After nearly 33 seasons and almost thirty years on the air, the long-running reality series, "Cops" has been canceled by the Paramount Network amid protests against police brutality following the in-custody death of George Floyd at the hands of a former Minneapolis police 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 show was scheduled to debut its 33rd season beginning Monday, but the network hadn't aired any episodes of the video verite series since at least June 1, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
The vice president and chief of campaigns for Color of Change, tweeted the news on Tuesday, claiming victory against "#NormalizingInjustice."
"#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.''
The show initially debuted on March 9, 1989 on the fledgling Fox network with a four-episode order. The show, and its iconic theme by the Jamaican reggae band Inner Circle, became incredibly popular as TV crews rode-along with cops from departments across the country. It ran on Fox until 2013, where it was later picked up by the Spike cable network (which itself was later rebranded as the Paramount Network in 2018).
Critics say 'copaganda' shows like "Cops" and the incredibly popular A&E Series "Live PD" offer a highly filtered, edited version of law enforcement and the criminal justice system, creating a "reality" where police are treated as infallible heroes who always catch the crooks.
Color of Change says the network and the show's producers built a profit model around "distorted and dehumanizing portrayals of black Americans and the criminal justice system."
The producers of "Live PD" say their show will continue, with host Dan Abrams writing on Twitter that, "To all of you asking whether #LivePD coming back. . .The answer is yes. All of us associated with the show are as committed to it as ever. We are still discussing some specifics but I want to assure the #LivePDNation that we are not abandoning you."
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