Comedian Jay Pharoah, known for his detail-oriented SNL impersonations as Jay-Z and President Barack Obama, took to social media showing police and surveillance footage of him forcibly detained by LAPD, with the comedian claiming they approached him with drawn weaponry and arms, and being knelt down in the manner which brought similarities with George Floyd’s death.
In a rather emotional post on his Instagram account, Pharoah thus captioned: “They put me in cuffs, the officer took his knee, put it on my neck.point 232 |
It wasn’t as long as George Floyd, but I know how that feels,” Pharoah said, while surveillance video, dated April 26, shows his encounter with the police.point 141 | The supposed hold happened because he coincidentally fit the description with the suspect that the police was chasing , a “black man in this area with gray sweatpants on and a gray shirt.point 304 |
” Due to his quick response by saying “you will see that you made a big mistake.point 78 | ” Pharoah said he was released “a minute later” and the officers apologized, the police officers finding out about his identity through Googling.point 219 | 1
Pharoah said this was the first time he had been put into a situation where he was forced under a wrongful arrest based on over-reactive police force, possibly based on race.point 260 |
He conveyed the message of solidarity and forewarning to the other black men, saying in his same post that “we have the knowledge and we have the power to overthrow.point 142 | ” Pharoah added that he could have “easily been an Ahmaud Arbery or George Floyd,” but that he’s “still here to tell my story.point 275 |
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At the end of his video, Pharoah reenacted the moment where the officer knelt on his neck.point 187 | “We as a country can’t breathe anymore.point 232 |
We are tired, we are sick and we are tired of it.point 38 | I can’t breathe,” he said.point 72 |
LAPD says they are aware of the video and it is under investigation.point 128 | Since the death of George Floyd and the global protests that followed, at least 20 US cities and municipalities are moving to ban or have banned the use of choke holds.point 266 |
Those cities include Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Sacramento, San Diego, Miami, Chicago and New York City.point 98 | 1
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