On Friday morning Janelle Monàe played The Today Show with some of her Wondaland labelmates (including Jidenna, who performed "Classic Man"). As she finished a performance of her collective's newest protest song "Hell You Talmbout," she delivered a rousing speech against police brutality and urged Americans of all stripes to listen and take action. But you'll never hear it in full, because The Today Show cut away and had one of their anchors talk over the speech's tail end.
The audible portion of her message follows:
“Yes Lord! God bless America! God bless all the lost lives to police brutality. We want white America to know that we stand tall today. We want black America to know we stand tall today. We will not be silenced...”
Then, she was silenced. Just in case there was any mistaking their motives, you won't find footage of the performance on The Today Show's website. It seems as though the program loves song and dance, so long as there's no uncomfortable message behind it.
