Kenneth Moore-
One of America’s longest running reality TV cop shows has been cancelled amid nationwide protests against police brutality over George Floyd’s death.
Cable network Paramount said it had no plans for Cops, which first aired over three decades ago, to return.
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The Paramount Network confirmed on Tuesday that it had removed the reality show from its schedule after temporarily cutting the show from its schedule last month, according to the New York Times.
A spokesperson for the network said: “Cops is not on the Paramount Network and we don’t have any current or future plans for it to return.”
The show was on Fox for 25 years prior to moving to Spike TV (which became Paramount Network) in 2013, and considered to glorify police thuggery, often demonstrated against young black men.
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“This is the right move and I want to give Paramount credit for being one of the first,” said Rashad Robinson, executive director of Color of Change who have campaigned for the end of the show since 2013. “We want to see more.”
The future of another reality ride-along cop show, Live PD, is also in line for axing .The A&E cable TV network hit has been affected by controversy since the death of another unarmed black man who was heard pleading: “I can’t breathe.”
Cops has aired internationally for for 25 years after first being broadcast on Fox in 1989, before it was taken up by Paramount’s predecessor, Spike TV, in 2013.
Its 33rd season had been due to air on the ViacomCBS-owned network on Monday.
Campaigners argued that such programmes portray police officers as action-heroes and stigmatise African-American communities.
Respect
Last week the A&E cable network pulled episodes and said it was evaluating whether to bring the show back.
A&E said its decision was out of “respect for the families of George Floyd and others who have lost their lives”
Live PD came under scrutiny following last year’s death of Javier Ambler, a black man from Texas.
The 40-year-old father-of-two died on 28 March 2019 following a 22-minute police chase that ended in the city of Austin.
Live PD had been filming sheriff’s deputies when the pursuit began.
Travis County District Attorney Margaret Moore has accused A&E of failing to hand over its video footage of Ambler’s death to investigators.
Williamson County deputies reportedly began chasing Ambler because he failed to dim his headlights to oncoming traffic.
Police body-camera video shows Ambler – who had been on his way home from a poker night with friends – on the ground with several officers. Ambler tells the sheriff’s deputies he has congestive heart failure and repeatedly says: “I can’t breathe”.
Fox first launched a law-enforcement block that began with “America’s Most Wanted” before it was later joined by “Cops
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