Beyoncé has sparked controversy across social media for appearing to make a gun gesture while performing an NFL half-time show on Christmas Day. 

The R&B superstar entertained fans at the NRG Stadium in her home state of Texas, where local side Houston Texans played Baltimore Ravens in a game that provoked anger long before her live set. 

The home side were comprehensively outplayed by the visiting Ravens ahead of Beyoncé's initial appearance on a white horse - a reference to the equine theme running across the cover art of her last two albums, Renaissance and Cowboy Carter. 

The singer, 43, subsequently left herself open to criticism by making the apparent gun gesture with two fingers while performing hit single Texas Hold'Em. 

At the same time, a banner bearing the single word BANG was released behind Beyoncé as she stood on a piece of specially erected scaffolding.

The controversial gesture is currently banned by the National Football League, with its use resulting in a 15-yard penalty for any offending player.

Taking to X after watching the show - which aired on Netflix - one outraged fan wrote: 'Is the @NFL going to fine @Beyonce for finger guns?!' 

A second added: 'I was thinking the same thing!! How many players were fined for that?' 

A third commented: 'Where is the flag on Beyonce for the finger guns?!?!' 

While a fourth raged: 'Still not sold on Beyonce as a country artist. Still seems like a pop star that just threw a cowboy hat on. It's also hilarious that the league has been fining players left and right for finger guns and she's throwing them around like it's her job.'

Riding into her halftime appearance on a white horse, the 32-time Grammy winner rocked her hometown Houston crowd with a nearly 13-minute performance on Wednesday.

She surprised fans by bringing out Shaboozey to perform Sweet Honey Buckiin, before Post Malone joined her for Levi's Jeans.

Netflix agreed to a three-year contract in May to broadcast Christmas Day games. The NFL is expected to give the streaming service one of its biggest days since the site launched in 1998.

Netflix´s 282.3 million subscribers in more than 190 countries could stream the games, marking the first time one outlet distributed an NFL game globally. Netflix had the games available in five languages - English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and German.

The NFL played its first games on Christmas Day in 1971 with a pair of divisional playoff games. 

The league avoided playing on Dec. 25 from 1972-88 and shifted its full slate of games to Saturday if Christmas fell on a Sunday. 

Since 1989, there have been 30 games on Christmas, never more than three on that day. 

But the NFL went out of its way to schedule two games on Wednesday to accommodate its $150 million deal with Netflix.