People Are Applauding Nickelodeon’s Tribute to George Floyd
Written by SOURCE on June 3, 2020
On Monday Nickelodeon, in tandem with several other Viacom networks, briefly paused their regular programming schedule to broadcast a message intended to show solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.
This interruption went on for eight minutes and 46 seconds, which was deliberately set to line up with the amount of time Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin put his knee on the neck of George Floyd.
Several media outlets reported that parents had voiced complaints about the message, though those appear to be a small minority of people whose opinions didn’t gain much traction. Basically you got to sift through about 40 positive responses for every one you find.
The Mercury News reports that the network also aired a message they deemed the “Declaration of Kids’ Rights.” That message said:
“You have the right to be seen, heard, and respected as a citizen of the world. You have the right to a world that is peaceful. You have the right to be treated with equality, regardless of the color of your skin. You have the right to be protected from harm, injustice, and hatred. You have the right to an education that prepares you to run the world. You have the right to your opinions and feelings, even if others don’t agree with them.”
As for the more heavy tribute, the company aired a video message that directly reference Floyd’s death, which had a person breathing to go along with a written message that said “I CAN’T BREATHE.” Again, that went on for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, and went up on several Viacom channels including: MTV, VH1, Comedy Central, and TV Land, in addition to Nick:
As we said, most of the feedback about the message was positive, though a few did air their opinion that the message could scare children, and that Nick wasn’t the right network for something like that (also some people wrote “Virtue signaling,” or something similar, on Facebook). Here are those Facebook posts, fact check if you want/care. I’m not perfect.
Also, here’s a sampling of commentary from the Twitterati:
