Billy Porter adds to celebs voices calling for New York to defund the police

Broadway star (and red-carpet-guru) Billy Porter was joined by actors Mark Ruffalo, Tituss Burgess, John Leguizamo, Fisher Stevens, Kathy Najimy, Tony-nominated Broadway star Brandon Victor Dixon, Aida director Schele Williams, and other activists and performers to add their voices to the call for New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, Speaker Corey Johnson and New York City Council to defund the New York Police Department this year by at least $1 billion and redirect those funds to Black, Latinx and other communities of colour that have been affected by the pandemic and police violence.“Answer the call of the hundreds of thousands of protesters and millions of New Yorkers, invest in our city’s youth and communities of colour,” the actors say in narration that was recorded in isolation from their homes.

.@theebillyporter @JohnLeguizamo @MarkRuffalo & some of NY’s most-loved actors send a powerful message to @NYCMayor & @NYCSpeakerCoJo in support of our #NYCBudgetJustice campaign to #DefundNYPD by at least $1billion in FY21 & redirect $$ to our communities https://t.co/7n29Zb1GcT pic.twitter.com/UXMC779l2n

— CPR #NYCBudgetJustice - Change the NYPD (@changethenypd) June 18, 2020

[video_embed id='1974547']RELATED: Where money from defunding the police could be allocated[/video_embed]The video continues, “Let’s demilitarize the police force. Our communities are not war zones. Stop the direct transfer of military weapons to police departments. Take the military grade sound cannons, humvees, and the machinery of war out of our neighbourhoods. And give us the resources that we need to rebuild and thrive. Let our city lead the way.”“We are asking you to prioritize education, healthcare and social services in this years’ city budget... Let it be our city that leads the way.”Spearheaded by Communities United for Police Reform, which is a collaboration between several grassroots organizations, the video was posted to their official Change The NYPD twitter account and website of the same name. The video asks viewers to click on a link to share the video amongst their networks, and also provides potential scripts for emails to New York government officials.This celeb-video-collab has a starkly different feel from previous iterations – earlier this year Gal Gadot gathered all of her celebrity friends to film a cringeworthy cover of John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ that landed with a big thud amongst viewers. Most recently, a bunch of white celebs vowed to “take responsibility” for micro and macro aggressions against Black performers in a viral-collab that had many people rolling their eyes. However this Change the NYPD video asks for concrete solutions to complex problems and invites viewers to get involved and provides links in an effect to encourage engagement and involvement.Billy Porter is of course no stranger to political activism and his passion as he speaks in the video shows he’s not here for empty mantras or silly sing-a-longs. Mark Ruffalo has also been vocal in the past about racism in Hollywood and has often used his official Twitter to wade into the political sphere.[video_embed id='1979612']BEFORE YOU GO: Jagmeet Singh removed from House of Commons after calling Bloc MP a racist[/video_embed]