How should we feel about prominent white celebrities and politicians doing the bare minimum and getting recognized for it? This came up in the Mitt Romney story this week – I don’t have a problem with Sen. Romney attending the DC protest, nor do I have a problem (philosophically) with Mittens saying “black lives matter.” But I also think that those acts shouldn’t be hyped nor praised? That’s how I feel about this story too – Brad Pitt apparently attended a protest/rally in LA on Sunday. The person who spotted him took a photo of a Brad-like figure riding his motorcycle around the protest and she sold that photo to the Daily Mail exclusively.
EXCLUSIVE: Brad Pitt is spotted alongside protesters in Hollywood https://t.co/3jWzZ5FbIw
— Daily Mail Celebrity (@DailyMailCeleb) June 9, 2020
The bystander/photographer also had some details about what Brad did at the rally:
Brad Pitt was spotted attending a major protest over the death of George Floyd in Hollywood on Sunday. In an exclusive photo obtained by DailyMail.com, the Oscar winner was seen with an estimated 50,000 people who flooded the streets of Los Angeles. Pitt’s instantly recognizable features were barely distinguishable as he ventured out on his rare BMW motorbike. With a crash helmet pulled over his head, the Hollywood star, 56, blended in with oblivious protesters while wearing a gray George Floyd emblazoned hoodie. In accordance with ongoing regulations in the fight against COVID-19, the star wore a bandanna as a makeshift face mask and gloves.
Protester Aree Khodai, 42, said she saw the star riding with the crowds.
‘The amount of people there was amazing. We saw Brad was on his bike not long after the protest started around 4pm,’ the yoga instructor explained. ‘There was moments of walking and then we would stop and we saw him turning his bike around at Hollywood and Highland. He was on his bike the entire time and was wearing a George Floyd hoodie. He was there for the right reasons, he wasn’t trying to draw attention to himself. He seemed into it and seemed inspired, it was so beautiful of him to be there.’
Khodai, who runs ARTHA Mind, Body and Soul yoga and wellness center on Sunset Boulevard said Brad was riding solo and seemed in good spirits.
‘Every time the march stopped he tried to listen in to what speakers were saying. At one point he had his mask off and was smiling, he seemed very happy and you knew instantly it was Brad from his smile. It was an amazing day, it was very peaceful, really, really powerful.’
I don’t want to be this much of a distrustful a–hole, but what is this story?? Brad wore a bandana over his face, so how did she see him smile? Did she keep her eye on him the whole time as he, you know, rode his motorcycle around the protest and only stopped a few times to listen to some of the speakers? Or was this all Brad just wanting “credit” for riding his motorcycle around a protest? IDK.
Photos courtesy of WENN & Backgrid.
Of course he will show up seeing how people were questioning why he wouldn’t donate or support the BLM like his ex wife did since he has a black kid he just had to do this! This guy is so pretentious
What’s more interesting to me than his riding a bike is… HOW IS HIS LAWSUIT DOING? The one by people of color who say his cool little project ripped them off and let them homeless because of rotting woods. How that one matters?
He heard it was a BMW protest. LOL.
Hey, he got a hoodie, to show what side he is on. He covered his face. He doesn’t get a cookie but I don’t think it’s really stunting. He has a black daughter, as we all know. Even if it’s the “I have a DAUGHTER!” thing, it still seems like he means it. (And I am so not a Brad fangirl.)
Let’s see what he does next.
How annoying to have a noisy stinky machine when trying to walk chant & listen.
It was photo stunt, she was part of his groups and she sold the photo with his blessing.
Exactly!
@FA…exactly! This was “see how woke I am” as for Mittens, I’ll pay attention to his votes. That shows who he truly is. Will that change now that he went outside & says Black lives matter to a camera
Romney voted to convict in Trump’s Senate Impeachment trial. So he’s not a cookie cutter/I must obey Trump no matter what kind of Republican.
His grandchild is also black, so he may feel he has a personal connection to Black Lives Matter.
Don’t get me wrong. I can’t stand Mitt. He’s a spineless, political flip-flopper. He rarely gets it right but his marching in support of the protest is not something I’m going to crap on him for.
Regarding Pitt. I don’t think it’s a stunt. I get that many people take everything he does personally and project their feelings towards ex-spouses or relationships on him, but he does have a record of trying to be an ally to the Black community. Again, Pitt like Mitt, may not get it right all the time, but at least he tries to be supportive.
