George Floyd memorial: Tiffany Haddish takes the stage, but fans say she 'hijacked movement' for publicity
The memorial service for George Floyd, the 46-year-old black man whose death has led to nationwide outrage, was held at the Frank J Lindquist sanctuary at North Central University in Minneapolis. Apart from family and friends, activists, politicians and even celebrities gathered in huge numbers around the chapel to pay their final respects to Floyd.
Among the celebrities in attendance were Ludacris, Tyrese Gibson, TI, Kevin Hart, Master P, Will Packer and Tiffany Haddish. A moving eulogy for Floyd was delivered by Rev AI Sharpton. Addressing the crowd, he said, "George Floyd's story has been the story of black folks. Because ever since 401 years ago, the reason we could never be who we wanted and dreamed of being is you kept your knee on our neck." He also mentioned the names of the celebrities who were present at the memorial service and later called comedian Haddish onto the stage. However, internet users are unhappy about the fact that a lot of attention was focused on celebrities and they have specifically called out Haddish for using this as an opportunity for "publicity".
On watching the funeral one of them wrote, "No offense to the Floyd family but why the f**k is Tiffany Haddish on that stage? Celebrities named individually. Community/BLM leaders barely mentioned. Smh…" Another said, "They're clearly using this to advertise for publicity. Beware of people like that. People who make movements like this all about themselves are the first ones to infiltrate and sell out for a paycheck." One more said, "They hijacked the movement. It is all about marketing and branding. Cycle continues."
However, some have defended Haddish saying she was only on stage because AI called her up there. "She was up there because Al called her up there. When he did his celeb shout outs, which I found tacky, he forgot her name. Someone up there told him he forgot her, Al called her up there said he didn't want her to talk about him in her next interview," noted one. Meanwhile, another Twitter user urged everyone to rather focus on the bigger picture, about bringing justice to Floyd. The tweet read, "I’m wondering if any of you even watched the entire funeral??? If you’re more concerned about who was on stage it’s very clear you didn’t! Additionally, if you’re really thinking of Floyd and his family who’s grieving it wouldn’t matter who was on stage and why. Focus on Floyd!!!"