So. A shirtless white boy holds up an American flag and it’s “bold, artistic, iconic.” A Black woman does the same—only hers is laced with deep historical commentary, sonic brilliance, and cultural reclamation—and suddenly, we’re rewriting the Constitution in the comments section?
Benson Boone, Gen Z’s favorite “Hot Boy With Emotions,” dropped the cover for his upcoming album American Heart, and it’s giving Abercrombie Fourth of July sale. Shirtless. Windswept. Star-spangled. And honestly, good for him. His abs are popping and patriotism is trending again, apparently. But while fans were handing out digital bouquets and predicting “album of the year” under his Instagram post, another part of the internet was like… Wait a minute.
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Because, plot twist: Beyoncé already did that. But when she posed with the American flag on the cover of Cowboy Carter, she was met with think pieces, cries of “propaganda,” and one particularly creative accusation of being in “white woman cosplay.”
Let’s break this down with some receipts, shall we?
“Notice how no one has a problem with him holding the American flag, but when it was Beyoncé!” a Beyoncé fan account posted.
And just like that, the Beyhive was mobilized. Again.
Meanwhile, some fans weren’t just mad, they were mad funny. Someone called Cowboy Carter “Cowboy Carter from Shein” and—while that’s shady—if Beyoncé’s buying American patriotism in bulk, Benson’s getting his tailor-made.
And okay, full transparency, Benson Boone’s image was clean, crisp, and controversy-free. No discourse. Just DMs. And okay, full transparency — Benson Boone does look hot on that album cover. Like, shirtless patriotic Pinterest boards come to life hot. The jawline? Sculpted. The stare? Intense. The flag? Flapping heroically in bisexual lighting (at least in my mind). He knew exactly what he was doing — and his fans knew exactly what they were double-tapping.
It’s not that Benson did something wrong. It’s that Beyoncé did something right, and got punished for it.
“I think it’s a way to capture who has had the right to be patriotic in a certain type of way,” said Charles F. Peterson, chair of Africana Studies at Oberlin College, in an interview with Today.
“Country music has been so successful the last few years of becoming the staging ground for a certain type of white grievance and conservatism in politics… I like that she’s saying, ‘You’re not the only people who can love this country in particular sort of ways.’”
The Beyhive, always on beat, is pointing out the truth: the world loves a protest until it’s loud, Black, and female. Suddenly it’s “divisive.” But make it a shirtless boy on a plain background, and suddenly the stars and stripes are hot again.
Here’s the thing: Beyoncé knew this would happen. And she still did it.
“The criticisms I faced when I first entered this genre forced me to propel past the limitations that were put on me,” she wrote. “act ii is a result of challenging myself, and taking my time to bend and blend genres together.”
This wasn’t just about country music—it was about claiming space. And yes, that includes waving the flag in the middle of a cultural storm.
“This ain’t a Country album,” she clarified. “This is a ‘Beyoncé’ album.”
Period.
Meanwhile, Benson Boone’s American Heart drops June 20, and unless he’s hiding a protest anthem under all that torso, we’re not expecting any political critique. And honestly, that’s fine. Not every artist is Beyoncé, and not every flag photo has to come with a manifesto.
But let’s not pretend they’re getting equal treatment.
Because when Beyoncé waves the flag, it’s “too much.” When Benson does it, it’s “album of the year.”
In other words, y’all still see color—even when the flag is red, white, and blue.
Source: DailyMail
And why is it ok for black people to culturally appropriate but if a white person does you’d never hear the end of it??? She’s married to Jay-Z, what do they know about country?
It’s wild that you consider a black woman being a proud American to be cultural appropriation. (And insanely racist.) Keep waving that white supremacist flag!
The flag wasn’t the issue with Beyonce. The issue was identifying as country when it’s clearly not country, that’s the issue. There’s zero resemblance if country music with her, it’s blatantly pop music, as it has been all along. Sorry nobody likes her pop music so she had to pretend to be country to get what she wanted. No different than a male becoming a transgender to get what they want because they failed at being a male.
Are you seriously claiming that no one likes the music of one of the best selling artists of all time?
the world loves a protest until it’s loud, Black, and female. Suddenly it’s “divisive.”
– This is spot on