Actress Rebel Wilson came under fire Sunday for wearing a t-shirt on stage at the MTV music video awards show that some, like Black Lives Matter leader DeRay McKesson, say minimized cases of police brutality.
Halfway through her presentation for best hip-hop song, the Australian actress ripped off a police uniform she was wearing to reveal a t-shirt reading “Fuck tha Stripper Police.”
The slogan was a reference to a song from the rap group N.W.A., which is featured in the new hit movie, “Straight Outta Compton.”
Wilson joked:
A lot of people have problem with the police, but I really hate police strippers. You guys know what I’m talking about. They come to your house, you think you’re getting arrested, and you just get a lap dance that is usually uninspired. I hired police stripper for my grandma’s 80th, and he wouldn’t even feel her up. I hate this injustice, hence the shirt.
Cracking up at the VMA's!!! @NICKIMINAJ = queen x pic.twitter.com/3xeW18dOfF
— Rebel Wilson (@RebelWilson) August 31, 2015
But the shirt and Wilson’s jokes got her in hot water. Not because she wore a shirt referencing a anti-cop statement, but because it was seen as trivializing police brutality. One of those critics was Black Lives Matter activist DeRay McKesson.
.@RebelWilson/@MTV, police violence isn't a joke, as the deaths of #TamirRice, #RekiaBoyd, #FreddieGray, #MikeBrown, & #MyaHall remind us.
— deray mckesson (@deray) August 31, 2015
When's the last time you heard a Holocaust, Sandy Hook, or Columbine joke at an awards show? Exactly. https://t.co/mBnjbra3QP
— deray mckesson (@deray) August 31, 2015
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