Hollywood condemns mob at the Capitol: ‘Whole thing is finally burning down’
As a mob of violent pro-Trump extremists descended on the U.S. Capitol Building Wednesday, Hollywood figures condemned what they called the “terrorists” and criticized the police response — or lack thereof — to the ongoing insurrection.
Issa Rae, Josh Gad, Karamo Brown, Ava DuVernay, Edward Norton, Shonda Rhimes and other entertainment luminaries were among the many who expressed their outrage at the situation in Washington, D.C., on social media. Some called for the arrest of President Trump, who instigated the violence with unfounded claims of election fraud.
“Shame on the news referring to these Domestic Terrorist as ‘Trump Supporters’ as if they are peaceful people supporting a president,” tweeted “Queer Eye” star Brown. “These are terrorist w/ visible guns! Imagine if they were Middle Eastern or Black... they would not be called supporters & they wouldn’t be alive.”
Several pointed out a disparity in treatment of Black Lives Matter protesters — who were repeatedly beaten, pelted with rubber bullets and tear-gassed by police over the summer — versus the pro-Trump rioters, who overwhelmed security upon breaking into the Capitol.
“If armed people of color; black, Latino, Muslim- stormed the US Capitol to disrupt the transfer of power following an election, there’d be no ‘tear gas & rubber bullets phase’ of the response. They’d be shot dead before they got 10 steps into the grounds,” Norton tweeted.
Actress Alyssa Milano referred back to a July 27, 2020, Trump tweet where he called for all “Anarchists, Agitators or Protestors who vandalize or damage our Federal Courthouse in Portland, or any Federal Buildings” to be prosecuted and sentenced to a minimum 10 years in prison.
“This Is Us” star Susan Kelechi Watson noted that Black victims of police brutality — such as Eric Garner, Philando Castile, Trayvon Martin and George Floyd — have been killed by authorities without committing anything near the threats waged on the Capitol Wednesday.
“Eric was selling loose cigarettes,” Watson tweeted. “Philando reaching for his identification. Trayon [sic] was walking through a neighborhood with skittles. George allegedly had a counterfeit $20. Anarchy in the capitol and law enforcement spent the first hour with their hands in their pockets. Ok.”
Here are those reactions and more:
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