BLM Activists Blast Entertainment Industry’s ‘Black Out Tuesday’ Campaign as ‘Tone Deaf’

Getty Images
Getty Images
Warner Todd Huston

The music industry-backed “Black Out Tuesday” campaign to show fealty to the Black Lives Matter agenda and support amid the death of George Floyd is backfiring as many left-wing activists take to social media to scold the “tone deaf” effort that even CNN warns could be “doing more harm than good.”

Black music executives Brianna Agyemang and Jamila Thomas began pushing the idea to challenge the industry that “has profited predominantly from Black art.”

“Our mission is to hold the industry at large, including major corporations + their partners who benefit from the efforts, struggles and successes of Black people accountable. To that end, it is the obligation of these entities to protect and empower the Black communities that have made them disproportionately wealthy in ways that are measurable and transparent,” the two said in a press release.

The idea gained ground over the weekend and now many industry executives, labels, and artists are refraining from posting any music, art, or other media for the entire day to show support for the protests. Today, they are posting a black box on social media to drive the point home.
The campaign also garnered support from some of Hollywood’s biggest stars: Ben Affleck, Kevin Bacon, Mandy Moore, Dwayne Johnson, Don Cheadle, Ryan Reynolds, Bon Jovi, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Susan Sarandon, to name a few.

But the effort strikes many leftists as at least a muddled message. CNN warned on Tuesday that celebrities pushing the campaign “could be doing more harm than good.”

Other activist worry that at worst, it’s doing actual harm to the very cause they hope to support. A host of liberals and leftists have jumped to social media to excoriate the effort with many telling white people they are doing it wrong. Artist Bree Newsome Bass, for instance, slammed the idea of a day of silence because, she exclaims, “silence is part of the problem.”

Another scolded the music industry as trying to justify sitting back and doing nothing constructive.

There was also confusion about what hashtags to use.

Actress and writer Yvette Nicole Brown demanded that people participating in the blackout day stop adding the hashtag #blacklivesmatter because it is “disrupting” Black Lives Matter operations.

Many others also excoriated those using the #blacklivesmatter hashtag with the blackout campaign because it is interrupting Black Lives Matter efforts.

For his part, Musician Bon Iver slammed the whole thing. He added, “the music industry shutdown thing feels tone deaf to me” and asked followers to “participate in our actual world.” (He later deleted the tweet).

Rapper Asher Roth chided the musical industry move as “tone deaf.”

A Black Lives Matter proponent responded to writer-actor Bill Cortbett of Mystery Science Theater 3000 fame, saying the Black Out Tuesday campaign “seems tone deaf.”

Former Def Jam executive Chris Anokute also knocked the movement saying he didn’t even know what it was supposed to be doing.

View this post on Instagram

First off, I want to commend whoever the individual(s) are that came up with “BLACKOUT Tuesday”. We appreciate you and respect your leadership. I stand with you, behind you, in front of you, wherever I need to be. I will blackout with you everyday, not just Tuesday. I also think it’s important we know the origin though, as many of my colleagues and peers are sharing a hashtag, but are yet to confirm where it came from. And this is the problem with society today, and it can sometimes be dangerous. So someone please share, comment. It's pretty ironic that many are posting that they’ll be observing “BLACK OUT” Tuesday, but our friends at Sony ATV, run by a black man, and Island Records, run by a black man, and Def Jam, currently run by a black man (forgive me if I missed anyone) properly quoted “BLACKOUT Tuesday”. I’d like to know what information they have. And while we are at it, Darcus Beese and Ethiopia Habtermariam should be named the CEOs of Island Records and Motown Records respectively. There is no reason why they should hold President titles of major record companies, when all of their peers who are not black currently hold CEO and/or Chairman titles. We already know how hard Sylvia Rhone fought for her title change. These are some of the injustices you should talk about on BLACKOUT Tuesday. I’ll be writing more…

A post shared by Chris Anokute (@chrisanokute) on

“I honestly don’t know what Blackout Tuesday is, so I can’t observe something until I know its origin, who it came from, where it came from, so I know its real intention,” Anokute said. “I can’t take someone’s word for it. That’s the problem today.”

Another artist noted that he did not understand how taking a day to do nothing was actually doing something.

“Hmmm… ‘disconnect from work and reconnect with our community’. Can’t we do both? You’ve got to do what you feel is best I guess but personally I won’t be taking part in Black Out Tuesday. I don’t want a pause, I want action.”

Many others also scoffed at the campaign as worse than useless:

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Facebook at: facebook.com/Warner.Todd.Huston.

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.