Entertainment
NBC Silences Janelle Monáe During Black Lives Matter Speech
Janelle Monae and Trombone Shorty during the halftime show of the 63rd NBA All-Star Game 2014 at the Smoothie King Center on February 16, 2014 in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Martin Pengelly, THE GUARDIAN
NEW YORK (The Guardian) — Singer Janelle Monáe was in effect silenced during an appearance on NBC’s Today show on Friday morning, shortly after saying in a speech in support of the Black Lives Matter movement: “We will not be silenced.”
Performing with a number of labelmates, Monáe sang three songs outside NBC headquarters in Manhattan: Tightrope, Yoga and Hell You Talmbout.
Hell You Talmbout is a protest song in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, which emerged last year after a number of deaths of unarmed African American men and women either at the hands of police officers or while in police custody.
The song features chants of the names of many of those who have died in such fashion, including Eric Garner, Walter Scott, John Crawford,Freddie Gray, Sandra Bland and Michael Brown, with the repeated request to “Say his name” or “Say her name”.
The song also mentions Trayvon Martin, who was shot dead by George Zimmerman in 2012, and Emmett Till, a 14-year-old whose brutal murder by white racists in Mississippi in 1955 inspired a protest song by Bob Dylan.
On the Today show, Monáe – who last week led a march in support of Black Lives Matter in Philadelphia – closed the song with a short speech.
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