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TV Guide Will Participate in Blackout Tuesday: What That Means and How We'll Observe #TheShowMustBePaused

Black lives matter

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TV Guide Editors

TV Guide, which is owned by the ViacomCBS corporation, will be participating in Blackout Tuesday.

Music executives Jamila Thomas and Brianna Agyemang spearheaded the initiative using the hashtag #TheShowMustBePaused, which initially began as a call for music industry brands to shut down on Tuesday, June 2 in solidarity with the worldwide protests against police brutality following the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and more Black citizens.

"#TheShowMustBePaused is an initiative created by two Black women in music in observance of the long-standing racism and inequality that exists from the boardroom to the boulevard. We will not continue to conduct business as usual without regard for Black lives," reads a statement on the The Show Must Be Paused website. The website points out that the music industry has made billions of dollars from black art, and calls on businesses to "protect and empower the Black communities that have made them disproportionately wealthy in ways that are measurable and transparent." 

The group announced it will release an action plan, beginning with Blackout Tuesday, a day to pause business as usual and "to disconnect from work and reconnect with our community," the statement reads. "To our Black friends and family: please take the time for you and your mental health. To our allies, the time is now to have difficult conversations with family, friends, and colleagues."

Several music industry heavy-hitters including Quincy Jones Productions, Def Jam Recordings, Interscope, Sony Music, Columbia Records, and more are expected to participate, per CNN. TV Guide will join these businesses in solidarity with #TheShowMustBePaused and the Black Lives Matter movement. On Tuesday, June 2, TV Guide will only promote stories that amplify Black voices or tie to the cause of bringing equality to Black Americans across the country.

You can text DEMANDS to 55156 to sign Color of Change's petition to reform policing, and visit blacklivesmatter.carrd.co for more ways to donate, sign petitions, and protest safely. You can also check out BET, a fellow ViacomCBS company covering the protests and growing unrest in the country.

To our Black readers, colleagues, and community members, we see you and we stand with you. Black lives matter.