UPDATE, 10:15 PM: As Los Angeles and other American cities go into curfew and fires burn tonight over protests over the death of George Floyd at the hands of now arrested ex-Minneapolis cop, Hulu, Amazon’s Prime Video and Starz have added their voice to Netflix in support of Black Lives Matter.
In an Instagram post that went up just before 9 PM PT, an hour into LA’s police enforced lockdown, the Jeff Bezos-founded streamer and Amazon Studios spoke directly to its almost 1 million followers, plus the more than 1.6 million on Twitter and those beyond:
Earlier in the evening, Hulu and Starz also voiced support for the Black Lives Matter movement.
Earlier Saturday, Netflix put out their own statement on social media (see below) with the message of “To be silent is to be complicit. Black lives matter.”
In an economically reeling nation barely coming out of two months of COVID-19 stay-at-home orders in most states, the LAPD and many other metropolitan police forces are arresting people who are out on the streets tonight. The results will be visible to all tomorrow morning as state police and the National Guard move into place in many regions.
PREVIOUSLY, 7:21 PM: Netflix on Saturday afternoon posted a statement on the company’s official Twitter account amid escalating nationwide protests over the death of George Floyd while restrained by a Minneapolis police officer.
“To be silent is to be complicit. Black lives matter,” the statement read. “We have a platform, and we have a duty to our Black members, employees, creators and talent to speak up.”
Also on Saturday, WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar sent a company memo that echoed the same sentiment. In it, he vowed to provide “validation to the voices of our Black team members. Your voices matter, your messages matter.” He also stressed the need to “increase our collective empathy for the Black community. In order to do so, I am going to lean into the foundation and very reason for being of this great company, which is story. Ours is a company that tells stories. And stories, told well, have the power to move people in lasting ways.”