Published 12:52 IST, June 1st 2020
George Floyd death: Sundar Pichai's gesture, YouTube's $1M pledge & Marvel's solidarity
Amid the outrage over George Floyd's death, CEO Sundar Pichai announced solidarity gesture, while YouTube pledged $1m. Marvel, Twitter also backed the cause.
Citizens have taken to the streets in protest as the United States of America boiled over the death of African-American man George Floyd last week. After the outrage on social media spilled over to the ground, the major companies across the country are also making strong statements in honour of Floyd and the condemnation of racism.
One of the major tech companies of the world, Google, shared their support by highlighting the message ‘We stand in support of racial equality, and all those who search for it' on the homepages of Google and YouTube in USA. Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, wrote that the company was standing in solidarity with the Black community and also named other victims ‘without a voice’ like Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery.
Pichai added that they were with those who were sad and angry over the incident.
Here's the post
Today on US Google & YouTube homepages we share our support for racial equality in solidarity with the Black community and in memory of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery & others who don’t have a voice. For those feeling grief, anger, sadness & fear, you are not alone. pic.twitter.com/JbPCG3wfQW
— Sundar Pichai (@sundarpichai) May 31, 2020
Moreover, YouTube announced that it was pledging $1 million to address social injustice. On Twitter, the company wrote that it was ‘hurt’ when the members of its community were ''hurt' and condemned racism and violence.
Marvel Entertainment also stood in support of inclusion. In a message on Twitter, the banner churning superhero blockbusters like Avengers wrote that it stood with their black employees, storytellers, creators and the entire community.
Twitter too showcased support by posting #BlackLivesMatter in its bio and by changing its overall colour tone to black.
Earlier, Netflix had supported the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement and added that it would be ‘complicit’ to be ‘silent.’
Celebrities across film industries, be it Hollywood or Bollywood have made strong statements too on the incident.
George Floyd died as a result of police brutality on May 25 when Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt at the back of his neck, while pinning him down, for over eight minutes as he said, “I can’t breathe.”Chauvin has been arrested and charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter. Protests were witnessed from New York to Los Angeles, and many have turned violent too, with large-scale vandalism and arrests being reported.
Updated 12:52 IST, June 1st 2020