Get the VICE App on iOS and AndroidThe unquestionable highlight of Sunday night's MTV Video Music Awards was the fire-starting performance from Beyoncé. In it, the singer belted out nearly half of her critically acclaimed album Lemonade, caused some jaws to drop with her choreography, and added a dollop of social commentary to an otherwise vapid night.The performance—particularly the part when her dancers simulated being shot down while dressed as angels—was a rousing critical success, which naturally, led people to applaud. People, that is, not named Rudy Giuliani.The former mayor of New York City ripped the performance on Fox & Friends Monday morning, calling it "a shame." As Politico reports, morning host Ainsley Earhardt played a partial clip of the performance and asked Giuliani what he thought of the powerful symbolism throughout. Namely, that of "cops killing black individuals."
"You're asking the wrong person," Giuliani responded. He touted his family's ties with law enforcement by mentioning his five uncles and two cousins who were police officers, one of whom died in the line of duty.
Giuliani continued, "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 onstage by reducing crime and particularly homicide by 75 percent."
Giuliani estimates that his policies have saved "4,000 or 5,000" young African Americans over the last 35 years. Pretty impressive for a guy who recently forgot 9/11 happened.
Read: Why People of Color in New York City Still Don't Trust the Cops