Actor Cole Sprouse, who is best known for playing Jughead Jones on The CW’s Riverdale, recently confirmed that he was among those arrested on Sunday during the ongoing protests over George Floyd’s murder. Sprouse participated in a peaceful protest of a few dozen people in downtown Santa Monica on Sunday, which reportedly escalated when another group of people began vandalizing and looting businesses. According to Buzzfeed, this led to police officers arriving on the scene and thinning out the crowd, while giving protesters the option to leave. Sprouse’s group was among those who wanted to remain on the scene, which eventually culminated in them getting arrested.
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“A group of peaceful protesters, myself included, were arrested yesterday in Santa Monica,” Sprouse explained in an Instagram post on Monday. “So before the voracious horde of media sensationalism decides to somehow turn it about me, there’s a clear need to speak about the circumstances: Black Lives Matter. Peace, riots, looting, are an absolutely legitimate form of protest. The media is by nature only going to show the most sensational, which only proves a long standing racist agenda. I was detained when standing in solidarity, as were many of the final vanguard within Santa Monica. We were given the option to leave, and were informed that if we did not retreat, we would be arrested. When many did turn to leave, we found another line of police officers blocking our route, at which point, they started zip tying us.”
Sprouse went on to address how he does not want the narrative of his arrest – especially given his socioeconomic status and his celebrity – to distract from the larger movement.
“It needs to be stated that as a straight white man, and a public figure, the institutional consequences of my detainment are nothing in comparison to others within the movement,” Sprouse continued. “This is ABSOLUTELY not a narrative about me, and I hope the media doesn’t make it such. This is, and will be, a time about standing ground near others as a situation escalates, providing educated support, demonstrating and doing the right thing. This is precisely the time to contemplate what it means to stand as an ally. I hope others in my position do as well. I noticed that there are cameras that roll within the police cruisers during the entirety of our detainment, hope it helps.”
“I’ll speak no more on the subject, as I’m (1) not well versed enough to do so, (2) not the subject of the movement, and (3) uninterested in drawing attention away from the leaders of the #BLM movement,” Sprouse continued. “I will be, again, posting the link in my story to a comprehensive document for donations and support.”
Santa Monica is just one of many locations across the country that is holding protests over George Floyd’s death – and the larger problem of police brutality and systemic racism – in recent days. Other celebrities have also spoken out about the events, including Insecure star Kendrick Sampson, who “beaten multiple times” with a baton and shot seven times with rubber bullets during an incident with police at a Los Angeles protest.
(Photo by Rodin Eckenroth/WireImage)
