The public unrest that first erupted in Minneapolis and later spilled over into other US cities following George Floyd's death in police custody, hasn't gone unnoticed by celebrities and artists. Many spoke out on their social media accounts about injustice, police brutality, and violence and K-pop stars were no different.
Jay Park, an American-Korean singer-songwriter, rapper, businessman, and producer has donated $10,000 to the Black Lives Matter movement. He urged that violence based on one's skin colour should not be ignored.
A colleague from the record label AOMG, created by Jay Park in 2013, Park Jun-won, known to the public by his stage name PH-1, also joined the protest on SNS. The rapper signed a petition and donated $3,000 to the movement, expressing hope that “violence will not be an answer to anything".
Korean hip-hop and RnB singer Crush also supported the movement via SNS and helped a fund run by George Floyd’s brother Philonise Floyd with a donation, saying that every race should be respected.
Jae, of K-rock band Day6, posted a link on Twitter to the Black Lives Matter's website and a screenshot of his donation to the Minnesota Freedom Fund.
Several other K-pop stars, such as Amber Liu and Tiger JK, displayed their concern about racism and supported the movement:
Mass protests erupted in various cities across the United States this week after George Floyd, an African American man, died in police custody on Monday. He was detained outside the Cup Foods corner store in Minneapolis on Monday evening, after a store clerk called the police claiming that Floyd had paid for cigarettes with a counterfeit $20 bill.
A video circulating online shows Derek Chauvin, a white Minneapolis police officer, pinning the unarmed Floyd to the ground with his knee; Floyd repeatedly says that he cannot breathe until becoming unresponsive. Chauvin has now been charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. A total of four police officers have been fired in connection with the incident.