Beyonce video: Singer denies stealing producer's work for politically-charged promo for Formation

Besides its strong political message, Beyoncé's controversial video for new single Formation is making headlines for another reason. The songstress has been forced to deny accusations of intellectual theft after interspersing the promo with clips from 2013 documentary, Bounce.

The video, which champions resistance and strength in the black community, was partly filmed in New Orleans. It shows imagery of the damage the city suffered following Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and also makes references to Black Lives Matter — the movement that Beyonce and husband Jay Z are vocal supporters of. It also shows images of civil rights icon Martin Luther King and a boy dancing in the street in front of a line of armed police.

"I feel proud. I wanted people to feel proud and have love for themselves," Beyonce told Entertainment Tonight when asked about the Formation video. However, not everybody felt the same. Los Angeles-based filmmaker Chris Black claimed the clips were used without giving him or the others involved the appropriate credit. After complaining in a series of since deleted posts on Twitter he, told Mashable: "We don't mind our work being shared or celebrated, but we put a lot of work into it and we just wanted credit."

Melina Matsoukas, the director of the video responded saying: "Must give much love to the beautiful NOLA footage shot and directed by @abteen and @lkeber to make #FORMATION whole."

Beyoncé's representative later fired off a statement clarifying that Black no longer owned the rights to the footage after selling it to Sundance, and that the new owner had been adequately compensated. "The documentary footage was used with permission and licensed from the owner of the footage. They were given proper compensation. The footage was provided to us by the film-maker's production company. The film-maker is listed in the credits for additional photography direction. We are thankful that they granted us permission."

Meanwhile, Queen B has announced The Formation World Tour, which launches in North America in spring 2016. She is expected to perform at 21 stadiums across the US. Tickets for the US dates go on sale on 16 February.