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‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ and other cop shows slammed as ‘propaganda’ amid protests
As protests about police brutality and the murder of George Floyd spread across the country, fictional cops on TV have come under fire, too. Critics are calling out shows including the popular NBC cop comedy “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” and others centered on the lives of police as “propaganda” making light of issues brought to light by …
As protests about police brutality and the murder of George Floyd spread across the country, fictional cops on TV have come under fire, too.
Critics are calling out shows including the popular NBC cop comedy “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” and others centered on the lives of police as “propaganda” making light of issues brought to light by this week’s protests.
“If you like brooklyn 99 now is the time to shut the f - - k up . . . they make shows like that to brainwash you into sympathizing with cops,” one critic tweeted.
The Post has reached out to “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” for comment. Meanwhile, its cast has indicated that they are hearing the criticism and have donated to bail funds in response.
On Tuesday night, showrunner Dan Goor tweeted, “The cast and showrunner of Brooklyn 99 condemn the murder of George Floyd and support the many people who are protesting police brutality nationally. Together we have made a $100,000 donation to The National Bail Fund Network. We encourage you to look up your local bail fund: the National Bail Fund Network is an organization that can lead you to them. #blacklivesmatter.”
Star Stephanie Beatriz, who plays Detective Rosa Diaz on the show, wrote a tweet encouraging other actors who dress in blue for their jobs to consider joining, with a link showing a donation of $11,000.
“I’m an actor who plays a detective on tv,” she said. “If you currently play a cop? If you make tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in residuals from playing a cop? I’ll let you do the math.”
Beatriz joins stars of other police shows, such as “Blue Bloods” actor Griffin Newman, who spoke up encouraging others to donate money to the protest efforts — tweeting a receipt for his own $11,000 donation. “Law & Order: SVU” writer Celine Robinson gave $5,500 while “Castle Rock” writer Lila Byock and “Medical Police” creator Max Silvestri also contributed.
Meanwhile, “Law & Order” creator Dick Wolf announced this week that he has fired a writer on one of his spinoff shows who threatened looters.
But this might not be enough to appease fans who are now coming for cop shows.
“When we talk about how cop shows are propaganda that includes brooklyn 99,” one fan tweeted to over 128,000 likes.
Another fan wrote, “Brooklyn 99 is POLICE PROPAGANDA! they give you a false narrative of what police are. while it’s not a bad thing to like the show, stop bringing it up in tweets about blm . . . they are FICTIONAL characters, and we are discussing a real life issue!”
Another fan responded to Beatriz’s “Black Lives Matter” tweet calling for “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” to be canceled again — referring to the fact that the show was axed by Fox in 2018 after five seasons, before NBC resurrected it within 24 hours of the cancellation.
Writer Matt Zoller Seitz tweeted a thread re-evaluating iconic films such as “Lethal Weapon” and “Dirty Harry,” where he concluded, “This thread could be 1000 entries long and not even begin to scratch the surface of how American movies condition audiences to accept unconstitutional and sometimes flat-out evil behavior by cops (and soldiers) as ‘just part of the job.’ ”
“Brooklyn Nine-Nine” has currently been renewed through Season 8.
