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5th July 2016
11:17pm BST
The actor delivered an emotional talk in which he recounted all the innocent people killed by police brutality in the US, and the motivation for the conception of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Despite praise from people around the globe for his bravery and eloquence, a petition is circulating asking for the actor to be removed from Grey's Anatomy.
The petition, started by Erin Smith in the US is said to be petitioning ABC to remove the Jesse from the hit medical drama on the basis of 'reverse racism'.
The motivation for the petition was revealed by creator Erin Smith, who in a message on the website declares her distaste for Jesse's BET Awards speech.
"Jesse Williams spewed a racist, hate speech against law enforcement and white people at the BET awards. "If this was a white person making the same speech about an African American, they would have been fired and globally chastised, as they should be, but there has been no consequences to Williams' actions. "There's been no companies making a stand against his racist remarks and no swift action condemning his negative attitude. "Why was Burke's character fired from Grey's Anatomy after his inappropriate homophobic slur, but nothing for Jesse Williams? Why the one-way street? Why the support for a hater? Why the hypocrisy? #AllLivesMatter All humans bleed the same color. #EqualConsequences4RacistBehavior"The petition at the time of writing has 11,317 signatures with 15,000 needed before presentation to ABC. Jesse Williams has not acknowledged the petition however Grey's Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes commented on the matter.
Um, people? Boo don't need a petition. #shondalandrules
— shonda rhimes (@shondarhimes) July 5, 2016
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