Terry Crews warns #BlackLivesMatter could morph into ‘Black Lives Better’

Social media dragged the 'America's Got Talent' host for going out of his way to cleverly repackage 'All Lives Matter' rhetoric

Terry Crews theGrio.com
Terry Crews attends the Esquire's Annual Maverick's of Hollywood at Sunset Tower on February 20, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rich Fury/Getty Images)

Most Black celebrities appear to be in support of Black Lives Matter and the social uprisings that have taken place globally since the death of George Floyd. But when it comes to the movement, it appears Terry Crews has some reservations.

“If you are a child of God, you are my brother and sister,” the actor tweeted out Tuesday morning, noting, “I have family of every race, creed, and ideology.”

But what struck some people the wrong way was the last sentence of the tweet in which he felt compelled to add, “We must ensure #blacklivesmatter doesn’t morph into #blacklivesbetter.”

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Instantly, his followers and critics took to social media and argued that the America’s Got Talent host was going out of his way to cleverly repackage “All Lives Matter” rhetoric that turns a blind eye to the systemic oppression and disproportionate hardships that Black communities have to face just to be equal, let alone “better.”

“This highlights an issue I see in a lot of black people…and that’s trying to make white people feel comfortable,” West African musician Tigo B wrote in the comments section after Crews’ tweet was reposted on The Shade Room. “I haven’t heard ONE black person say they want superior treatment. It’s still about equality and has always been about equality. Terry you setting us back.”

This isn’t the first time this month that the Brooklyn Nine-Nine star has faced Twitter backlash for what is seen as a shortsighted approach to social justice. He previously sent out a tweet about race relations he meant to be inspiring turned to controversy.

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On June 7th he tweeted, “Defeating White supremacy without White people creates Black supremacy. Equality is the truth. Like it or not, we are all in this together.”

The tweet suggesting that “Black Supremacy” is even a threat right now, immediately went viral with both “Terry Crews” and “Black Supremacy” shooting up as top trending topics on social media as users blasted the comment.

“Black supremacy?” responded actor Orlando Jones. “We represent 13% of US population, hold no institutional power & gaslight our coworkers. We got 99 problems and your math isn’t the only 1. #StrongerTogether.”

Writer-director Darryl Wharton-Rigby also chimed in pointing out, “We have officially entered The Twilight Zone on a day when Mitt Romney marches for #BlackLivesMatter and Terry Crews does the thing he does….”

https://twitter.com/TheOrlandoJones/status/1269788877784522765?s=20

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