Little Mix, Calvin Harris and Mabel show support for Black Live Matter

Many artists from across the world have come out in support of Black Lives Matter, following the death of George Floyd. George was a 46-year-old black man, who was killed after being apprehended by a white policeman in Minneapolis. A video of the policeman with his knee on George's neck has been widely circulated.

Many big names in the world of music have been sharing their messages of support for Black Lives Matter, as well as taking part in Blackout Tuesday, which saw many post black squares as they refrained from posting anything on social media on Tuesday 2nd June 2020.

Little Mix and the girls' individual Instagram accounts all shared a black square on Tuesday, with the Little Mix account also including the caption #blackouttuesday.

JLS' Aston Merrygold posted a statement from the band saying, 'Music has a way of uniting people from all backgrounds, colours, creeds, cultures & races.'

It went on to read, ‘Our range of black heritage is for the world to embrace. Without our world-wide community, the world is incomplete.’ Read the full statement below.

Singer Usher has also been very active posting a lot on his social accounts about Black Lives Matter, including a photo of the American flag upside down saying, 'The flag is hung upside down when a nation is in distress and in the case of emergency or problem. You/Me/We have a voice ... Let’s continue to use it together. #Wethepeople✊🏿✊🏽✊🏾✊🏻✊ #NojusticeNopeace #Blacklivesmatter'.

Calvin Harris shared a simple black square on Instagram with no caption along with many other singers and DJs, including Mabel, Celeste, Jess Glynne, James Hype, and Olly Murs. Joel Corry also posted a message on Monday night saying he was joining Blackout Tuesday.

In the week since George Floyd died, many singers have also taken to social media to voice their support for Black Lives Matter, but also calling for calm as violence erupted in a number of American cities.

'Rain On Me' singer Lady Gaga posted a long statement shared on Twitter, 'I have a lot of things to say about this, but the first thing I want to say is I’m afraid to say anything that will incite further anger, although that is precisely the emotion that’s justified.'

The 'Chromatica' singer continued, 'I do not wish to contribute to more violence, I wish to contribute to a solution. I am outraged by the death of George Floyd as I have been by the deaths of exponentially too many black lives over hundreds of years that have been taken from us in this country as a result of systemic racism and the corrupt system that supports it,' this comes admit mounting violence in a number of American cities.'

Since the incident happened last week, P!NK has also been reposting a number of thought-provoking posts including one from actress Ellen Pompeo saying, 'We stand against racism. We stand for inclusion. We stand for our fellow Black employees, storytellers, creators and the entire Black community. We must unite and speak out.'

Meanwhile, One Direction's Niall Horan has tweeted, 'THUGS ?? these people are protesting against the fact that one of YOUR animalistic white policemen kneeled on George’s windpipe and forced him to stop breathing and killed him?? THUGS???? Are you listening to yourself?'

And 'Someone You Loved' singer Lewis Capaldi showed support by sharing a link to the petitions, and asking his fans to donate money if they're able to.

Taylor Swift has also received more than two million likes to her tweet which read, 'After stoking the fires of white supremacy and racism your entire presidency, you have the nerve to feign moral superiority before threatening violence? ‘When the looting starts the shooting starts’??? We will vote you out in November.'

Bond singer Billie Eilish also took to Instagram saying, 'If I hear one more white person say 'All Lives Matter' one more f--king time, I'm going to lose my f--king mind. You are privileged whether you like it or not. Society gives you privilege just for being white.'

Beyoncé has also been vocal in supporting Black Lives Matter sharing a video on Instagram in which she said, "We need justice for George Floyd. We all witnessed his murder in broad daylight. We’re broken and we’re disgusted. We cannot normalise this pain, I’m not only speaking to people of colour; if you’re white, black, brown or anything in-between, I’m sure you feel hopeless by the racism going on in America right now. No more senseless killing of human beings, no more seeing people of colour as less than human. We can no longer look away. George is all of our family in humanity. He’s our family because he’s a fellow American."

And Barbadian singer Rihanna has shared a heartfelt message along with a photo of George Floyd saying, 'For the last few days, the magnitude of devastation, anger, sadness I’ve felt has been overwhelming to say the least! Watching my people get murdered and lynched day after day pushed me to a heavy place in my heart! To the point of staying away from socials, just to avoid hearing the blood curdling agony in George Floyd’s voice again, begging over and over for his life!!!'

She continued, 'The look of enticement, the pure joy and climax on the face of this bigot, murderer, thug, pig, bum, Derek Chauvin, haunts me!! I can’t shake this! I can’t get over an ambulance pulling up to an arrest, a paramedic checking a pulse without removing the very thing that’s hindering it! Is this that f--king normal??? If intentional MURDER is the fit consequence for “drugs” or “resisting arrest”....then what’s the fit consequence for MURDER???! #GeorgeFloyd #AhmaudArbery #BreonnaTaylor'.

On Tuesday 9th June, George Floyd's funeral was held in his hometown of Houston, where it was attended by hundreds of friends, family, civil rights activities and many others, including 'Let Me Love You' singer Ne-Yo.

Ne-Yo took to the stage to give a tearful performance and later shared a message on Instagram which read, 'Thanx to the family of George Floyd for allowing me to be a part of celebrating his life and saying our final goodbye.' (sic)

• Black Lives Matter