Millions of people participated in Tuesday’s #BlackoutTuesday movement, initially an attempt
for the music industry to recharge and reflect; however, this bout of activism caught on with
the entire nation, so much so that it began to lose its initial purpose, and now celebs
and influencers are speaking out on why the trend was so flawed.
How’s everyone doing?
I’m Sussan Mourad with Clevver News, and many were quick to mistake yesterday’s #BlackoutTuesday
movement as an act of completely logging offline, which was actually the direct opposite of
what it was supposed to accomplish.
While scrolling through social media yesterday, you probably noticed that your Instagram was
flooded with nothing but black squares accompanied by a “Blackout Tuesday” hashtag.
What started as a day for people in the music industry to “recharge,” quickly became
twisted into a nation-wide tag chain in what many people thought to be a contribution to
the Black Lives Matter movement, for standing “in solidarity” with the black community.
So how did #blackouttuesday, what started as such a positive movement, become flawed
and problematic, especially during these trying times?
Allow us to explain.
The Blackout Tuesday movement was started on Monday by two black women in the music
industry: Jamila Thomas and Brianna Agyemang, who started the hashtag “The Show Must Be
Paused” on Instagram.
In a joint statement, the two ladies wrote, “Our mission is to hold the industry at
large, including major corporations + their partners who benefit from the effort, struggles
and successes of Black people accountable.”
They asked people to “take a beat for an honest, reflective and productive conversation
about what actions we need to collectively take to support the Black community.”
While their mission statement says nothing about logging off social media for the day,
Jamila and Brianna both encouraged those “impacted by the recent events” to essentially take
a break and recharge after all that transpired over the past week.
Their website also didn’t mention anything about a black square, a mass social media
trend or even a call on Black Lives Matter.
On Tuesday, not just the music industry, but what seemed like the entire world, participated
in the “blackout” by posting images of black boxes to Instagram, making it so that
everyone, including influencers and celebrities with a platform, a voice and financial resources
to create major change could also just… take a break.
This caused many people to step away from social media after posting a ‘black square’
rather than continue to share helpful donation links, informative articles on anti-racism
and information on protests.
The tag ended up reaching millions of people, including celebrities and influencers who
aren’t even involved in the music industry, from James Charles and Katie Holmes to athletes
like Tom Brady.
Musicians like Billie Eilish and the Rolling Stones were some of the first to spread the
news of the trend, but as it gained more and more traction, the music industry was no longer
the only participating group.
It was then that the trend began to take on a whole new meaning, as one user shared in
a post that read, “If you’re planning to participate in the Blackout tomorrow, GO
SILENT by putting a pause on sharing your art, promoting your work, etc.
Use that silence to amplify the voices, work and message of the Black community.”
So you can see how this trend became completely disconnected from “The Show Must Be Paused.”
It didn’t take long for celebrities who were actually in the music industry to speak
out about how flawed this massive trend actually was.
Kehlani took to Twitter and her Instagram stories to share her take on the matter, saying
QUOTE, “While I really do f*** with the intention behind the “black out” something
about its execution doesn’t seem smart.
We keep each other informed on here, we are each other’s news channels because we cannot
trust the news.
We cannot disappear for a day.”
She also pointed out that when you search under the Black Lives Matter hashtag, the
videos, helpful information and important documentation of the injustice has been taken
over by rows of black screens.
Instructions on refraining from using the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter with a blacked-out
post was something many other users were also sharing with their followers throughout the
day too.
Lil Nas X also took to Twitter after seeing a screenshot of all the tweets, writing, “this
is not helping us.
bro who the hell thought of this?? ppl need to see what’s going on?”
He then added an alternative post that people could share, writing, “not tryna be announcing
but what if we posted donation and petitions links on instagram all at the same time instead
of pitch black images.”
People were quick to agree with Kehlani and Lil Nas, tweeting responses like, “ppl posting
them be like ‘that’s enough of activism for today’”.
However, there were others that felt that posting this in lieu of attending the protests
would at least help bring awareness to the cause.
One user wrote, “I can't attend the peaceful protests so I thought it would be a homage
to do this # blacklivesmatter thing that everybody does, now I feel like a bad guy or someone
who did something bad.”
Many were quick to help this user out by suggesting that as well as sharing the hashtag, they
could also continue to take action in the fight against racism and police brutality
by way of signing petitions, sharing donation links and posting articles for others to read.
Despite the initial #BlackoutTuesday message being lost, many major music and television
companies have gone to great lengths to bring attention to what’s really important.
Spotify added an 8-minute, 36-second moment of silence to all their playlists in honor
of George Floyd, Interscope won’t be releasing any new music for the rest of the week, and
channels like MTV, VH1, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon are going dark in moments of silence
in solidarity.
So what does this mean for people who aren’t a part of a massive corporation?
Without even breaking your bank if you don’t have the means to donate, you can do your
part by registering to vote, reading articles and educating yourself on anti-racism, signing
petitions and passing on ways others can follow suit.
All you need is your voice!
And with our voice, we here at Clevver will continue to cover these stories and have these
conversations until change is made.
That said, we’ve linked some resources and places to donate down in the description below.
Also, please share your thoughts on all this down in the comments below.
And if you want to hear about which celebs are demanding justice for George Floyd, click
right over here for another Clevver News video.
I’m your host, Sussan Mourad, bye guys.