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Instagram Removes NY Police Union’s Post Calling for Boycott of Snoop Dogg’s Super Bowl Halftime Show

A New York police union’s call to boycott Snoop Dogg’s Super Bowl performance ended up getting flagged and taken down by Instagram.

Early Monday, the social media giant cited that the union’s message went against community guidelines on inciting violence.

Fox News reported that the Suffolk County Police Benevolent Association pushed for the Snoop Dogg boycott in a Feb. 11 Instagram post. The Association took issue with the lyrics to a Snoop Dogg song referencing killing police.

“Encouraging people to shoot police officers apparently earns you a spot as a headliner at the Super Bowl,” read the since-deleted message, which has remained on the union’s Facebook page. “If you choose to watch the game at all, (we won’t be) halftime is a great moment to shut your TV off in honor of those men and women in blue who gave their lives for us.”

Later in the evening, an Instagram spokesperson said the post came down by mistake, and the company restored it to public view.

Police Union Getting Support For Its Stand

After learning about a recent Snoop Dogg song release, the union called for its boycott. The artist and J5 Slap released a track called “Police.” The song coincided with the deaths of two NYPD detectives, Jason Rivera and Wilbert Mora. Both men died after getting shot in the line of duty.

Lou Civello, 2nd vice president of the Suffolk County PBA, said the union isn’t about canceling artists who have anti-police messages in their songs.

But Civello took offense to any song “actively calling for the assassination of police officers.” Civello added that “someone needs to call you out.”

Civello said thousands liked the initial post but added he was not surprised by Instagram’s decision to shut it down.

“We’ve seen them censor newspapers, elected officials up to the highest office in the land, and now the police,” he told Fox News. 

Snoop Dogg Song Lyrics Controversial, Cop Deaths High in 2020

Snoop Dogg did not perform “Police” during the show. On Sunday, he performed with Dr. Dre, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, 50 Cent, and Mary J. Blige.

Civello was not thrilled with the NFL’s decision to get Snoop Dogg to perform, calling the move “incredibly poor judgment.” 

In past statements, Snoop Dogg has advocated for defunding the police. In one podcast last year, he said, “we need to start taking that money out of their pocket and put it back into our communities where we can police ourselves.” 

Civello continued to support the police, citing high deaths numbers for police nationwide. Police deaths attributed to COVID-19 were the leading cause of death last year for police. However, Civello said he counted 13 officer deaths in one 24-hour period recently.

The man said he attended the funerals for the two detectives. The men died after responding to a domestic dispute.

“It has always been a dangerous job but now even more so,” he said.