Jay-Z calls for ALL the officers involved in the death of George Floyd to be charged

Jay-Z had called on the Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison to ‘do the right thing and prosecute all those responsible’ for the murder of George Floyd last Monday.

The rapper spoke to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz on Sunday and shortly afterward Walz announced he was turning over the investigation to Ellison because locals said they had lost faith in Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman.

The community complained it had taken too long for white Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin to be charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter despite being filmed kneeling on Floyd’s neck for almost nine minutes until he died.

But now Jay-Z – real name Shawn Carter – wants the other three men involved in Floyd’s killing to be charged too.  

‘I received a call [Saturday] night — to understand how big this was — from Jay-Z,’ Walz said on Sunday during a press conference. ‘Not international performer, but dad stressing to me that justice needs to be served. 

‘It was so incredibly human… It was a dad, and I think quite honestly a black man whose visceral pain of this that he knew.’

Walz went on to explain how amid protests across the country in the name of Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement, supporters of racial equality needed to see a good example of how the probe would be properly and thoroughly carried out.

‘His words summarized that justice needs to be served here,’ Walz continued. ‘He said he feels the compassion and the humanity of these folks who are speaking.

‘He knows the world is watching, and how Minnesota handles this is going to have an impact across the country. It’s a positive sign that someone of a stature, that has a presence like that, is focused in the moment of what Minnesotans are focused on.’

Walz then announced Ellison’s appointment, which came after 10 members of the Minnesota state House who represent Minneapolis sent a letter to him saying their constituents had lost faith in Freeman. It was after Freeman delayed charging Chauvin and avoided charging the other officers Tou Thao, Thomas Lane and J Alexander Kueng.  

The 50-year-old rapper posted a short written statement to his entertainment company Roc Nation’s Instagram pages after he spoke with Walz on the phone.

He urged Ellison to prosecute all the officers involved in Floyd’s death, not just Officer Chauvin who pressed his knee into his neck as he cried for his deceased mother and pleaded for his life, saying: ‘I can’t breathe, officer.’  

Jay-Z began his statement thanking Walz for replacing Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman, who previously announced that Ellison would only ‘assist’ him in the prosecutions.

‘After our very earnest conversation, thank you to Governor Walz for doing what’s right and calling in Attorney General Keith Ellison to take over the George Floyd case,’ the statement read.

‘Earlier today, Governor Walz mentioned having a human conversation with me — a dad and a black man in pain. Yes, I am human, a father and a black man in pain and I am not the only one.’ 

The rapper then urged Ellison to prosecute the other officers involved Floyd’s death who didn’t stop officer Derek Chauvin from killing him. 

‘Now I, along with an entire country in pain, call upon AG Ellison to do the right thing and prosecute all those responsible for the murder of George Floyd to the fullest extent of the law,’ the star said. 

‘This is just a first step. I am more determined to fight for justice than any fight my would-be oppressors may have,’ he added. 

‘I prevail on every politician, prosecutor and officer in the country to have the courage to do what is right.

‘Have the courage to look at us as humans, dads, brothers, sisters and mothers in pain and look at yourselves.’

Jay-Z’s use of the phrase ‘do the right thing’ may have been a reference to Spike Lee’s iconic 1989 film about a Brooklyn community torn asunder by racial tensions after police officers choke a black man to death.

The film climaxes with the main character, played by Lee, throwing a trash can through the window of a pizzeria owned by Italian–Americans who initially called the police on the murdered man, before others destroy it and set it ablaze.

On Saturday, Carter’s wife Beyoncé took to Instagram with a short video about Floyd’s killing.

‘We need justice for George Floyd,’ she said. ‘We all witnessed his murder in broad daylight. We’re broken and we’re disgusted. We cannot normalize this pain.’

Jay-Z has long been passionate about anti-racist and anti–police brutality causes.

Last year, he and his entertainment company Roc Nation entered a partnership with the NFL to create a social justice partnership, while also allowing him to advise on the musical acts chosen for the Super Bowl.

The initiative has three planks: ‘education and economic advancement; police and community relations; and criminal justice reform,’ the NFL announced at the time.

However, the rapper was criticized by some who saw the partnership as an ultimately meaningless way to line his pockets that sidelined the protests against racism and police violence started by quarterback Colin Kaepernick.