LOS ANGELES, Aug. 31 (UPI) — An American civil-rights activist is calling out Australian actress Rebel Wilson for joking about “problems with the police” at the MTV Video Music Awards ceremony.
Wilson arrived onstage wearing a cop costume Sunday night to present the prize for Best Hip Hop Video.
“Settle down. A lot of people have problems with the police,” Wilson began.
“But I really hate police strippers,” she added, ripping off her pants and jacket to reveal tiny bottoms and a shirt that read, “[Expletive] Tha Stripper Police. “They come to your house. You think you’re getting arrested, and you just get a lap dance that is usually uninspired. I hired a police stripper for my Grandma’s 80th [birthday,] and he wouldn’t even feel her up…. I hate this injustice, hence the shirt.”
“.@RebelWilson/@MTV, police violence isn’t a joke, as the deaths of #TamirRice, #RekiaBoyd, #FreddieGray, #MikeBrown, & #MyaHall remind us,” civil-rights activist DeRay Mckesson tweeted. “If the police kill someone you love, would it be a funny joke, then?”
The New York Daily News said Mckesson is a member of the We The Protesters organization and has worked with Black Lives Matter, a group which calls for an end to police brutality against African-Americans.
“When’s the last time you heard a Holocaust, Sandy Hook, or Columbine joke at an awards show? Exactly,” Mckesson added.
Wilson has not publicly responded to the criticism, but she did Tweet a photo of herself in the controversial T-shirt, laughing with Nicki Minaj backstage at the VMAs.
