#BlackOutTuesday draws criticism for drowning out protest calls in US
03 June, 2020
The hashtag #BlackOutTuesday became the top trending item on Twitter as thousands of businesses and people, including TV channels and celebrities, posted black screenshots to signal support for racial justice as street protests over the authorities killing of George Floyd entered a second week.
In addition, it gave rise to dissenters. Black Lives Matter complained that news of its planned protests had been drowned out, while film executive Franklin Leonard said he'd not be engaging.
“A ‘show’ of solidarity is NOT solidarity,” Leonard tweeted. “And posting a black tile on your own Instagram feed for a day definitely isn’t.”
Many companies paused normal work and directed their efforts to support the task of Black Lives Matter and other social justice groups.
Streaming service Spotify highlighted the music of black artists, Sirius XM Radio said it could silence its music channels for 3 minutes, and Apple Music DJ Zane Lowe tweeted that he wouldn’t host his radio show but would be “listening, learning and looking for answers to fight racial inequality.”
The death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, as a white officer in Minneapolis pressed his knee into his neck, unleashed a wave of outrage in cities around america about the treatment of black Americans, further polarizing a country politically and racially.
The Blackout Tuesday movement was prompted by two U.S. record industry executives to pressure the music business to increase the presence of black people in its corporate ranks, noting that the industry had “profited predominantly from black art.” Rap and R&B overtook rock in 2017 to be the largest music genre in the United States.
The movement was quickly embraced by record labels, celebrities including Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Katy Perry and basketball player LeBron James and ordinary Americans.
Elsewhere, video-sharing platform TikTok donated $4 million to non-profits that help the black community while eBay in the usa said it could donate all costs collected on Tuesday from items sold in its music categories to a charity that supports equality.
ViacomCBS said it will be “on pause” on Tuesday, a day after CBS News, MTV and Comedy Central went dark for 8 minutes and 46 seconds - the amount of time Floyd’s neck was pinned to the bottom by the knee of a officer.
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