Hip Hop artists in general, are working to push the young men you mentor five steps backwards?
Hampton: Okay, so I also teach media literacy. And one of the main things I teach them is that all media messages are constructed by a team of people. So, I teach them to watch videos from the perspective of a producer. So, when I watch the “Formation” video, the very first image is of Beyoncé standing on top of a police car submerged in water. So when I see her standing on a police car, I think to myself, why a police car? Why not a box Chevy with 26′ inch rims? So towards the end of the video, I see the image of young men standing in front of a line of police officers dancing with hands up. And at the same time I hear the lyric says: “or you can be eliminated.” So when I hear that lyric and those images together, I am seeing the subliminal messages she is sending to her fans. Also, studying the Black Panthers and understanding why the FBI had to shut down the Panthers because they had become so violent, I’m hearing Beyoncé call a generation into formation against the police. This is what I got from it and this is what a lot of young people got from it.
CB: The rapper Kendrick Lamar recently had a similar style performance at the Grammys, do you see the same subliminal messaging in his music? What are your thoughts on that?
Hampton: Kendrick Lamar and Hip-Hop has always used their platform to promote the narrative Blacks are eternal victims. I expected a performance like that from Kendrick Lamar. Beyoncé has a more diverse fan base and has been successful with crossing over to pop culture. I didn’t expect her to be so divisive. Hip-Hip culture is inherently rebellious. It was founded as a rebellious response to capitalism and government. Kendrick Lamar would not be Hip-Hop if he didn’t convey such messages of eternal victimhood and rebellion.
CB: Okay, on your Boycott Beyoncé page, you talk about Black Lives Matter a lot and you consider them pretty divisive. Are you concerned about unarmed young Black people specifically being killed by the police?
Hampton: I am not denying that there are bad police officers out there that may target young Black men. I believe police brutality is a real thing, but I know because of data that those incidents are few and far in between. When you compare the contact that young Black men have with police, over 99 percent of them do not end in a Black man being killed. But the problem I am having with Black Lives Matter is the same problem I have with the Black Panthers. I see a direct correlation. The Black Panthers started with a great plan to help inner-city Black America. But what happened, because of the anger, that radical element entered into the Party and they became very violent. And their response to the police was very wrong. And that is what I started seeing with the Black Lives Matter movement. Yes, it started to bring light to the issue of police brutality but now what I am seeing is a lot of hatred and vitriol directed at the police. I think the movement is wrong. Martin Luther King had a nonviolent approach that changed legislation. I see nothing of that in the Black Lives Matter movement. I don’t want to see the movement get to where the Black Panther movement got to. So now the new Black Panthers are so radical that they are calling for the death of all White people. And I don’t want for my children, for the children I mentor and for the African American community at all.
CB: So going back to the page, you say you have never been a Beyoncé fan. Why start the boycott now?
Hampton: Well it goes back to the Superbowl. I decided to let my children watch the half-time show with the idea that we would have a discussion afterwards. After the performance, I asked them what did they think and my eldest son said, ‘well why didn’t she have on any pants?’ So I began to address that. So then my other son asked, ‘why they had their fist up like that?’ And I had to explain that. Then they asked who are the Black Panthers and of course, I had to address that. So this was not something I had intended to do while watching the Superbowl. It is a day where we are supposed to put all of the political stuff aside and just focus on the Superbowl. So when I went to bed that night, I was kind of upset. And that is what prompted me to start the page. And it just kind of blew up from there.
CB: There are reports, which you even shared on your page, linking you to the anti-Beyoncé protest in New York. Are you one of the organizers?
Hampton: No, I’m not affiliated at all. Yes, I did make a joke on the page because a BLM activist on Twitter was asking me where I was, so I told them that I was at work and they had been punked. But I had nothing to do with that. And I believe that Black Lives Matter started the rally just to create a standoff between anti-Beyoncé people and Black Lives Matter people.
CB: Tell me about the response to your page
Hampton: Oh yeah, I have a lot of detractors, especially locally. And especially the group that calls themselves the BeyHive or the Church of Bey. So I got a lot of people who come to the page to attack the message because they are Beyoncé fans. And they have their constitutional rights to do that. But the thing that is getting serious is the death threats that I get nationally and locally. I am having police officers ride by my house. And this is what I’m talking about that this Black Lives Matter movement is becoming so violent that they are willing to threaten someone who speaks against them.
CB: With all of the threats against you, have you thought about taking the page down?
Hampton: Yes, actually the police suggested that I take the page down. And I thought about it but I decided that, no, I’m not going to do it because this is something that I really believe in. Beyoncé has the ability to unify or come up with actual solutions to our racial division. But instead she is polarizing us. So I’m not taking it down.
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19 Comments
Max 2.1
February 20, 07:01Kinda confused, dont really know what to make of this.. Ndi beyhive ngwanu, come and have your field day..
