New Girl's Lamorne Morris Reacts to George Floyd's Officers-Involved Death: 'Imagine Them Killing Winston'

Matt Webb Mitovich
·2 min read

New Girl alum Lamorne Morris has weighed in on the death of George Floyd, who died on Monday after an encounter with Minneapolis police — one of whom had pinned a breathless Floyd to the ground by leaning a knee on his neck.

“Just imagine Winston from New Girl begging for his life while publicly having his neck kneeled on. Then imagine them killing Winston,” Morris said at the close of a lengthy, impassioned Instagram post. “That would be a messed up episode of TV.”

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Morris led off his missive by saying “I’m not coming to you as ‘Winston from that show.’ I’m coming to you as a Black man who is oftentimes fearful of the future.

“Right now we’re seeing people rioting in the streets but what else do you want people to do? Stay silent and take the loss like we’ve been doing? We. Are. People. Treat us like it!” he added.

Calling people to action, Morris said, “Instead of posting the latest dance challenge on tik tok today just start asking questions. Why did this happen? Why does it keep happening? What can I do to spread awareness? I understand I’m not a politician or an aggressive political activist. But I have eyes and so do you. Just talk to somebody about this. Anybody.”

Minneapolis police had detained Floyd on Monday evening on suspicion of trying to pass a counterfeit $20 bill at a convenience store. In a video that spread via Facebook, Floyd is shown pleading that he couldn’t breathe while one officer held him down alongside his vehicle, with a knee on his neck.

“Please, please, please. I can’t breathe. Please, man,” Floyd is heard saying, screaming for several minutes before he became silent. Floyd, 46, died at Hennepin County Medical Center not long after the encounter.

The FBI is investigating the incident, while the four officers involved were promptly fired.

“The technique that was used is not permitted; is not a technique that our officers get trained in on,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said during a town hall streamed to Facebook. “And our [police] chief has been very clear on that piece. There is no reason to apply that kind of pressure with a knee to someone’s neck.”

Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar via Twitter called the incident “yet another horrifying and gut-wrenching instance of an African American man dying.”

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