Amy Schumer Says Beyonce Approved Her 'Formation' Video
"It was NEVER a parody," she wrote.
— -- Earlier this week, Beyoncé fans were outraged when Amy Schumer released what they believed was a parody of the singer's "Formation" video.
Now, Schumer is clearing the air, explaining that her intentions were good.
In a new essay published on Medium, the comedian wrote that her video, which also featured Goldie Hawn, Joan Cusack and Wanda Sykes, her co-stars in an upcoming film, was a celebration of women.
She added that Beyoncé and Jay Z gave their approval ahead of time, and Schumer released the videoon the rapper's streaming service, Tidal, for the first 24 hours.
"The video Beyoncé made was so moving and I wouldn’t ever make fun of that. There is absolutely no way to," Schumer wrote. "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."
Schumer, 35, explained that at the time that she made the video, she and her co-stars were feeling empowered by the feminist lyrics in the song, and by Hillary Clinton's presidential run. The video, she continued, was an homage to Beyoncé's album, "Lemonade," which brought them all together.
"We listened to the album and danced every day, always making everyone feel better no matter what we were going through. We were so into it that we learned the dance to 'Formation.' It got us through this summer," she wrote. "We would use each location we shot at and do a part of the song. To have Goldie Hawn dancing with Wanda Sykes and Joan Cusack and Raven Goodwin and all the female writers and producers and crew from all over the world doing this together felt very powerful and right."
At the time, she added, she was not thinking about whether her video would be compared to the singer's, which featured commentary on Hurricane Katrina and the Black Lives Matter movement.
"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," she wrote. "It was a way to celebrate bringing us all together. To fight for what we all want. And to do it together."
And while the comedian also seemingly took note of the trending Twitter hashtag, #AmySchumerGottaGoParty, she assured her fans and critics, "I'm not going anywhere."
"My mission is to continue to work as hard as I can to empower women and make them laugh and feel better and I won’t let anything stop me. #strongertogether #alllove," she wrote.