#TeamKizito
February 20, 07:08He said the Pink Panthers do what?
#TeamKizito
February 20, 07:10Sorry *Black
-Ok, ok babies now let’s get information (cause I play) x2
4-4-2 🙂
Pink Panther
February 20, 07:26Hahahahahahahaa!!! Kizito, a foot up your arse don dey hungry you abi
#Chestnut
February 20, 08:08Hmmmm… I don’t even know what to say. Bey just can’t catch a break; if she doesn’t address d #BlackLivesMatter issue, blacks will drag her by her lace-fronts, now she talks about it, some ppl are accusing her of being “divisive” *sigh*…
This Pastor should be careful sha,cos the Beyhive don’t play!
#Chestnut
February 20, 08:10(That pastor is fine sha…*blushing*)
Jamie
February 20, 08:26Church hypocrite has an opportunity now to garner support for his anti-secularity, under the disguise of political correctness/incorrectness propaganda and racism, huh? Police are gonna keep strolling down your street cos you’re actually promoting hate without any secret, hidden images. Noone has to guess what you’re intending to do, which is gain some favour, and a number into your fold, to foster your preaching…and you sound like you would do anything to achieve that Duh!
Now, I’m not saying you’re not soooo cute, nor am I saying that I don’t have some crush on you, nor am I saying that as a BeyHive fella, I would be able to say no if you ever ASKED; what I’m saying is that after all, you’re still an enemy, and I think that #Formation is basically for fellas like you!!!
Terra
February 20, 08:58Threatening the man’s life because he has a boycott Beyonce page only proves what he’s saying. Personally, I’m far too lazy to be part of anybody’s hive abeg
chuck
February 20, 09:27This one is an idiot. Has he asked himself whether the culture of his youth was better? Did he like being the object of racial discrimination back then? The problem with “Conservatives” is their prioritization of institutional sacredness (police, Church, etc) over institutional functionability. Instead of making institutions work they’re concerned with protecting the reputation or nostalgic value of these institutions.
ambivalentone
February 20, 11:13I quite agree with u. Up until d time the pg was done loading and I was done reading thru, I had concluded he was white. Imagine my shock when I saw him to be black. 1st thing that came to my mind was “Even the Israelites were ready to take up arms against the Egyptians, so why shouldn’t the blacks take arms against an obviously racist institution”
But then again….#sigh, some blacks sha…This is just a mess
Marc Francis of Chelsea
February 20, 13:14Exactly. They would rather close their eyes to the injustice within institutions than speak out and damage the structure. That’s why little boys have been raped by celibate priests for years with the Catholic church only reacting when it becomes public.
Kenny
February 20, 09:34I don’t really know what to make of this! Its only the Beyhive and church of Bey that have reached out to him abi? *dials the Beygency*. I feel he can pass his message without the whole boycott Beyonce thing.
Khaleesi
February 20, 10:19***big yawn*** ***rolls eyes****
Mr. Fingers
February 20, 11:08Bros chill abeg. Police brutality is an issue all over the world. When a particular race is being targeted by some racist policemen it becomes worrisome. The whole idea of the video is to keep the narrative abt police brutality against black ppl going and the fact that we are still talking abt it right now means it was a success.
I disagree with him that the black lives matter movement is targeting white people. A lot of whites are in support of the movement. This pastor is black and not in support of the movement like some black Americans, so it’s not a black against white battle.
He just said Beyonce has a lot on none black fans so that means if it was a black against white thing, which it is not, then she has a lot to lose.
By the way am not part of the beyhive.
Marc Francis of Chelsea
February 20, 13:10This is what you call an Uncle Tom. Why did he dismiss the message of stop shooting us? Few and far between? I can name 10 black people killed in the last year alone for unjust reasons by the police. The police is not a sacred group and they can be called out. Where is his uproar for the lives of Sandra Bland, Tamir Rice and others? Is it a coincidence that 99% of police brutality is white officers against black people? Suddenly Beyoncé uses her platform to call them out and they are up in arms. They should ensure they buy the album when its out so they can have more to boycott.
Mandy
February 20, 18:05I just have one question: where is ken? So PP provides the perfect forum for his #IHateBeyonce agenda, and he’s nowhere to be found?!
KingBey
February 20, 20:05He will soon get stung. Nansense ! ??????????
Mandy
February 21, 09:21First Stacey Dash, now this fellow. Why do people, black people, think it’s divisive for other black people to draw attention to the negative plight of the black community? The police killing black folks is a real issue, a real problem. This unfairness is not a problem for the whites, so of course movements like Black Lives Matter, championed by Blacks have to exist. This guy can like to take several seats joor.
peaches
February 22, 02:18i refuse to know if the man is fine or not, how dare somborry challenge Queen Bey to a fight of shame? such lowness…!, “Beehive, Gather him!” in Nicki’s voice.