The U.S. Embassy condemned Japan’s public broadcaster for airing an “offensive” animated cartoon about the George Floyd protests that have spread across the country.
The cartoon, which the United States criticized Tuesday, aired on NHK and attempted to explain the causes behind the demonstrations but failed to mention Floyd or police brutality. Rather, the depiction showed caricatures of black Americans protesting and looting in outrage over the effects of the coronavirus outbreak and economic inequality, according to the Washington Post.
“あなた方は黒人のことがよくわからないと言い訳をしてきたくせに、黒人の問題や #BLM について誰からも話を聞かずに醜悪な差別的コメントの番組を作った。話が聞きたいなら我々はここにいる。しかしこのBS（醜悪極まる嘘）は許されない”@nhk_sekaima pic.twitter.com/MU09VxMmZz
— Baye McNeil (@BayeMcneil) June 8, 2020
“While we understand @NHK’s intent to address complex racial issues in the United States, it’s unfortunate that more thought and care didn’t go into this video,” tweeted Joseph M. Young, the U.S. Embassy’s interim charge d’affaires. “The caricatures used are offensive and insensitive.”
While we understand @NHK‘s intent to address complex racial issues in the United States, it’s unfortunate that more thought and care didn’t go into this video. The caricatures used are offensive and insensitive.
— ジョセフ・M・ヤング 駐日米国臨時代理大使 (@USAmbJapan) June 9, 2020
NHK apologized for the graphic, claiming it aired the animation in a weekly current affairs show that also discussed Floyd’s death and explained that it was an attempt to “explain the severe condition black people are under so viewers can understand easily.”
The protests have taken place over the last two weeks following the death of Floyd, a black man who died while in police custody.
The white officer who was attempting to apprehend him, Derek Chauvin, applied his knee to the back of Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes until he had passed out, despite Floyd pleading that he couldn’t breathe. Floyd was pronounced dead shortly thereafter. Chauvin and the three other officers who were on the scene have been arrested.
