It’s safe to say Amy Schumer is a big Beyonce fan.
At least, that’s how it appears from the intro to the comedian’s recent Medium essay, in which she defends her controversial “Formation” video remake. The “Inside Amy Schumer” star said her take was “NEVER a parody.”
“Saying I love Beyoncé’s album ‘Lemonade’ is a huge understatement,” Schumer wrote as what we in the biz call a lede. “I believe it is one of the greatest pieces of art of our time.”
Unfortunately, much of the public didn’t take Schumer’s redo as a touching tribute — especially on social media, where the YouTube video was ripped as racist and tone deaf. In Schumer’s response, the “Trainwreck” actress says those people are misinterpreting her intention.
“I did not mean to detract any of the meaning from the video,” she wrote.” 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 NEVER a parody. It was just us women celebrating each other,” Schumer added. “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.”
Plus, she even had Beyonce and Jay Z’s approval to release the non-spoof exclusively on their Tidal service.
And the whole thing was Hillary Clinton’s fault anyway, sort of. Here’s how it even came about: “While we were shooting our movie in Hawaii this summer we were all crazy for the album and also for Hillary Clinton,” Schumer penned. “We would rush back to our televisions or phones to watch a stream of CNN to see the convention and watch Hillary and Michelle and so many extraordinary women speak. All of the women on set were bonded together from this music and from the election simultaneously. It was such a powerful time.”
Watch the video above and decide for yourself.