Last week, Derek Chauvin’s murder trial began. Chauvin was the cop who murdered George Floyd last year, and the testimony and videos from the trial have been appalling and heartbreaking. Many people have been following the trial developments every day. I can’t. It breaks my heart and I think Chauvin will probably be found not-guilty. It’s really pathetic, but juries don’t like punishing cops who murder people. Anyway, people have been having a lot of feelings about Chauvin. Cher is one of those people – she thinks that if she had been there, in Minneapolis that day, that she would have been able to do something:
Cher might want to turn back time after getting roasted on Twitter Friday night when she said she was watching the Derek Chauvin murder trial and wondering if she could have helped George Floyd had she been in Minneapolis at the time.
“Was talking With Mom & She Said ‘I Watched Trial Of Policeman Who Killed George Floyd,& Cried,’” Cher tweeted. “I Said ‘Mom,I Know This Is Gonna Sound CRAZY,But.. I Kept Thinking …..Maybe If I’d Been There,…I Could’ve Helped.”
The 74-year-old singer took heat from many sides, accusing her of being a “white savior” and making the death of Floyd all about her.
She seemingly apologized for her tone-deaf “rip but I’m different” kind of tweet. But then she kept going this past weekend:
Wrestled With This Twt, Because I Thought some ppl wouldn’t understand, Or Believe an Entertainer Could have Honest emotions about a human Being,suffering & Dying,even if It’s Only Shown On tv. You Don’t Know What I’ve Done,Who I Am,Or What I Believe.I CAN,I HAVE,& I WILL..HELP
— Cher (@cher) April 3, 2021
I Just got off phone With Friend Karen.Told her what Happened,& Realized,You Can Piss Ppl Off,& Hurt Them By Not Knowing Everything That’s”NOT Appropriate”To Say.I know Ppl Apologize When They’re In a Jam,BUT🤚🏼TO GOD🙏🏼,IM TRULY SORRY If I Upset AnyOne In Blk Community.I Know My❤️
— Cher (@cher) April 3, 2021
This does remind me of when Mark Wahlberg thought that he would have been able to stop 9/11 if he had been on one of the planes. Cher thinks that she would have been able to stop a cop murdering a man on the Minneapolis street if only she had been there. There were multiple witnesses to what Chauvin did and none of them could do anything. That’s WHY there were so many BLM protests last year. Because people feel so helpless against a heavily armed and militarized police state which acts with violence and few repercussions.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
She doesn’t understand how capital letters work so it’s not surprising that she has a very immature understanding of the dynamics of this situation. The reality is that many entertainers forgo a complete education for a very specific one. Success and yes men then prevent them from maturing into adult positions. Cher is a good singer and a fantastic icon. Her opinions outside her expertise are about where I’d expect them to be.
It’s easy to look at a situation and think “well, if I had been there.” I watched the horrific footage of George Floyd’s death, and I did start thinking well if I had been there I would totally have approached the situation and stopped it.
Then I shake myself out of it and think realistically. There was a reason all the bystanders could do nothing more than record it and yell to the cop to get off his neck. Because the cops had the power. They had the weapons and the back up and the freaking law behind them. I’m not as brave in body as I am in my head.
Trying to insert yourself into a narrative you weren’t a part of I guess is normal as long as it’s a brief ‘what if’ inside your head and not plastered all over? Dragging it out and trying to prove you were right is navel grazing and tone deaf. It’s Kendall Jenner stopping riots with a can of Pepsi level of arrogant ignorance.
I think she means well here, but she needs to just stop tweeting about it and making it about her.
I think Cher is mourning, like most of the world, over this George Floyd situation. She feels helpless and she doesn’t know how to properly process it, it’s a new feeling of helplessness for a lot of people.
Or, maybe she’s just being a white saviour.
