'Insecure' Star Kendrick Sampson Speaks After Being Hit With Rubber Bullets

By Hayden Brooks

June 1, 2020

Insecure star Kendrick Sampson has spoken out after being hit with rubber bullets and batons by LAPD during a protest in wake of George Floyd's killing.

In case you didn't hear, Sampson was out on the streets of Los Angeles with his organization, BLD PWR, alongside Black Lives Matter LA on Saturday (May 30) when police fired rubber bullets at him and other protesters. The incident was captured on Instagram Live and even put on broadcast by CNN. "My non-profit initiative BLD PWR and I, in collaboration with Black Lives Matter LA, organized a peaceful demonstration, protesting the brutal killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Kenneth Ross, Jr. and 600+ others killed by police in LA County. [The protest] had two demands 1) Defund Police and 2) Prosecute Killer Cops," Sampson said in a statement to ET on Sunday. "I am safe this morning, but the liberation continues tomorrow and beyond. Defund Police."

Sampson also took to Twitter to address the incident and viral footage. "Glad y’all witnessed this. Esp the video of them actually targeting us. He didn’t try to ricochet the bullets of the ground - one tactic - he pointed the gun DIRECTLY AT ME. I actually got hit 7 times with rubber bullets and many with batons. My boy has stitches. #DEFUNDPOLICE," he wrote.

"Appreciate the outpouring of support & standing with us but if y’all really want to support, make sure we do EVERYTHING in our POWER to #DEFUNDPOLICE - END THE LEGACY OF SLAVE CATCHING and use those resources, OUR RESOURCES to build BETTER. Make THAT the headlines. Put in WORK," he added.

Appreciate the outpouring of support & standing with us but if y’all really want to support, make sure we do EVERYTHING in our POWER to #DEFUNDPOLICE - END THE LEGACY OF SLAVE CATCHING and use those resources, OUR RESOURCES to build BETTER. Make THAT the headlines. Put in WORK.
— Kendrick Sampson (@kendrick38) May 31, 2020

View this post on Instagram

This is the clearest video I could find! You can see on my IG live they started beating my assistant, Mario (who showed up to stand with me - after I told him to go home ✊🏽) in the white shirt to my right. Then in this video, look closely, you can see them shoot him by ricocheting a rubber bullet off the ground then you can see me, process that shit, step in front of him and you can see several of them hit me multiple times with batons, then an officer aims straight at me, no ricochet, and shoots. And hits. That was one of 7 shots I took. They are excruciating. And they CAN kill. Go to my twitter, or my IG lives I have saved to my feed - you can see them beating, agitating and brutalizing several unarmed protesters after they started the aggression. Then you can see WOMEN, non-Black true ACCOMPLICES in the struggle- not allies - step in front to try to protect and deescalate. ✊🏽Unfortunately, they beat them with batons too. @mattmcgorry got hit. @jenniferlepps from @cpdaction got hit! THIS IS WHAT THEY DO. They were DESIGNED and FOUNDED for this. @ericgarcetti you are a TRASH ASS MAYOR for encouraging this in your city and unwaveringly standing with them. #DEFUNDPOLICE #ProsecuteKillerCops #ProsecuteKillerKKKops

A post shared by Kendrick Sampson (@kendrick38) on May 30, 2020 at 11:41pm PDT

Photo: Getty Images