The cast and show-runner of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, the Fox comedy that now airs on NBC, have come together to donate $100,000 to a bail fund in support of protesters getting arrested while fighting for justice for George Floyd. The donation arrives shortly after cast member Stephanie Beatriz announced she was making an $11,000 donation of her own, inspired by actor Griffin Newman, who called on actors who played cops and detectives on television to make donations to bail funds.
In a joint statement, which Beatriz posted on social media, the show’s cast and show-runner Dan Goor said they “condemn the murder of George Floyd and support the many people who are protesting police brutality nationally. Together we have made a $100,000 donation to the National Bail Fund Network.”
The post also included a link to a bail fund. The group is encouraging fans to make donations of their own as well. “We encourage you to look up your local bail fund: The National Bail Fund Network is an organization that can lead you to them. #blacklivesmatter.”
There have been ongoing protests against police brutality across the country for a week now, after a video of Floyd being suffocated to death by police officer Derek Chauvin went viral. Chauvin has since been arrested and charged with third-degree murder. Floyd’s death, along with the deaths of numerous other black people at the hands of the police, has caused some to examine the way police have been valorized on TV for decades, softening the reality of police brutality. The way the police have outright attacked both protesters and journalists amid the protests in the last few days has further highlighted the danger of such amelioration.
On Monday, Newman, who once played a detective on Blue Bloods, tweeted that he felt compelled to donate to a bail fund as a result, later calling on “blue actors to donate to ActBlue.”
“I’m an out-of-work actor who (improbably) played a detective on two episodes of BLUE BLOODS almost a decade ago,” he wrote. “If you currently play a cop? If you make tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in residuals from playing a cop? I’ll let you do the math.”
His decision inspired Beatriz, which led to the mass Brooklyn 99 donation. The show’s cast includes Andy Samberg, Melissa Fumero, and Terry Crews.
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