Pop queen Beyoncé was conspicuously silent Friday after gunmen shot and killed five police officers and wounded seven more at a Black Lives Matter protest in her native Texas, despite posting an impassioned plea for an end to police brutality just a few hours earlier.
As of 11:00 am PT on Friday, the Lemonade singer’s Instagram and Twitter accounts were silent on the Dallas murders, as was her website, where she had posted a message Thursday pleading for law enforcement officers to “stop killing” black people.
The singer wrote Thursday that she was “sick and tired of the killing of young men and women in our communities.”
“We’re going to stand up as a community and fight against anyone who believes that murder or any violent action by those who are sworn in to protect us should consistently go unpunished,” Beyoncé wrote in an open letter. “These robberies of lives make us feel helpless and hopeless but we have to believe that we are fighting for the rights of the next generation, for the next young men and women who believe in good.”
There was no such message posted Friday morning in support of the five police officers who lost their lives while accompanying protesters at a Black Lives Matter demonstration in downtown Dallas Thursday night.
The 34-year-old singer was born and grew up in Houston, Texas.
At a concert in Glasgow, Scotland on Thursday night, Beyoncé paid tribute to victims of police shootings — including Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, who were killed earlier this week — by asking attendees to join her in a moment of silence.
The singer then performed her Black Lives Matter-inspired hit song “Freedom.”
Beyoncé has increasingly stirred anti-police sentiment in recent months.
The singer famously performed a tribute to the anti-law enforcement Black Panther Party at the Super Bowl in February, where she and her backup dancers donned Panther uniforms and performed her song “Formation.”
The performance sparked backlash from law enforcement organizations nationwide, some of whom called for a boycott of the singer’s music and concerts.
But Beyoncé later mocked police officers by featuring merchandise at her concerts bearing the slogan “Boycott Beyoncé.”
The singer told Elle magazine in April that anyone who believes her song’s messages are anti-police is “completely mistaken.”
“I have so much admiration and respect for officers and the families of officers who sacrifice themselves to keep us safe,” she said. “But let’s be clear: I am against police brutality and injustice. Those are two separate things.”
As of Friday morning, still no word from Queen Bey about the injustice of five dead police officers.
UPDATE: Beyoncé posted a video to her Instagram page on Saturday featuring the names of the five police officers murdered in Dallas:
“Rest in peace to the officers whose lives were senselessly taken yesterday in Dallas,” the singer captioned the photo. “I am praying for a full recovery of the seven others injured. No violence will create peace. Every human life is valuable. We must be the solution. Every human being has the right to gather in peaceful protest without suffering more unnecessary violence. To effect change we must show love in the face of hate and peace in the face of violence.”
Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum