The TV show Cops has officially been canceled at Paramount Network, Variety reports.
This comes just days after it was reported that the show had been pulled from the network's schedule - a decision that Variety says was "spurred" by the recent nationwide protests against police brutality and systemic injustices carried out against black people following the killing of George Floyd by Minnesota police.
“‘Cops’ is not on the Paramount Network and we don’t have any current or future plans for it to return,” a spokesperson for Paramount Network said in a statement.
Per EW, Cops has aired more than 1,100 episodes since airing premiering in 1989. It ran for 25 seasons on Fox.
EW reports that civil rights advocacy organization Color Of Change, a longtime critic of the series, discussed canceling the show permanently with Paramount Network owner Viacom earlier this week.
Arisha Hatch, vice president of Color Of Change, said in a statement:
"For more than 30 years, Cops has miseducated the public and normalized injustice.
"Crime television encourages the public to accept the norms of over-policing and excessive force and reject reform, while supporting the exact behavior that destroys the lives of Black people.
"Cops led the way, pushing troubling implications for generations of viewers. Now it’s time for other networks to cancel similarly harmful shows. We call on A&E to cancel Live PD next. In a moment when everyone wants to proclaim that Black Lives Matter, we must hold these companies accountable to put actions to words with a complete industry overhaul."
Cops had come under scrutiny in recent years for its depictions of law enforcement and was the subject of a podcast series named Running from Cops. Per Variety, the series detailed instances in which people were coerced into signing waivers, and points out how production allowed police to edit or remove things that might paint them in a negative light.
This news comes as unrest continues to unfold across the US and around the world, as protests - some peaceful, some violent - are calling out the systemic injustices carried out against black people, not least seen by the recent deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor.
As well as a call for justice, these ongoing protests are also demanding an end to police brutality and the racism that is so deeply entrenched in America and the western world.
The message is simple: Black lives matter.
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