NLE Choppa Leads Protest for Tyre Nichols Death – Watch
NLE Choppa led a protest in his hometown of Memphis in response to the tragic death of Tyre Nichols at the hands of five former police officers.
On Saturday (Jan. 28), NLE Choppa hopped on his Twitter account and shared a video announcing a location in Memphis for his peaceful march. "Today, I felt it on my heart to turn a negative situation into a positive," the 2020 XXL Freshman said in a video he tweeted. "I actually went to sleep dwelling on how I could wake up today and do that."
"So, I came up with a hashtag, #SkateForTyre," he continued. "I came up with a location where I want everyone in Memphis that wants to be a part to meet me at for a peaceful march, a peaceful walk, and a peaceful skate through the streets."
For those who may not know, Tyre Nichols was an avid skateboarder. Last week, attorney Ben Crump, who is representing Tyre Nichols' family, shared a video on his Twitter account of Nichols skateboarding in the sun.
In his video announcement on Saturday, NLE Choppa encouraged everyone to bring their own kind of wheels: skateboards, roller skates and wheelies.
"I just want to skate for Tyre and respect to him and know that’s how he would’ve wanted everybody to act," he said.
Hours later, Choppa posted on his Twitter account a video featuring himself and a gathering of people walking and skating in honor of Tyre Nichols. The 20-year-old rapper and the protesters can be heard chanting, "No justice, no peace, we're gonna skate for Tyree" and "Skate for Tyree."
In another segment, Choppa thanked the people for coming out and joining his peaceful march in remembrance of Nichols. "We are standing for something and we are not falling for nothing," he told the crowd.
As previously reported, Tyre Nichols was brutally beaten by five Memphis police officers on Jan. 7. Last Friday (Jan. 27), four videos that captured the assault were released to the public. One video contained the violent moments of the five officers, who are all Black, chasing and pummeling Nichols and leaving him on the ground propped against a squad car without providing him with medical aid. Nichols died from his injuries three days after the attack at St. Francis Hospital.
The five fired Memphis police officers—Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr., Emmitt Martin III and Justin Smith—were charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression.
Upon the release of the videos, several hip-hop artists expressed their outrage on social media and demanded justice for Tyre Nichols and his family.