There are a lot of white celebrities and politicians who aren’t really doing much of anything. I’m not trying to police people’s involvement at all, because I think merely saying “Black Lives Matter” is an important first step. But there are steps that come after that! Donating to BLM-affiliated causes, using your privilege to be a proactive ally, protesting, and more. So it is with Sophie Turner, a 24-year-old British woman who happens to be pregnant during all of this. Sophie spent months in quarantine for the pandemic, and now she and her mask are marching in the BLM protests. She also donated to BLM causes and she’s using her privilege.
Sophie Turner is using her platform to fight against racial injustice. On Saturday, the Game of Thrones alum, 24, posted photos and videos from a Black Lives Matter protest she attended with husband Joe Jonas in Los Angeles. In one image, the actress held up a sign reading “White silence is violence,” and in another clip, she filmed the crowd chanting while taking a knee, a nod to former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who protested against police brutality and systemic racism.
“No justice, no peace #BlackLivesMatter,” Turner wrote alongside the post. Although many of Turner’s followers stood in solidarity with the movement, others spoke critically of the protests that continued across the nation.
“I mean they’ve been arrested and charged with murder so there’s justice, soooo can we have peace now?” wrote one user, seemingly referring to the four policemen who were present at the time of George Floyd’s death. Responding to the user’s comment, Turner explained in her comment, which appears to have since been deleted, that “this isn’t just about those 4 cops. This is about Breonna Taylor, this is about Trayvon Martin, this is about Eric Garner, this is about the systemic racism that black people have faced for hundreds and hundreds of years,” she wrote, according to fan accounts. “This is about changing the system. Justice will be done when society reflects our beliefs that we are all equal. Until then there should be no peace.”
Turner also spoke out against police brutality against pregnant women, sharing a link to a petition about a California woman named Emerald Black, who recently filed a lawsuit against the police. In the lawsuit, Black alleges that while she was pregnant last year, officers pulled her over and “stomped on her stomach,” which caused her to have a miscarriage, according to The Mercury News. “Swipe up to sign the petition calling for an investigation into the police officers responsible,” Turner wrote on her Instagram Story.
I don’t really have anything to add, I just love her. She’s a good one. Sansa Stark said Black Lives Matter. The Queen of the North said No Justice, No Peace.
Sophie Turner replying to comments on her post: No justice, no peace #BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/xxCedmEm4I
— best of sophie turner (@badpost_sophiet) June 7, 2020
📝 Sophie Turner via IG story pic.twitter.com/slCnoEBuqi
— best of sophie turner (@badpost_sophiet) June 7, 2020
Here’s what the LA Black Lives Matter protests looked like:
Okay this is LA’s #BlackLivesMatter protest today.
— Joshua Potash (@JoshuaPotash) June 8, 2020
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
Welp, let me just pretend to be shocked! Lol but seriously, good for her and Joe. I hope she stays as safe as she possibly can. Many other GoT cast members (you know, besides Nathalie Emmanuel and Jacob Anderson) have also been manifesting themselves in favor of BLM in several ways.
I’m actually surprised to see Taylor Swift fans become upset with her for not really speaking out about BLM. She had that one Trump tweet, which is great, but racism existed before his presidency and there is so much more we need to do. I hate expecting celebrities to do much but she came out with an entire documentary about how she plans to be more vocal about politics and now there’s silence.
I’m pleasantly surprised by Selena Gomez who has given black men and women her instagram to speak to a bigger audience. I’m definitely taking notes on who has become an outspoken ally during this time.
As a fan of Taylor, I always struggled with the fact that she never spoke up about political issues, as most of the musicians I follow (more in the rock realm than pop) make a lot of noise about important issues. I think a lot of fans felt that way, and were SO happy when she started to use her platform and encouraged fans to educate themselves and vote. When she needs to be she can be very articulate, and she was great about not ostracizing fans who might have different political views, but just encouraging them to research and think about who they’re voting for, and then go through with voting. Voting registration in Tennessee soared after she posted that message.
That said…in seeing that documentary, it was wild how much effort and struggle and consulting with her publicist it took to actually make her first political post (which was fairly inoffensive). I’m disappointed she’s not saying more, but not surprised. She tends to support causes with her wallet (she donated to NAACP LDF) than speaking out. And monetary support is awesome, but frankly, not enough from people who have as much influence as she does.
I never really dipped my toe into the Taylor Swift fandom until last night on Twitter. She was part of the graduation speech series. Apparently they were filmed before the protests, but most of the celebs re did their speeches last week and sent those in. Swift didn’t, which was fine if she didn’t know she could or whatever. But that left us with 52 seconds of her sharing how she missed her graduation too. The endpoint was good -expect the unexpected and still celebrate – but comparing the kids who forcibly missed the last semester of school because of a plague to he choosing to miss hers because she was touring was tone deaf.
