The Paramount Network has canceled the long-running alternative series “Cops,” the latest fallout of the protests against police brutality following the in-custody death of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis officer.
“Cops’ is not on the Paramount Network and we don’t have any current or future plans for it to return,” a spokeswoman for the network said Tuesday.
The video verite series had been scheduled to begin its 33rd season Monday, but no episodes had aired on Paramount Network since at least June 1, according to the entertainment trade publication The Hollywood Reporter.
“#COPS has officially been CANCELLED off @paramountnet after our conversation with them this week and after millions of our members raised their voices to say stop #NormalizingInjustice!” tweeted Arisha Michelle, the vice president of and chief of campaigns of Color of Change.
“Crime TV plays a significant role in advancing distorted representations of crime, justice, race & gender within culture & #Cops led the way, pushing troubling implications for generations of viewers.”
Color of Change bills itself as the nation’s largest online racial justice organization. It began a campaign in 2013 urging Fox not to renew the series and called on advertisers to withdraw support.
“Cops” received a four-episode order from Fox in 1988 and debuted on March 11, 1989. It ran on Fox until 2013 and was picked up later that year by Spike, which was rebranded as Paramount Network in 2018.