Former 'Saturday Night Live' star Jay Pharoah shares a footage of cop kneeling on his neck
'SNL' star Jay Pharoah
Former 'Saturday Night Live' star Jay Pharoah revealed that he himself gone through the same police brutality like George Floyd. By sharing a video surveillance footage of the encounter which shows how a police officer kneeled on his neck in a case of mistaken identity.
In a 4-minute video, Pharoah shared on his Instagram account says he was out exercising in Los Angeles months ago when he was approached by a police officer who ordered him to get on the ground.
"As I'm walking across the street, Corbin and Ventura, I see an officer to the left of me. I'm not thinking anything of it, because I'm a law-abiding citizen," Pharoah narrates over the footage.
As later on, Pharoah told them to Google his name as to prove that they were arresting the wrong man. As the officers apologized to him.
"They put me in cuffs, the officer took his knee, put it on my neck. It wasn't as long as George Floyd, but I know how that feels. I said, 'why are you doing this? What's wrong?' They said, 'you fit the description of a black man in this area with grey sweatpants on and a grey shirt.' I told them, 'Google right now Jay Pharoah, you will see you made a big mistake.''
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"I had never been in cuffs before up until that point," Pharoah says, adding that it was the first time he had ever experienced "first-hand racism in America."
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As by comparing the brutality to that of George Floyd, Pharoah said he knows "how that feels."
George Floyd died on May 25 after police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for over eight minutes despite the 46-year-old pleading him to let him go. The video of the arrest went viral which sparked protests and riots in Minneapolis and other cities across the United States.