Several major music labels including Chris Blackwell’s Island Records, VP Records, Universal Music Group, Sony Music, and Columbia Records will participate in a social media blackout on June 2.

The movement dubbed Blackout Tuesday is an initiative to show solidarity with the black community, following the murder of George Floyd on May 25.

A message circulating widely on Instagram and other social media platforms last Friday (May 29) calls for “a day to “disconnect from work and reconnect with the community” for the day, as “an urgent step of action to provoke accountability and change.”

Nigerian singer, Tiwa Savage has also embraced the movement.

The decision comes in the wake of the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota last week. Floyd was a 46-year-old black man who died on May 25 after being apprehended by Derek Chauvin, a white police officer, who has since been sacked and charged with third-degree murder, and manslaughter.

Currently, protests with people of all colour and race are ongoing across the United States.