Nick Cannon & Ariana Grande Join Protests In The Wake Of George Floyd’s Death

Celebrities are joining the protests across the country in order to speak out against police brutality and the death of George Floyd. 

Nick Cannon was in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the city where Floyd’s death occurred, in order to join the movement. Protests in Minneapolis have been happening since last Monday. Cannon explained his reasoning for traveling to Minnesota. “I had to go to Minneapolis,” he told Variety. “I needed to be right there on 38th Street and Chicago where George Floyd’s life was tragically stolen from him. I needed to see the people in that community – how much love they had for their community and their people and how much pain this has caused. We feel the pain go across the world – the anger and the hurt. Those visuals will never be removed from our minds.”

Cannon posted about his visit on Instagram and in the caption of one photo, Cannon compared the social movement to the current coronavirus pandemic. He said, “…so f— your vaccines and masks, you gonna worry about these hands tomorrow cuz you can’t sanitize the past. You may have took my last breath. But you’ll never colonize my Spirit, Standing there watching while I die …. I can’t breathe and you still can’t hear it!”

Ariana Grande shared photos of herself holding a Black Lives Matter sign at the Los Angeles protests. Singer Tinashe shared a similar photo of herself in Los Angeles. 

Kendrick Sampson tweeted how he was shot with rubber bullets in Los Angles by police officers. He said, “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.”

Floyd was killed when a Minneapolis police officer placed his knee on Floyd’s neck, blocking him from breathing. Video footage taken and shared of the event has sparked outrage. The officer who killed Floyd has been fired from his job in the police force and was charged with third degree murder and second degree manslaughter.