Brooklyn Nine-Nine's Terry Crews speaks on George Floyd's death as cast donate in support of protests

From Digital Spy

Brooklyn Nine-Nine star Terry Crews has spoken out about George Floyd, while the show's cast and showrunner have made a large donation in the wake of his death.

Floyd died last week in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota after a white police officer kneeled on his neck, and it has since sparked Black Lives Matter protests across the US and the world.

Taking to his Instagram over the weekend, Crews told his followers: "George Floyd looks like me. George Floyd could be me. I could easily, easily be that man on the ground with that police officer's knee on my neck. That could easily be me."

Speaking further on CNN, Crews expressed his anger at police brutality and racism, admitting: "I'm exhausted, I'm tired, I'm disappointed and I'm angry.

"If you want a society, if you really want a true society with law and order, the law and order has to obey the law and order. You can't have it one way where everybody has to follow the rules but you don't.

"It's happened time and time again. This is something that we all have seen... I could also have been Ahmaud Arbery, jogging through someone else's neighbourhood and vigilantes decide they're going to kill me that day."

Related: Spike Lee releases short movie as part of Black Lives Matter protests and you can watch it now

Crews also spoke of his own experience of racism, continuing: "I've felt this fear since I was 9 years old, because you're treated like a grown man. A lot of my friends growing up in Flint, Michigan who were 13, 14, 15, getting sentences as if they were grown adults. Going to adult prisons.

"It's insane, man. It really, really... I don't know what to say, I'm exhausted. I'm exhausted because what else can you do? How much more can you do to show that this is a problem. And the fact that all these police officers, and all of America need to rethink what's happening right now.

"This is an opportunity, but it's also just a life. The fact that it took 11 minutes for this man to pass away before our eyes. George Floyd – we cannot just let his death be meaningless. It has to matter."

Crews, alongside the rest of the Brooklyn Nine-Nine cast and showrunner Dan Goor, has helped donate $100,000 to the National Bail Fund Network following Floyd's death, saying in a statement that they "support the many people protesting police brutality nationally".

Star Stephanie Beatriz has also donated $11,000 to Community Justice Exchange, and urged other actors who play police officers to donate too.

For more information on how you can support Black Lives Matter, please visit its official website or donate here. Readers can also donate to the UK anti-discrimination group Stand Up To Racism, and the Unite Families & Friends Campaign, which supports those affected by deaths in police, prison and psychiatric custody.

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