#GeorgeFloydChallenge: ‘Disgusting' trend mocking George Floyd's death slammed, two arrested for 'hate crime'
The George Floyd death has sparked massive protests all across the country and people are standing up against systemic racism. Amid the outcry and riots, a certain section of the American public is not ready to move past the discrimination and racial bigotry. A disgusting trend on Twitter surfaced where people could be seen reenacting Floyd's death while kneeling down on a man and posting it on social media.
With the hashtag #GeorgeFloydChallenge, a couple of young teenagers made a mockery of the tragic incident while imitating Derek Chauvin, the police officer who had his knee on Floyd's neck. The viral pictures were brought to attention to expose those boys with a tweet that read, "This is the kneeling Drew should be bothered by." It soon caught attention with almost 8,000 retweets and more than 24,000 likes. The thread further said, "What I’m saying is, instead of opposing a protest against racism that had nothing to do with disrespecting people, actively oppose and work to eradicate racism."
Slamming the people who were a part of the insensitive challenge, one Twitter user wrote, "The #GeorgeFloydChallenge is disgusting. The challenge should be using our white privilege to help others (and, in the process, remove that privilege and make everyone equal). Be Better," and another said, "#GeorgeFloydChallenge now this is the disrespectful shit that makes it very tough to overcome tragedies. I am on the front lines requesting these individuals be identified, please expose them. Punk a** cowards mock from afar!!! #pleaseRunThatInfo."
Soon, many went on a searching spree and called out others to "find these boys." "Alright twitter time to do your thing. Find these boys. #GeorgeFloydChallenge," one wrote and another said, "Twitter. Find these fools. Call them out. We need to know what kind of absolute morons thought they could do this and get away with it. These men are the problem. Find them. I don’t condone violence, but there needs to be repercussions for their actions. #GeorgeFloydChallenge."
According to Northumbria Police, an investigation was launched after the image was traced to been clicked in Gateshead, and two men, aged 19 and another aged 18, have been arrested on account of "hate crime." Chronicle Live reported that a spokesperson for Northumbria Police said: "We can confirm we are investigating after an image was shared on social media which showed two men imitating the recent death of US citizen George Floyd." The report further read, "They have since been released on bail. We understand that this is a social media post that has caused significant upset and we want to reassure the public it is being investigated robustly and is being treated as a hate crime."
Furious to see those pictures floating around, one called it out and said: "This is F**KING DISGUSTING, and if you think this is funny, you’re apart of the problem. For the people, I follow if I catch you doing this #GeorgeFloydChallenge I’m personally going to f**k you up. #BlackLivesMatter," and another went on to say, "Anyone doing the #georgefloydchallenge needs to go the full 9 nine minutes until one of you dies, you dumb f**king pieces of s**t."
Isn't it incredibly sad and shocking how this challenge has surfaced on the Internet and people are actually following it? Reports say Facebook and Instagram seem to have banned the hashtag but it's still going on.