During a Friday performance on the Today show, Janelle Monae was cut off as she was speaking about the Black Lives Matter movement. At the end of her performance of “Hell You Talmbou” — a protest song dedicated to the movement — Monae began to speak about police brutality: “God bless all the lives lost 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…” The camera panned away and an anchor spoke over Monae as she continued. The show cut to commercial moments after Monae said “silenced.”