People showed up in droves this weekend to protest against the death of an unarmed black man, George Floyd, who died at the hands of a police officer. Many celebrities, such as Dish Nation host Porsha Williams, Nick Cannon, Ariana Grande, Machine Gun Kelly, stood in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement in the fight for justice.
Porsha Williams, the granddaughter of prominent civil rights activist Hosea Williams, attended protests in Atlanta over the weekend. She shared a post of the peaceful protest to Instagram with caption “we stand together,” where she was holding a sign penned with the powerful message, “We Matter.”
Ariana Grande attended protests in LA which she described as peaceful, passionate and “loving.” She sent a call-to-action to the media to shift the narrative from destructive protests to the more peaceful ones.
hours and miles of peaceful protesting yesterday that got little to no coverage.
all throughout beverly hills and west hollywood we chanted, people beeped and cheered along.
we were passionate, we were loud, we were loving.
cover this too please. #BLACKLIVESMATTER https://t.co/vD90CEtF94 pic.twitter.com/GZ6uKDfPM7— Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) May 31, 2020
R&B singer Tinashe mirrored Ariana’s sentiments, stressing that the protest she attended in Downtown LA was “non-violent,” despite the coverage many news outlets were showing.
The protest I participated in yesterday in DTLA was non violent. We were there to protest police brutality and black lives, period.
— TINASHE (@Tinashe) May 30, 2020
However, Insecure actor Kendrick Sampson and How To Get Away With Murder star Matt McGorry had strikingly different experiences while protesting in L.A.
Glad I y’all witnessed this. Esp the video of them actually targeting us. He didn’t try to ricochet the bullets of the ground – one tactic – he pointed the gun DIRECTLY AT ME. I actually got hit 7 times with rubber bullets and many with batons. My boy has stitches. #DEFUNDPOLICE https://t.co/q6DLRnqlYG
— Kendrick Sampson (@kendrick38) May 31, 2020
Halsey was also part of a protest that started out as a peaceful assembly but quickly turned violent when police fired rubber bullets into the crowd, hitting her twice.
I dont know how to articulate the horrors of today. NG + officers firing rounds into kneeling crowds. We dont have enough medics on the ground on our side. I was treating injuries I am not qualified to. So much blood spilled. If you have med training pls go + standby outskirts.
— h (@halsey) June 1, 2020
Wearing a hoodie with some of George Floyd’s last words, “I can’t breathe,” Nick Cannon marched alongside Minneapolis protestors. In a black-and-white Instagram post captioned “Til Earth and Heaven Rings,” Cannon made it clear that the Black Lives Matter movement won’t stop until their voices are heard.
Machine Gun Kelly, who was pictured holding a sign that read “Silence is betrayal,” protested over the weekend with the message that “justice” would be coming “soon.”
Rapper and activist J. Cole was spotted protesting in his hometown Fayetteville. The “No Role Modelz” rapper is known for showing up in times of racial unrest, as he was also present in Ferguson during the protests for Michael Brown who was also unarmed and killed by the police.
View this post on Instagram
Our thoughts and prayers go out to George Floyd’s loved ones and all of the protestors who are putting themselves on the frontlines to fight against racism and police brutality.
@endphp