Romney voted to allow witnesses to be heard that is all. & it was an empty vote as everyone knew Lamar Alexander & Lisa Murakowski were voting No for witnesses. So Mitt & Susan Collins voted yes knowing no witnesses would be heard from. The trial was a sham. I will hold my opinion until I see if Mittens future votes bear out a true change of heart.
Yeah I call shenanigans. How did she recognize him with a mask on? Did she follow him all over the place? There’s so many people. This is total PR BS. Pretending he was just not trying to get notice – if he really wasn’t, pretty sure he wouldn’t be with the whole helmet mask thing.
He posed for his and Alia’s mutual friend Aree Khodai, who runs ARTHA Mind, Body & Soul yoga wellness centre and sent it to DF.
They lost me at sold “exclusively” to the DM. Why?
If this is a PR stunt, it was pretty poorly done. Send the picture to Essence next time, Brad.
I expect that his involvement with causes will go back to bare minimum, like it was before Jolie (yes, I believe all what he did was a faze for him, a way to impress her, then it became too much work, too much money). My guess is, he’ll be participating in some telethons from now on, tape a 30 sec message, and be done with it. Ah, well…
Props to anyone out protesting.
But do we know what’s going on with his children? Does Angelina have primary custody? Are his interactions still supervised?
There was a report that he threw a birthday party for Shiloh and all of her siblings attended. That’s all I heard.
From British tabloids.
Why is he facing the opposite direction of all other protesters in that photo? Is he posing for it?
Of course he is posing what a loser👎🏽👎🏽👎🏽
performative protesting its all the rage in Hollywood!!
You know this!
You mean this Brad Pitt? https://twitter.com/dancingofpens/status/1084590611204894722?s=21
Yeah I don’t think he needs to prove his ally credentials with a photo stunt.
Also, ET had a shot last week of him marching in the protest.
No, there is no picture of him marching, it was also him on the bike.
He doesn’t need to, but he did, which makes it even more pathetic.
And him producing those movies doesn’t make up for what he pulled in New Orleans.
I am sure those African American families in New Orleans whose houses were shoddily built would love him to visit. (Sarcasm.) Before I take him seriously about anything he needs to take a smidgin of his fortune to fix their homes or buy them new ones.
NOLA, builds it with massive amounts of publicity, denying responsibility when the failures are disclosed.
You know what’s great about those films Pitt co-produced is they aren’t the kind of movies where a white savior is the prominent character in a black story. I just saw a video on Twitter that called out Hidden Figures (Kevin Costner’s character was entirely fictional), Glory, Green Book, and more.
First, my mind is hazy but didn’t Brad’s production company produce Moonlight, and he’s built homes (although it backfired) for the victims of Katrina, and knows about Carol’s Daughter. If he’s performative, his performance goes back years. I think he’s gathered a little wokeness. I’m not an apologist for him, and am team Angie, and he’s leaning into his golden boyimage, but I don’t think he is an enemy of Black Lives Matter.
Puhleeze.
On one hand white men get praised so much for not really doing that much if they say or do something decent (cough Daniel Radcliffe) buuut I’m not a gatekeeper who decides who and how people choose to protest. Good for him for showing support. The Mitt Romney thing bugs me mainly because the Morman church is so ridiculously racist! I know they are trying to be more open to non whites now since membership is dropping but as far as I know Mitt has never addressed the blatant white supremacy his church supported and enforced for decades. And by church I mean cult.
Pitt may or may not have done all that the witness-photographer claims. She made her buck, and The Daily Mail is not known for verifying reports, so I’ll treat this episode with the grain of salt it deserves.
I’m with you .. the DM is trash or gospel depending what story is being shilled.
I don’t have a high opinion of Pitt, but his PR team is above this.
How sad he used this as a photo op and PR opportunity.
I think he’s been a mess in many other ways, but if he’s out there protesting, good for him.
I find it a little odd he did it on a motorcycle, but whatever. I hope he is donating a lot of money as well.
The article says he took his mask off, that’s when the other person noticed his smile. Keep your mask on, dude.
I can’t with Pitt. Get the f**k off the bike and walk like everyone else. No one will bother you. People aren’t star struck by you. He is too much and selling pictures to DM with this PR written story stinks to high heaven.
He has a black daughter who doesn’t wan to be around him. Ask that question to him and he’ll answer like he did with his other brown child.
Plus his GF using the N word doesn’t help his look either.
