Fox News Flash top headlines for February 13
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A New York police union asked the public to boycott Snoop Dogg’s Super Bowl halftime performance after the rapper released a track that encouraged killing cops — but Instagram scrubbed the message for violating community guidelines against inciting violence.
The Suffolk County Police Benevolent Association pushed for the boycott in a Feb. 11 Instagram post.
Snoop Dogg arrives at the Bud Light Super Bowl Music Festival at American Airlines Arena on January 31, 2020, in Miami, Florida. (Photo by John Parra/Getty Images for Bud Light)
"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."
Instagram deleted the union's post on Monday and replaced it with a message stating that the post had promoted "violence and incitement."
WAR ON COPS: 24-HOUR PERIOD SEES 13 POLICE OFFICERS WOUNDED BY GUNFIRE
Lou Civello, 2nd vice president of the Suffolk County PBA, said the Instagram post had gotten a lot of support, garnering tens of thousands of likes, so he wasn’t 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 Digital.
After Fox News Digital reached out to Instagram for comment, a spokesperson said the post was removed in error and has since been restored.
Civello said the union called for the boycott after learning that Snoop Dogg and J5 Slap released the track entitled "Police" — one day after NYPD detectives Jason Rivera and Wilbert Mora were shot in the line of duty. Both officers died.
The incendiary lyrics include, "Take your guns that you using to shoot each other and start shooting these b—hass motherf—king police. That’ll impress a motherf—king n—-ga like me."
A Snoop Dogg collaborator delivered the lyrics.
Civello said the union isn't calling to cancel any musician who puts out a song with an anti-police message. "That would be a full-time job," he said. "But when you are actively calling for the assassination of police officers, someone needs to call you out."
He added that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell exercised "incredibly poor judgement’ in choosing Snoop Dogg to headline the halftime show.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell speaks at a news conference Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2022, in Inglewood, California. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
"It’s been a deadly year for police already," Civello said. "If you turned on the TV this morning, you saw in the last 24 hours, 13 police officers were shot." Civello attended the funerals of Rivera and Mora, who were gunned down while responding to a domestic dispute.
"It has always been a dangerous job but now even more so," he said.
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In early February, Long Island lawyer Anthony Capetola wrote a letter to the CEO of Constellation Brands blasting the company for using Snoop Dogg to advertise its products, including Modelo Especial, Pacifico and SVEDKA vodka.
He also wrote a letter to the NFL commissioner asking that Snoop Dogg be eliminated from the halftime show.
The NFL didn't immediately return request for comment.
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