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Rudy Giuliani Was Not Impressed by Beyonce at MTV VMAs 2016: ‘I’ve Saved More Black Lives’

Cue the lemon and bee emojis! Rudy Giuliani was not impressed by Beyoncé’s performance at the 2016 MTV VMAs, where she sang a medley of five tracks from her Lemonade visual album at NYC’s Madison Square Garden on Sunday, August 28.

Related: PHOTOS: The MTV VMAs’ Wildest, Most Iconic Moments of All Time

The former New York City mayor, 72, appeared on Fox & Friends on Monday, August 29, and cohost Ainsley Earhardt asked Giuliani about his opinion of the politically charged performance. “She walks the red carpet with the mothers of black men that were killed by police,” Earhardt said. “Then this performance that you see here. Her dancers were circling around her and one by one, they fell to the ground, and there were red lights underneath them, and that was supposed to symbolize cops killing black individuals.”

Rudy Giuliani
Rudy Giuliani on July 25, 2015, in Water Mill, New York. Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images

Giuliani let it be known that he was not happy with Queen Bey’s statement on police brutality. “You’re asking the wrong person,” he replied, “because I have five uncles who were police officers, two cousins who were, one who died in the line of duty. I ran the largest and best police department in the world, the New York City Police Department, and I saved more black lives than any of those people you saw on stage by reducing crime and particularly homicide by 75 percent … of which, maybe four or five thousand were African American young people who are alive today because of the policies I put in effect that weren’t in effect for 35 years.” 

Related: PHOTOS: Beyonce’s Most Memorable Music Video Looks!

After the politician touted his record of cleaning up NYC, cohost Brian Kilmeade remarked that Beyoncé, 34, is “an extremely popular and powerful performer. When she does stuff like that, that message to the next generation is pretty indelible.” Giuliani added, “It’s a shame. It’s a shame.”

Beyoncé walked the VMAs red carpet with the mothers of gun violence victims Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Oscar Grant and Trayvon Martin. The group of women are often called the Mothers of the Movement. All of them, except for Grant’s mother, appeared in Lemonade, holding portraits of their late sons.

Beyonce
Beyonce performing at the VMAs on August 28, 2016 in New York City. Kevin Mazur/WireImage

Giuliani previously criticized Beyoncé’s Super Bowl halftime performance in February as an “attack” on police officers. “This is football, not Hollywood, and I thought it was really outrageous that she used it as a platform to attack police officers, who are the people who protect her and protect us, and keep us alive,” he has said. 

Related: PHOTOS: The 2016 MTV VMAs: Best Dressed Stars on the Red Carpet

Back in April, the “Formation” singer clarified that she is not anti-police in an interview with Elle magazine. “Anyone who perceives my message as 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.”

She also penned a powerful post on her website in July after the deaths of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling, calling on people to make changes to end police brutality. “It is up to us to take a stand and demand that they ‘stop killing us.’ We don’t need sympathy. We need everyone to respect our lives,” she wrote.

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