Janelle Monae has demanded the Kansas City police officers who arrested peaceful protesters over the weekend be "prosecuted and fired".
The Dirty Computer hitmaker made the comments on Tuesday, as protests continued across the U.S. in the wake of African-American man George Floyd's death at the hands of a white police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota on 25 May.
As the issue of police brutality continued to dominate the conversation on social media, Monae took to Twitter to denounce an incident in her hometown and also uploaded footage showing officers using pepper spray to forcibly remove a peaceful protester and then arrest him.
The video was shot at a demonstration on Sunday, and Monae identified the African-American man as her childhood friend Terrance Maddox, who is later seen shouting at the line of riot police officers as he stood with protesters before the cops moved in and violently took him into custody.
"My sister sent me this. The victim is Terrance Maddox. We grew up together. THIS IS F***KIG INFURIATING. WE ARE CALLING FOR ALL OF THESE OFFICERS TO BE PROSECUTED and FIRED!!!! SEND NAMES AND BADGE NUMBERS," she penned alongside the post.
Singer Kelly Clarkson also expressed her outrage at the same incident on her own Twitter feed, adding: "Just curious.... where are all the 'free speechers' on this? You know, the ones that constantly defend the first amendment but only use this defense when it serves their purpose? I'll wait...."
