Nickelodeon and MTV were among a group of ten ViacomCBS channels to honor George Floyd, a black man who died in police custody last week.
The channels stopped broadcasting during the 5 p.m. hour on Monday and showed viewers a dark background that had the words, “I can’t breathe,” displayed intermittently against the sounds of breathing and a running clock, according to the Washington Post. They also stayed off-air for eight minutes and 46 seconds to represent the length of time that a white police officer kept his knee on Floyd’s neck while arresting him.
Comedy Central, Paramount Net, Pop, VH1, TV Land, Logo, BET, and CBS Sports also participated in the public service announcement.
Chris McCarthy, president of the company’s entertainment and youth group, was the driving force behind the idea.
“While I am not a person of color and can never fully understand this experience, I am offended by the systemic racism, and want to stand together with our communities of color in the hurt and pain,” he wrote in a memo to staff. “We must all do our part — discrimination against one of us is discrimination against all of us.”
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McCarthy previously pushed for a similar idea following the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in 2018.
Floyd’s death has sparked both nonviolent protests and violent riots, which has resulted in damaged property, arrests, and a few deaths, in cities across the country. The demonstrations seek to call attention to racial injustice and police brutality.
The officer who used his knee to pin Floyd down, Derek Chauvin, was taken into custody on Friday and charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, while the other officers have been fired but have not been charged yet.
An independent autopsy revealed that his death was “homicide caused by asphyxia due to neck and back compression that led to a lack of blood flow to the brain,” according to a statement from the family lawyer. The judgment contradicted the Hennepin County medical examiner’s preliminary findings, which the Floyd family rejected, of “no physical findings that support a diagnosis of traumatic asphyxia or strangulation.” However, the medical examiner later concluded that Floyd suffered a fatal heart attack and ruled his death a homicide.
