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LL Cool J raps in tribute to Floyd
Rapper LL Cool J has paid emotional tribute to George Floyd and several other victims of racism and police violence.
His Instagram video posted Sunday sees the “Doin’ It” hitmaker staring intensely into the camera while rapping about Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police and wearing a sweatshirt that reads “Black Lives Matter.”
“For 400 years, you had your knees on our necks,” he raps. “A garden of evil with no seeds of respect/ In America’s mirror, all she sees is regret/ Instead of letting blood live, they begging for blood let.”
The freestyle went on to name more members of the black community killed by police, including Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Amadou Diallo, Breonna Taylor, Sean Bell, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice and Oscar Grant.
LL Cool J is one of several artists speaking out in the wake of Floyd’s death. Among the other musicians condemning racism and police brutality are Chance the Rapper, Ariana Grande, Kacey Musgraves, Billie Eilish, Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, Jennifer Lopez, Lady Gaga, Halsey and Ice Cube.
Social media, music world go dark: Though Black Out Tuesday was originally organized by the music community, the social media world also went dark in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, joining others outraged by the killings of black people in the U.S.
Instagram and Twitter accounts, from top record labels to everyday people, were full of black squares posted in response to the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor. Most captions were blank, though some posted #TheShowMustBe Paused, black heart emojis or encouraged people to vote. Rihanna, Alicia Keys, Radiohead, Coldplay, Kelly
Rowland and Beastie Boys were among the celebrities to join Black Out Tuesday on social media.
Spotify blacked out the artwork for several of its popular playlists, writing “Black lives matter” as the description. The opening pages of Apple Music and iTunes focused on supporting Black Lives Matter, and SiriusXM planned to silence its music channels for three minutes at 3 p.m. Eastern in tribute to “all of the countless victims of racism.”
Lea Michele accused of making ‘Glee’ a ‘living hell’: Samantha Ware accused her former “Glee” co-star Lea Michele of making the show a “living hell” due to “traumatic microaggressions.”
On Monday, Ware responded to a tweet from Michele, who had posted a message Saturday against the death of George Floyd with the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter. Ware tweeted in all caps, “Remember when you made my first television gig a living hell?!?! Cause I’ll never forget. I believe you told everyone that if you had the opportunity you would ‘s--- in my wig!’ amongst other traumatic microaggressions that made me question a career in Hollywood.”
Other “Glee” castmates, including Alex Newell, Amber Riley and Dabier Snell, also reacted to the accusations, showing support for Ware and casting more doubt on Michele.
June 3 birthdays: Actress Irma P. Hall is 85. Singer Eddie Holman is 74. Actor Tristan Rogers is 74. Actress Penelope Wilton is 74. Singer Deniece Williams is 70. Actor Scott Valentine is 62. Singer Mike Gordon is 55. TV journalist Anderson Cooper is 53. Actress Arianne Zucker is 46. Actor Josh Segarra is 34.