Texas Pool Party Bust: Shonda Rhimes, Katy Perry Sound Off After Cop Pulls Gun on Teens

Many in Hollywood took to Twitter over the weekend to express their opinions about the police bust of a pool party in McKinney, Texas, a suburb of Dallas.

High-profile industry figures from Shonda Rhimes to Katy Perry weighed in on a video that was posted online showing a police officer pushing a 14-year-old girl in a swimsuit to the ground and pointing his gun at other teens. The officer has since been placed on administrative leave.

McKinney Police Chief Greg Conley said at a news conference Sunday that the incident began when officers responded Friday night to a report of a disturbance involving a group of black youths at a neighborhood pool party. The police department said the youths don’t live in the area and did not have permission to be at the pool.

When officers arrived, residents and private security pointed out the juveniles, who were “creating the disturbance, fighting and refusing to leave,” Conley said. As officers dispersed the crowd, the 14-year-old girl was “temporarily detained” by an officer, said Conley, who did not describe what led to her detainment.

The video shows the apparently white officer pulling the bikini-clad black girl to the ground then seemingly using his knees to pin her to the ground. He can also be seen pointing his gun at other teens and cursing.

Conley did not identify the police officer or the girl seen in the video, or comment on the officer’s race or that of the young people involved. McKinney is an affluent, predominantly white neighborhood. Most of the kids seen in the video are black.

Incidents involving white law enforcement and black suspects have raised concerns across the U.S., in particular since last August when a white police officer fatally shot a black 18-year-old in Ferguson, Mo., fueling sometimes violent protests and a nationwide “Black Lives Matter” movement.

Here’s what Hollywood had to say about the McKinney incident:

This vid raises SO many questions about…everything right now. https://t.co/x1U5cLtmMw Q1: How hard is it to TO NOT ASSAULT A CHILD?

— shonda rhimes (@shondarhimes) June 8, 2015

Q2: When will a group of kids of color together stop being seen as a gang/ mob and start being seen as AMERICANS. #TakeYourHandsOffOurKids

— shonda rhimes (@shondarhimes) June 8, 2015

Q3:My kids didn’t wanna get out of pool today. ANYONE think best way 2 handle is grab ’em by throat, slam em to ground & cuff ’em? Hell no.

— shonda rhimes (@shondarhimes) June 8, 2015

Q4: There are GREAT cops out there. Who also do not want to work in a world with racially biased/racist violent cops. How do we help them?

— shonda rhimes (@shondarhimes) June 8, 2015

Q5: And how do we make this stop? What are concrete organized ways to affect change? How to end assaults/murders of our kids?

— shonda rhimes (@shondarhimes) June 8, 2015

I’m not role modeling here. I’m actually ASKING what you all out there are doing.I’m interested to hear/ learn more and tweeples know a lot.

— shonda rhimes (@shondarhimes) June 8, 2015

In what world are both of these accepted? Ours. #McKinney pic.twitter.com/kXAQ5jVoPt

— Ava DuVernay (@AVAETC) June 7, 2015

IS ANYONE ELSE DISGUSTED YET?! WAKE UP AMERICA: http://t.co/WGSGpZZG30

— KATY PERRY (@katyperry) June 7, 2015

In Hollywood the cops are alot cooler with Pool partys.

— Horatio Sanz (@MrHoratioSanz) June 8, 2015

Is seeing the #McKinney pool party a turning point for the public eye? There’s a deep sorrow and rage percolating. I am… floored.

— Penn Badgley (@PennBadgley) June 8, 2015

Oh, #McKinney, I don’t like what I’m reading. I don’t like what I’m seeing. For shame.

— julieplec (@julieplec) June 8, 2015

Overseer. Overseer. Overseer. OverseerOverseerOverceer Officer. http://t.co/AcHnw1IDV7 #McKinney

— jesseWilliams. (@iJesseWilliams) June 8, 2015

I was once a 14 year old blk girl. I can’t imagine how I would have responded to the world after being abused and degraded by police. Think.

— Janelle Monáe, Cindi (@JanelleMonae) June 7, 2015

“Poolside confrontation puts cop in hot water”. (So now they’re beating up children…some of them Girls. #ToughGuys) http://t.co/ewFyu9OAK2

— David Faustino (@DavidFaustino) June 8, 2015

http://t.co/Q7m8cYFix2 via @youtube McKinney, tx we need to find this punk a&$ cops name that put this girls face in the dirt! I MEAN THAT

— sinbad (@sinbadbad) June 8, 2015

treating kids like criminals and abusing a girl: Video Shows Texas Police Officer Pulling Gun On Teens At Pool Party http://t.co/tnsCTMFGFH

— MC HAMMER (@MCHammer) June 8, 2015