Celebrities are outraged and heartbroken over the deadly police shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile
AP Images
Many celebrities have taken to social media to express their grief and outrage over the police shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile within a 24-hour period.
Sterling, a 37-year-old black man from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was shot and killed on Tuesday by police officers who were responding to a call that Sterling was threatening people with a gun outside the convenience store where he sold CDs.
Castile, 32, died in a hospital after a Falcon Heights, Minnesota, police officer shot him during a routine traffic stop, while his girlfriend streamed the aftermath of the incident on Facebook Live.
As graphic videos of both incidents spread across social media, celebrities reacted to the incidents with condolences and calls for action.
Kanye West, Katy Perry, and Drake were among the first who reacted to the death of Alton Sterling on Tuesday. Some, like West, shared videos of the shooting, while Drake and others took to Instagram and Twitter to voice their anguish.
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/750850397187608576
Alton Sterling https://t.co/60yQnwT2T4
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/750778572889993217
You can't just go on with your day, you must watch this & we must face this continual outrageousness #ALTONSTERLING https://t.co/NqW3aVSZ1j
http://instagram.com/p/BHim8QWjFTx/embed/
Width: 658px
http://instagram.com/p/BHiPmIfjQlz/embed/
Width: 658px
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/750761267330052096
HAS. TO. STOP. Devastating. https://t.co/C9Q0YePRMr
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/750569650077982721
Love to Louisiana #AltonSterling
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/750705238521188352
1) In the interest of time, would ye noble patriots please provide a list of infractions punishable by spontaneous public execution? Thanks!
Then, following the death of Philando Castile on Wednesday, celebrities like John Legend, Chance the Rapper, and Questlove took to social media to address both tragic shootings.
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/750946379401355264
We should not have to jump through hoops to prove black people shouldn't be shot by police during routine traffic stops.
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/750947230622769153
So many people work so hard to find a reason why executing a human being during a routine traffic stop is ok. IT'S NOT OK
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/751062284022063104
These guys murdered this man with his 4 year old daughter in the backseat? Is there any situation where police get arrested? Or convicted?
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/751078244540157952
.@NRA we know that NOONE fights so hard for "the right to legally bear arms" more than you do. That said... #PhilandoCastile? Anyone?
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/750923850213236736
There are so many broken, backwards issues at play here it's numbing to digest. #PhilandoCastile #AltonSterling #blacklivesmatter
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/750916362785042432
Another day, another hashtag. You didn't deserve this, brother. You didn't deserve this. #PhilandoCastile
http://instagram.com/p/BHjIDxqAkTa/embed/
Width: 658px
In response to both shootings, Beyoncé revamped her website on Thursday to include a written post that laments the deaths of Sterling and Castile while calling for judicial and legislative action on the issue of police-related gun deaths.
"We all have the power to channel our anger and frustration into action. We must use our voices to contact the politicians and legislators in our districts and demand social and judicial changes," Beyoncé writes in the post, which includes links to "voice protest" toward your local Congressmen or women.
You can read Beyoncé's entire post on her website.
NOW WATCH: Tom Hanks tries to land a plane on the Hudson River in the trailer for 'Sully'