I didn’t hold it against her, like others did. I understood what she was saying. You can’t watch that video and wonder what you would do if you were there. It’s something the actual bystanders have stated on the stand. It’s survivor’s guilt and Cher shares it. As would any empathetic person, but…she needs to let it go now.
I do not hold it against her either. I feel like she is, however clumsily, examining how she would have reacted if she had been a bystander that day. For all the people who stood around, filmed, and begged the officers to stop killing George Floyd, I am sure there were countless others who kept walking past or claimed it was “none of their business.” And I suspect she is also questioning her privilege as a white woman and celebrity and upset that police can act with impunity and even murder brown and black people.
Maybe her language was not the most eloquent or thoughtful, but I have more respect for someone who sincerely questions what, if anything, they might have done that people who mouth platitudes and do nothing else.
I get what she was saying too- don’t you want to believe that if you were standing there, and you saw someone being slowly but definitely murdered that some primal force would take over, that you would run and bowl into the murderer and scream for him to stop.
Of course, the murderer is armed and has state backing and other armed people.
To feel so helpless- is crushing. To have to watch evil happen and be powerless.
It is horrifying.
Obviously not as horrifying as it is to frankly be anywhere as a black person in this country and hold your breath every time a police officer comes into your line of vision, wondering if they will kill you for existing.
Police unions must be rendered powerless, and racists with murderous intent must never be allowed near government.
Im from a suburb of Minneapolis and i do remember thinking looking back oh i would have been hurt myself but i couldnt stand there and not do something but i was assuming ill intent on the people there yelling at cops to stop like they didn’t care enough? Of course they did but they would’ve been treated the same way as george most likely. Your heart just aches hearing him scream for his mother
I relate to chers response here, i think she means well but it comes across as oh im cher im special so i couldve done something.
I think Cher means well, we have all thought what we could have done if we were there. I know I have and I know I would have been scared shitless and begging like the rest of the witnesses. But the reality is nothing. We live in a police state where the police have immunity and all the power. I think Cher just needs to understand that, but she’s privileged class wise.
I love Cher, but honestly she needs to STFU about this. Not her world, not her pet project.
I don’t know that he will get off honestly. His former boss was on the stand Friday flat out condemning his actions, giving them zero excuse. He stated it was not in their training, it was not required given the situation, and it was “absolutely excessive”. I just don’t see how they couldn’t convict at this point, what with all the people sobbing in the witness stand paramedics included. But America has let me down before….
Yeah, I’m generally pretty cynical when it comes to cops getting punished for using excessive force and killing people, especially if it involves BIPOC, but there’s something that feels different about this trial. Other cops are testifying against him. The witnesses are absolutely heartbreaking. Maybe I’m not cynical enough, but I just don’t see how the defense comes back from this.
I’m in Chicago and I fully expected the cop who killed Laquan McDonald to be acquitted, but he wasn’t. Maybe this jury will get it right too.
Wait, why do people believe Chauvin will walk free?
And I get the generally racist and cop-apologising society, but even they will need to have some excuse. What’s his defence playing at?
Anyhoo, Cher was tone-deaf, but I think many people have similar comments in similar situations. In truth, even the bystanders didn’t know Floyd will actually die, just that he’s struggling. They probably believed the cop will kinda not risk that even if he’s an asshole cop.
And how do you tackle a police officer without getting yourself into serious trouble?
Re “What’s his defense playing at?”
Reasonable doubt that Chauvin “evinc[es] a depraved mind, without regard for human life.” Jury must decide Chauvin’s guilt is BEYOND a reasonable doubt.
Minnesota Statute:
609.195 MURDER IN THE THIRD DEGREE.
(a) Whoever, without intent to effect the death of any person, causes the death of another by perpetrating an act eminently dangerous to others and evincing a depraved mind, without regard for human life, is guilty of murder in the third degree and may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than 25 years.
