Terry Crews: 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ Scraps Episodes After Police Brutality Protests

LOADING ERROR LOADING As mass demonstrations against police violence and institutional racism continue, an NYPD-based sitcom following the hijinks of a diverse group of bumbling but well-meaning cops just hits differently. So NBC’s “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” is going back to the drawing board for its next season as television continues to reckon with its history of glorifying police officers and their tactics, a practice many have dubbed “copaganda.” The sitcom — which has been on the air since 2013 and ended its seventh season in April — apparently had “four episodes all ready to go, and they just threw them in the trash,” series star Terry Crews said. “We have an opportunity here, and we plan to use it in the best way possible.” The actor also spoke candidly about his own interactions with the police and reflected on the recent reckoning for racial justice, which he described as “Black America’s Me Too movement.” “You’ve seen me in movies or whatever, but before all this, I was always a threat. We always knew this was happening, but now white people are understanding.” The typically lighthearted sitcom, which also stars Andy Samberg and Andre Braugher, has intermittently addressed racism and the realities of policing, most notably in the 2017 episode “Moo Moo,” in which Crews’ character is harassed by a white police officer during a stop and frisk. “I’m really disappointed in how many of y’all are so uncritical of seeing Brooklyn Nine-Nine for what it is: an interracial police buddy comedy meant to make white & Black cops seem like your friendly neighborhood jokesters,” he wrote at the time.