'Live P.D' gets canceled amid protests against police brutality, fans of the show slam A&E: 'Shame on you'
A&E canceled 'Live PD', one of its most important and highest-rated shows on Wednesday, June 10. The show, which catapulted the network to number one position on basic cable, was pulled off air last week in the wake of nationwide protests against the death of George Floyd.
A&E and MGM’s Big Fish Entertainment that are producers of the series jointly decided to pull the plug on the series. In a statement to Deadline, A&E stated: "This is a critical time in our nation's history and we have made the decision to cease production on 'Live PD'." The statement added, "Going forward, we will determine if there is a clear pathway to tell the stories of both the community and the police officers whose role it is to serve them. And with that, we will be meeting with community and civil rights leaders as well as police departments."
The 'Live PD' crew also had footage of Javier Ambler's death on tape. He was killed while being arrested after fleeing from deputies who were seeking him for a traffic violation. The tape is now destroyed. Fans of the show are highly disappointed by the network's decision and after the announcement, #BoycottAE started trending on Twitter. "Well I guess you guys don’t care about missing children anymore....shame on you #BoycottAETV #livepd," wrote a fan.
Another wrote, "How is 'Pulling the Plug' on 'Live PD' affect what is going on in this nation one way or another. It has no effect except to say that police are bad. Is that the message A&E wants to put out? We of #LivePDNation know better. #boycottAETV #boycottAETV." One user shared, "I hope you’re all happy now sitting behind your screens. Shame on you @AETV for that p****y move. You had a great following behind you that was prepared to make it for the better. Don’t @ me or do idgaf #LivePDNation we got this."
The host of the show Dan Abrams too was equally shocked at the development and took to Twitter to weigh in. "Shocked & beyond disappointed about this. To the loyal #LivePDNation please know I, we, did everything we could to fight for you, and for our continuing effort at transparency in policing. I was convinced the show would go on. . More to come..."
In a following tweet, he wrote, "I am going to finally go to sleep but I just want to say one more thing to the #LivePDNation. Thank you for making this so much more than a tv show. You created a huge community of kind, caring people with whom I hope to stay in touch with in this next chapter. More tomorrow..."