Some controversy doesn’t fade with the stage lights. Just ask Beyoncé.
The Houston-born superstar is facing backlash after wearing a T-shirt during her Cowboy Carter tour in Paris that some fans and Indigenous activists say promotes anti-Native American language. The shirt, which she wore during a Juneteenth performance, features an image of the historic Buffalo Soldiers, Black U.S. Army units active after the Civil War, alongside text calling their “antagonists” the “enemies of peace, order and settlement: warring Indians, bandits, cattle thieves, murderous gunmen, bootleggers, trespassers, and Mexican revolutionaries.”
That wording, printed large on the back of the shirt and shown on Beyoncé’s own website, lit a match online. Critics say it erases the truth about how Indigenous people and Mexican revolutionaries were the victims of westward expansion, forced removals, and brutal violence.
The firestorm started when TikTok creator @confirmedsomaya posted a clip explaining why the shirt’s framing was offensive. “We have to be honest about what the Buffalo Soldiers did, especially in their operations against Indigenous Americans and Mexicans,” she said. The post racked up thousands of shares as more Indigenous influencers chimed in.
Indigenous news and culture page @indigenous.tv asked outright: “Do you think Beyoncé will apologize or acknowledge the shirt?” They and others pointed out that for an artist reclaiming cowboy imagery for Black Americans, there’s a painful irony in ignoring the other side of that story.
So, who were the Buffalo Soldiers? Formed in 1866, these all-Black regiments were originally made up of formerly enslaved men, freemen, and Black Civil War veterans. They’re often celebrated for bravery, discipline, and service in conflicts like the Spanish-American War and the World Wars. But historians say they also fought in hundreds of campaigns that pushed Native tr𝐢bes off their ancestral lands. Some tribal nations supposedly gave them the “Buffalo Soldiers” nickname out of respect for their grit, but that’s part history, part legend.
Cale Carter, director of exhibitions at the Buffalo Soldiers National Museum in Houston, told local media that the museum itself has worked in recent years to add nuance to that story. “It’s complicated. The same men who fought racism in the ranks also carried out orders that harmed Indigenous communities. We can’t shy away from that,” he said.
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Fans are divided. Some defend Beyoncé, saying she likely didn’t write the text and probably wore the shirt to honor Black history, not to dismiss Indigenous struggles. Others say good intentions don’t excuse the erasure.
“This shirt tells you the myth of American empire is alive and well,” said historian Tad Stoermer at Johns Hopkins University. “It frames the Buffalo Soldiers as heroes while painting Native Americans and Mexican revolutionaries as enemies to peace and order. That is a historical lie.”
So far, Beyoncé’s camp hasn’t said a word. Her spokesperson didn’t respond to requests for comment from multiple outlets. The shirt is still visible on her website in photos and fan clips, though it’s unclear if it’s official merch for sale or just a custom stage piece.
It’s an awkward spot for Beyoncé, whose Cowboy Carter album has been hailed as a reclamation of country iconography for Black artists. She made history as the first Black woman to top Billboard’s country charts and won the 2025 Album of the Year Grammy for the record. But critics say if you’re going to rewrite the cowboy narrative, you can’t ignore the parts soaked in blood and land theft.
What happens next? Some want an apology or at least an acknowledgment. Others want the shirt pulled from her site entirely. For now, the conversation is raging louder than her tour encore.
When you dance with American myth, you better be ready to reckon with the truth, too.
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