Ice Cube Cancels ‘Good Morning America’ Appearance Following George Floyd’s Death
Ice Cube called off his scheduled appearance on “Good Morning America,” following the death of George Floyd.
The American rapper was scheduled to be on the show on Thursday (May 28) to discuss his Big 3 league, musical legacy, and the state of American society.
However, Ice Cube decided to cancel his appearance, directly referencing the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police as the reason why.
“I apologize to everyone expecting to see me on Good Morning America today, but after the events in Minnesota with George Floyd I’m in no mood to tell America, good morning,” he wrote on Twitter.
This comes after a viral video surfaced, earlier this week, showing a white police officer pinning his knee against black man’s neck despite his panicked declarations that he couldn’t breathe in Minnesota.
George Floyd, an African-American, died at age 46 after pleading for help as a Minneapolis police officer pinned him, unarmed and handcuffed, to the ground until he died from suffocation.
In the video, George Floyd is heard repeatedly yelling, “I cannot breathe! I cannot breathe!” as bystanders gathered. A short time later, the Minneapolis Police Department announced that Floyd died of a “medical incident.”
On Wednesday (May 27), Ice Cube also expressed his disappointment with the police department for not weeding out officers who are outright blatant with their racism.
“The F.B.I. knows exactly who the racist are in each police department and still let them keep there jobs until something like this happens. Stop sitting on critical information. Weed them out and get them out…NOW!,” he tweeted.
Ice Cube, real name O’Shea Jackson, is among a handful of other celebrities, including Diddy, Jamie Foxx, Cardi B, Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Lady Gaga, Kim Kardashian, Viola Davis, Mandy Moore, Zoe Kravitz, 2 Chainz Billie Eilish, who have voiced their outrage over the killing of George Floyd on social media, condemned the Minnesota police for firing the officers only after national outrage, and asked for the ceaseless racism in the United States to stop.
In Minneapolis, hundreds of people took to the streets to protest on Tuesday and Wednesday after footage of the incident surfaced. Four police officers have been fired for their involvement in Floyd’s death. Floyd’s family believes that the officers should be charged with murder.
The FBI is investigating the incident, and will present its findings to the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota for consideration of possible federal charges.
Ice Cube has long been outspoken about the unfavorable treatment often rendered to black men. In a 2015 interview with Billboard, he professed that the ongoing act of police brutality has been the bane of America for years, to no avail or mitigation of the wave of instances that have occurred in recent years.
“I think it’s the same. What we got to do is hold these dudes more accountable,” he said.
“We need body cameras on all these cops and we need it to be a federal offense if they tamper with those cameras, manipulate those cameras in any kind of way, or obstruct those cameras. And we need these good cops to start snitching on these bad cops. They talk sh*t about our neighborhoods for having a no-snitch policy, but they have a no-snitch policy in their department, and that’s the problem. The good cops need to point out these bad cops, get them out of here, and get your dignity and respect back from the community.”
Ice Cube was a member of the rap group N.W.A, whose song “F–K Tha Police” became an early ’90s anthem in Hip Hop. His most recent film appearance was in The High Note.