Source: https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/609.195
Reddit thread here has a pretty good discussion re “depraved mind” and why Chauvin’s defense counsel’s are trying to undermine it.
https://www.reddit.com/r/law/comments/mi74go/can_this_sub_do_live_threads_for_the_chauvin/gt3q048/
I heard his defense has something to do with the fentanyl found in George Floyd’s system. I think they’re going to have the audacity to claim that the drugs are what killed him, not Chauvin kneeling on his neck for 9 minutes.
It’s complete BS, but I wouldn’t underestimate the ability of a white jury to find any reason to let a cop walk free.
It’s not a white jury, it’s actually pretty representative; out of the 12 jurors and 2 alternates, 6 are Black or multiracial. I agree that the excuses the defense is attempting to put up are audacious and ridiculous and I am hopeful that the men and women of the jury see through them.
I have watched many of the clips from the trial. No way Chauvin is getting off!!! He may not get convicted of the 2nd degree murder charge (but there is still a good chance he will – they just have to prove it was intentional), he will the the 3rd degree murder charge FOR SURE. His Police Chief, the top Homicide Detective, and one of his other superiors in the police force in MN all basically threw him under the bus. Saying the technique he used was uncalled for, not necessary, totally inappropriate, and not the protocol they are taught. THey said he should have removed his knee as soon as Floyd was no longer resisting. The homicide detective said the fact that Floyd was on the ground and cuffed – how could he be a threat, if that is what the officers are claiming? They all stated that once Floyd became non-responsive, medical assistance should have been rendered. All the witness testimony is riveting. Chauvin is NOT walking trust me. The only thing is he may not get charged with 2nd degree, but he is def going to jail, where he belongs. The paramedic who first approached them, said he had to get Floyd’s pulse while Chauvin’s knee STILL on his neck and HAD to ask him to get off him to move his body to the stretcher. You can see how pissed off, upset and traumatized all these people are, who are testifying. That jury cannot unsee that.
As far as Cher goes – yes many of those eye witnesses have expressed guilt over not being able to intervene, or do anything. But she is certainly coming off a bit ridiculous here. None of those people there were able to do anything either!!!
No one “threw Chauvin under the bus”. The witnesses told the truth as they should.
@Regina Falangie Sorry, maybe I worded that wrong. It usually is the case where police/military etc., will protect their own – their code of solidarity. That is what I meant. They all broke that with Chauvin, and did exactly what you said – spoke the truth. Chauvin killed Floyd plain and simple, and his superiors didn’t make excuses like maybe some thought would have happened. Like saying it was some trained police technique. That is all I meant.
Juries don’t like punishing (white male) cops who murder people (women and POC).
Cher was deeply offensive and completely tone deaf in her comments. Black people in the United States live in a completely different reality where even income and wealth cannot protect you from the possibility that you might be executed by the police, with no repercussions for the police. It happens All. The. Time. Lots of arrogance on her part to insert herself into an experience she knows nothing about.
Did Cher think she could just walk by, stop & start to sing “Believe” to stop Chauvin?!?
If you follow Cher on Twitter, she has no filter. I loved her Tweets all through the horrible Trump years. She’s been a celebrity/highly privileged for over 50 years now, but at least she’s willing to listen and learn.
I think Cher is a really good and caring person. For God’s sake, when an abused elephant left a foreign country, Cher flew over to sing to it. And that’s a true story. She is compassionate and wishes she could have helped, like so many others. I’ve thought about it and I think if anyone had tried to help, they’d have been shot either by Chauvin or his complicit cohorts looking on. I really think that. Poor George Floyd. I read that 3rd degree murder can carry 25 years. I hope Floyd’s murderer is convicted and gets 25 years.
Why does she type like a 12 year old? I get her sentiment, but the cops have the power and there’s fear of being arrested too. Shock and disbelief also play a roll.
Her tweets look like ransom notes.
Maybe she meant well… BUT this is not okay. Black people deserve human rights and civil rights on the basis of their humanity, not on the basis of whether an elite white woman notices their existence.