Terry Crews, one of the stars of NBC’s hit comedy series Brooklyn Nine-Nine, revealed that four of the episodes for the show’s eighth season were entirely scrapped in the wake of police brutality and Black Lives Matter protests.
In an interview with Access Hollywood, Crews, who plays Sgt. Terry Jeffords on the police-centered show, revealed that Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s showrunner Dan Goor was “ready to go” with new episodes until the death of George Floyd and police brutality protests made global headlines in May. Because of the shift in conversation, the whole season currently has no direction, per Crews.
“We had an all-cast Zoom [meeting], where we all got together and just talked about what was happening in this country, and how the shift of consciousness is going on,” he said. “We had a lot of somber talks; we had a lot of very, very deep conversations.”
“We hope through this, we’re going to make something that will be truly groundbreaking this year,” Crews says of the show, which was announced for an eighth season renewal in November 2019. “We have an opportunity here, and we plan to use it in the best, best way possible.” He did not give detail about the content of the episodes that were shelved.
Crews also discussed the conversations he’s been conducting with his five children regarding police interactions in the Black community.
“With that George Floyd video that came out, it literally opened up the world, because now you’ve experienced [police brutality] and you have to go through the same trauma that Black America has been going through,” he says. “I’ve talked to [my 14-year-old son] about always, always, being conscious of who he is, and where he is, and always [looking] out for his own safety.”
Earlier this month, Cops—the country’s longest-running reality show—was canceled amidst the police brutality protests. It appears that public attitudes towards shows like Cops and Live PD have shifted in recent years due to the growing number of law-enforcement related incidents in communities of color. In addition, A&E reportedly pulled episodes of Live PD from their schedule, (not disclosing plans for its return), while Discovery ID’s Body Cam was also pulled indefinitely.