I think Pitt’s an evil toxic douche, but no I don’t think anyone really doubts that he probably does genuinely believe in what he’s marching for, at least I hope so. The problem with Brad as always IMO, as stated above is that he was allegedly with Alia Shawkat and her friend Aree Kodai, she took the pic and it’s her that’s quoted in the daily fail apparently? One of them then obviously sold it to the daily fail, so it wasn’t a random bystander, that’s a bit odd and performative, staged and well screams PR.
Not forgetting the video ET allegedly had of him and Alia Shawkat marching side by side and or holding hands ( I didn’t see it myself) . A video that was apparently taken down very quickly once her old video surfaced and she issued an apology. When you put all those things together, even when you think Brad is a true ally or trying to be one ( the poor black people he screwed over in New Orleans aside) it does scream like PR to some extent unfortunately. But as stated I dislike Pitt a lot, so maybe I’m being unfair? I do think he is genuine to some extent when it comes to trying to be a true ally, at least i hope so, but he just can’t help himself, his image must come first always and I can’t with him. I must say I find it super gross that he’s obviously in deep with the tabloids, nothing good can come from dealing with the likes of the daily fail, page 6, tmz and the sun.
You guys are going from site to site claiming the woman knows Brad and it was staged. What is your proof. You stans make up lies then go around the internet spreading them and then accuse Pitt of PR. Very strange.
Pot calling the kettle black
His PR team and lawyers did it for four years straight to clean up his image so……but the story is true about the pic bye
Lots of lies about the video, I saw it, there was no holding hands and not marching in protest. They were just walking on a sidewalk in a park near the protest area because some people looks like they have protest banners. Brad had his helmet in one hand and swaying his other hand and carrying a bag and his face fully covered. You can tell its him because he wears his usual get up, short sleeve short over long sleeve shirt and jeans. He and Alia were walking side by side but nothing touchy feely nor romantic at all. It seems Brad just arrived and Alia is leading him on to where they are going to. There were not lots of people in the area and there are 2 other people following them from behind, but not sure if they are with them. But it seems that on that day, which was a weds, Spike Jonze also attended the same protest, so its possible that they are all together on that day.
As to the woman who took Brad’s photo in the sunday protest, I dont know where the rumor about her being friends with Brad and Alia came. from her IG, it doesnt seem so, and Alia does not follow her either, nor she is into yoga or wellness stuff. Its possible that Brad is, and the photo could well be staged, but who cares, the thing is, Brad did go to that protest and im sure he has sympathy for black people, his daughter is Black, and he has lots of black friends.
He really is pathetic at this point.
Angie and jen donated a bunch of money to help the cause and he is riding around on a motorcycle.
Wow,what a guy.
Didn’t I read somewhere Zahara doesn’t want to see him?
Can’t imagine why.
He is such a poser.
What nonsense. He could have easily concealed his identity in the crowd, if he had really wanted to. I protest with a mask, hat, and sunglasses on and my own mother wouldn’t be able to clock me. Performative BS. Surely he could use his considerable platform and resources to contribute to the cause in ways that most protesters WISH they could.
What I get from this was that he was being an asshole riding around his bike with people and kids close by. It looks unsafe and just rude.
What an ASS….he just keep falling in my books ……
thousands of people marching plus….
one ASS on a bike
How come she was the only one to see him with so many people there
Brad’s films with Plan B got more diverse when he was with Angelina Jolie – not when he was with Aniston. Sadly he did work with Harvey with one of his films he won an Oscar with. Angelina refused to work with Harvey.
I have no idea why someone would take a photo of Brad Pitt at BLM protest and sell it the the racist newspaper the Daily Mail – utterly stupid.
I think it was very thoughtful what brad did, his record with his openess of equality needs no explanation, it speaks for itself, he is very fair, and respectful, respected in Hollywood and the black community, he showed oneness, i couldn’t protest, i am an African American, but he did. Bravo, some people criticize everything .
lol I just made a comment about this in another post. The person who sold the picture+gave response seems like a PAID PR PERSON!
“He seemed into it and seemed inspired, it was so beautiful of him to be there.”
I mean of all the people there this women got his picture+saw him smiling through his bandana?!!That sounds like a super brad fan trying to make him a saint for riding around protests!! If anything its more likely he’s passing through the crowd to get to somewhere.
The guy is in deep s### after swindling poor black civilians and selling them faulty houses so this is clearly PR