Black Lives Matter co-founder calls for Hollywood strike after Jacob Blake shooting

Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors has urged Hollywood to “show up” and join the strike carried out by several sports teams following the shooting of Jacob Blake.

Blake was shot seven times by a police officer in Wisconsin over the weekend and has been left paralysed as a result.

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Basketball players were the first to strike in protest, with players in various baseball, ice hockey and football leagues following suit.

Cullors, who is an activist and TV writer, told The Hollywood Reporter that various sectors within the film and television industries should step up and take action as well.

She said: “Join this strike. Now is the time and our movement is really looking to unions to step in in a particular way and say: 'We're going to hold back on allowing for the exploitation and the degradation of Black communities to continue under our watch.’

“I think Hollywood can really show up in this moment.”

Cullors said Black people are “tired of having to say the same thing over and over again” and that the priority must be to ensure Donald Trump loses the November election.

Read more: Stars line up for anti-racism PSA

Hollywood figures have condemned police violence in the wake of the Blake shooting, with Dwayne Johnson delaying postponing a product launch out of respect for Jacob Blake.

“There’s no progress without humanity,” he wrote.

Black Lives Matter protests have spread across the world in recent months, following the killing of George Floyd during an arrest in May.

The protests sparked something of a reckoning in Hollywood, with streaming services removing TV episodes containing blackface.

Read more: Oscars bring in diversity requirements

Long-running police reality series Cops was cancelled in the US, while context warnings and special introductions were added to classic films including Gone With the Wind and Blazing Saddles.