As ESPN went to commercial, commentator Jalen Rose urged, ‘Arrest the cops that murdered Breonna Taylor’
ESPN analyst Jalen Rose joined a growing list of celebrities, politicians and athletes weighing in amid national frustration and anger that none of the three officers involved in Breonna Taylor’s death were charged with her killing.
“It’d also be a great day to arrest the cops that murdered Breonna Taylor,” the former NBA star said Wednesday right before an ESPN commercial break during Game 4 of the NBA’s Eastern Conference Finals.
Taylor was shot to death in March when officers in Louisville, Kentucky, broke down her apartment door while executing a search warrant. A grand jury on Wednesday opted to indict one officer on first-degree wanton endangerment charges, which do not aim to hold him responsible for Taylor’s death.
During ESPN’s pregame show, Rose had said he wanted people to know that Black people are hurting.
“When Kyle Rittenhouse, in Milwaukee as a 17-year-old, kills two people, yet three cops aren’t directly charged with killing Breonna Taylor … it shows you how they feel about Black lives in America,” he said, referring to the teen accused in a shooting during unrest in Wisconsin over the police shooting of Jacob Blake.
“So, we are starting a game … It’s 400 years of slavery to 0,” Rose said during the pregame show. “We know we not (going to) win, but you still gotta continue to move the ball forward and put people behind you in a position to be successful, and that’s what we’re here to do today.
“That’s what the NBA players are doing today, and that’s why I applaud them because while they’re out, they’re preforming with heavy hearts trying to win a championship. I understand that this is really painful, to show up to work and still try to entertain.”
CNN has reached out to Rose. ESPN declined to comment.
Protests sparked across the country Wednesday evening as people expressed disappointment in the grand jury’s decision in the Taylor case.
Rose played in the NBA for 13 years, first drafted in 1994 by the Denver Nuggets. He’s since appeared as an on-air personality for BET, Fox Sports and now ESPN.