Her fans immediately went in the defensive, with so many claiming she was a struggling artist and not famous at the time and missed graduation because she was on a radio tour begging stations to play her music to get a big break. But by her graduation, she had a CMA, a platinum selling album and a Grammy nomination. It was just so silly to me. I feel like if you have to try so hard to defend and interpret what your favorite artists is doing, maybe it’s not worth it. Maybe just enjoy her music and chill a bit. She gave a slightly tone deaf and out of touch speech that lasted under a minute. She didn’t re-record her speech when most everyone else did. It was 52 seconds and would have went under the radar had her own fans not brought so much attention to it.
@AMM I don’t use Twitter, but man that speech was unbelievably bad considering she had time to re-record it as many times as she wanted (not like it was on the spot and she went off on a bad tangent). It was a really, really stupid anecdote. I’m not sure how she thought going on tour would compare to being forced to school from home because of a deadly virus, but it left me shaking my head.
I thought Beyonce’s speech was overall good and certainly better than Taylor’s, but I felt the same way when she said something to the effect of “Yes, I’ve won 25 Grammys, but I’ve lost 40! I’ve been rejected so many times, just like you’ll have to face rejection in your life!” Like…wut.
Another problem with Taylor Swift fans is them constantly bringing up Beyoncé. There were a plethora of celebs who did the speech- ranging from goofy to inspiring- and we are gonna go after Beyoncé once Taylor Swift is brought up. 9 mins of a great speech that was inspiring and powerful. Let’s find what we can to pick apart because Taylor Swift was tone deaf. That too was common on Twitter.
Beyoncé was self aware. She acknowledged that she was extremely successful, shared how she got successful and pointed out that even at her level, she’s had more losses than wins.
@AMM I just thought that one comment Beyonce made was similarly tone deaf in that it compared issues associated with fame to the struggles of kids facing a very tough job market to break into post-college. That’s why I made the comparison. As I said, she gave a good speech and I just found that one comment to be a bit strange, which is nothing compared to Taylor’s overall very bad, out-of-touch speech. I don’t defend Taylor’s speech in the slightest, as you can see from my first comment. I’m sorry if folks on twitter did, though, as there was nothing to defend about it.
That image of the protest in LA give me chills. So awesome.
Me too. I saw that and my eyes welled with tears. Lately I can’t stop crying dammit! Is it because I’ve been angry so long? Nothing has changed in OUR White House. But when I see diversity in these huge crowds, my heart palpitates. I swell with, can’t believe I’m about to say this, hope!
She’s a very smart and thoughtful woman. Really appreciate and love her. She really is a breath of fresh air.
Sophie is great, and good on her for speaking out and showing up. I hope she (and everyone) stays safe!
As a big Sansa and Sophie fan, this makes me happy. She’s pregnant, a homebody and we are still in a pandemic and she still came out.
She’s great and it feels real and well thought.
I hate that celebrities or wannabes who are just posting on insta pictures of themselves to gain publicity.
Good for Sophie, but she didn’t go to the LA protests even though she lives in LA. She went to a protest in Mammoth where the Jonas ski home is at. I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt since she is pregnant that this probably seemed like a more reasonable risk as far as balancing BLM and the pandemic risk, but the irony of rich white people in LA traveling to a ski town in order to protest police brutality and BLM with other white people wasn’t lost on me.
The link Sophie shared reminds me:
Those of you that have twitter ( I do not have one) please go tweet Oklahoma’s Governor Stitt about JULIUS JONES who is on death row for a crime he did not commit. The trial and verdict were ENTIRELY based on race. If you read the site it’s appalling and devastating.
https://www.justiceforjuliusjones.com/
Please, PLEASE share and speak out about this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@kaiser maybe you could do a story about this???? the case is gaining traction and the more the better!
I was at protests last week. I wanted to go this weekend buuuut. I have a cough. Sore throat. Sweats and chills. Diarrhea. My temp is 99.6, which I realize is not a fever but my normal temp is 73.2. Getting tested on Wednesday.
So instead I donated a fuckload of money to BLM and the NAACP. I’m kind of tired of people saying ‘throwing money at the problem doesn’t do shit.’ As a white person, I don’t really know what the answer is. I’ll give my money to people who do.
Good luck with your test, @Laura. Protesting in person is great, but also carries high risk due to the pandemic. I think it’s perfectly reasonable to focus on donating to important organizations.
Dammit I’m going to have to love ole Lemon Cakes Stark! I hated Sansa on GOT but Sophie is actually an admirable person. Best wishes on her pregnancy
I love sophie. She’s getting lots of mean comments from MAGA trolls because of this