A&E Cancels 'Live PD,' Spike Lee Warns Against 'Defund the Police' Message & NAACP and Stars Partner for PSA

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A&E has canceled reality show 'Live PD,' Spike Lee is cautioning against using the phrase “Defund the Police' and a new PSA featuring Hollywood stars are pledging to take responsibility for how they've perpetuated racism.

Transcript

00:00Here today's top stories. First, A&E has canceled reality show Live PD as nationwide protests

00:05against police brutality continue. And just days after, a Texas newspaper, the Austin American

00:10Statesman, reported that a crew filmed the death of a black man while in the custody of law

00:14enforcement officers and subsequently destroyed the footage. In a statement, A&E said,

00:19This is a critical time in our nation's history and we have made the decision to cease production

00:23on Live PD. Going forward, we will determine if there is a clear pathway to tell the stories of

00:28both the community and the police officers whose role it is to serve them. And with that,

00:32we'll be meeting with community and civil rights leaders as well as police departments.

00:35The network's decision to cancel Live PD, a show which follows police officers on patrol in real

00:40time, will come as a blow, as it had been building its brand around the show, which was a ratings

00:44juggernaut and filled multiple hours a weekend and regularly dominated all of their basic cable

00:49series in similar time slots. Next, Spike Lee is cautioning against using the phrase defund the

00:53police, saying it's misconstrued and warning that President Donald Trump may try and twist the

00:57message. THR's Neha Joy has more.

01:00The Oscar-winning director spoke with Al Roker during Off the Rails on SiriusXM's Today Show

01:05radio, where he explained the meaning of defund the police, which calls for redistributing city

01:09budgets to invest in other departments and projects, specifically for people of color.

01:14Spike made it clear that it does not mean abolishing police departments altogether,

01:18but that may not be so clear to everyone, which is dangerous. He spoke out saying,

01:22they have to be careful with the words because already this guy is running with that. You know

01:27the guy I'm talking about, referring to Trump, who he calls Agent Orange.

01:30And a new PSA in partnership with the NAACP features a number of Hollywood stars pledging

01:35to take responsibility for how they perpetuated racism or allowed it to go on in their presence

01:40through silence or inaction. Neha has more on that story, too.

01:43The campaign, which includes stars such as Julianne Moore, Stanley Tucci, Aaron Paul,

01:48Kristen Bell, Bryce Dallas Howard, Deborah Messing, Bethany Joy Lenz, and others,

01:53is hosted by the website itakeresponsibility.org, which is created by Tommy Oliver and Adam Plattsner

01:58of Confluential Content in partnership with the NAACP.

02:02Black people are being slaughtered in the streets, killed in their own homes. These are our brothers and

02:07sisters. For more on all these stories, head to THR.com. For The Hollywood Reporter News, I'm Tiffany Taylor.

A&E Cancels 'Live PD,' Spike Lee Warns Against 'Defund the Police' Message & NAACP and Stars Partner for PSA | THR News

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