Beyoncé is in a new soup after she rolled out on her Cowboy Carter tour wearing this shirt plastered with “Buffalo Soldiers” imagery. Classic Queen B move, right? She’s always mixing Black history into her art. But this time, folks are side-eyeing her hard.
Some eagle-eyed fan snagged a close-up and posted it on Oh No They Didn’t. Turns out, the shirt’s got this chunk of old-timey text—looks like it was ripped out of a century-old newspaper. The problem is, one line sticks out like a sore thumb.
“Their antagonists were the enemies of peace, order, and settlement: warring Indians, bandits, cattle thieves, murderous gunmen, bootleggers, trespassers, and Mexican revolutionaries.”
Not exactly a warm and fuzzy portrayal of Native folks or Mexican revolutionaries. People noticed. Fast.
On Saturday I went to to the international African American museum here in Charleston. You know what one of the exhibits was? The Buffalo Soldiers. If y’all are giving Beyonce slack about her shirt you need to open a book. #BuffaloSoldiers pic.twitter.com/V2lfgEDQj5
— J. A. H. (@JukeboxAries) June 23, 2025
If Beyonce is selling Buffalo Soldier T shirts I am damn sure buying one and don’t give AF! Who don’t like it if you don’t like it you can take yo dusty ass back
To your home country and not like it from there. We owe the red natives nothing! And we said that and mean that with… pic.twitter.com/InRK7Io7rg— EastTexas (@JashuwahJackson) June 23, 2025
Internet Goes Full Debate Club On Beyonce Row
Reddit, Twitter, you name it—everyone’s got an opinion. Some folks are like, “Chill out, it’s just historical context. Words were wild back then.” One history buff even said, “If you geek out on history, it’s not offensive—it’s just how people wrote.”
Others started pulling out receipts about Buffalo Soldiers fighting for the Union, and even brought up the fact that, yeah, history is messy—Native Americans and Black people didn’t always get along either. It’s complicated, to say the least.
Beyonce’s Controversy: Not Everyone’s Buying It: “Out of Touch” and Tone Deaf
But a lot of people aren’t letting it slide. They’re not here for Indigenous and Mexican people being labeled as “enemies of peace.” One commenter straight up called it “outrageous.” Another was like, “Seriously? This shirt just flattens a whole messy chapter of history into a lazy stereotype.”
A few die-hard fans are jumping to her defense. “Look, Beyoncé does her homework—there’s always layers to her stuff,” someone argued. But even her biggest supporters admit, “Sometimes you just mess up. That’s life. The conversation still matters.”
