Jess Glynne has been forced to defend herself, after she sparked controversy while commenting on the police shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile.
Sterling - a 37-year-old black man - was held down and shot by officers outside a convenience store in Louisiana on 5 July, while Castile was shot dead by police during a routine traffic stop in Minnesota on 6 July.
The shooting marked the 114th and 115th time a black person had been shot and killed by US police in 2016 (via The Washington Post).
In the aftermath, people have been tweeting their support to the Black Lives Matter movement, but Jess upset a number of her followers when she discussed the matter on the social networking site, using the hashtag #AllLivesMatter.
The ‘Don’t Be So Hard On Yourself’ singer wrote:
Her comments attracted much criticism:
After reading the angry responses to her tweets, Jess tried to clarify her comments, using the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag:
Rapper Drake is just one star to speak out about Sterling’s shooting, after he penned a powerful open letter, admitting he was “disheartened, emotional, and truly scared” by his death.
“It’s impossible to ignore that the relationship between Black and brown communities and law enforcement remains as strained as it was decades ago,” he wrote.
“No one begins their life as a hashtag. Yet the trend of being reduced to one continues.”
