Giuliani rips Beyoncé over VMAs performance

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani reacted angrily Monday to Beyoncé's appearance at the MTV Video Music Awards, calling a performance in which the award-winning singer referenced gun violence "a shame."

The mothers of several victims of police shootings walked the red carpet with Beyoncé before the show Sunday night at Madison Square Garden, "Fox & Friends" co-host Ainsley Earhardt noted Monday while showing a clip of Beyoncé's backup dancers, dressed as angels, being shot down.


"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," Earhardt told Giuliani, who responded, "You're asking the wrong person because I had 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."

Asked whether the performance offended him, Giuliani continued to address his record with African-Americans and policing as mayor.

"Of which, of which maybe 4,000 or 5,000 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. So if you're going to do that, then you should symbolize why the police officers are in the neighborhoods and what are you going to go about it? To me it's two easy answers: a much better education and good job, and what the heck have you done like in Baltimore, when they all stood in Baltimore," Giuliani said, referring to the unrest in the city last year following the death of Freddie Gray. "I was sick when I saw all the politicians sitting, standing in Baltimore after the police situation and saying, nobody’s done anything for this community in 50 years. Well, that is a heck of a thing to say, because they’ve been in charge for 50 years. And they have failed the community. I didn't fail Harlem. I turned Harlem around. I didn't fail Bedford-Stuyvesant, I turned it around. Go there now. Go walk in Harlem. Then flash back to 25 years ago and go to Harlem before I was mayor, and one was a place where crime was rampant and no national stores and now there's a thriving community in Harlem."

"Fox & Friends" co-host Brian Kilmeade commented, "And Beyoncé is an extremely popular and powerful performer, and when she does stuff like that, that message to the next generation is pretty indelible."

"It's a shame," Giuliani remarked. "It’s a shame."