Cops have been cancelled after 31 years on the air. Paramount Network has announced the decision to permanently remove the show from their airwaves.
Paramount network had removed the show from the airwaves in the wake of the George Floyd killing by disgraced officer Devin Chauvin.
Entertainment Weekly that the network has no plans to bring the show back, “Cops is not on the Paramount Network and we don’t have any current or future plans for it to return,” a network spokesperson said.
The legendary TV show was headed into their 33rd season and had more than 1,100 episodes. Cops premiered on the FOX Broadcast network in 1989 and was on the air for 25 seasons. After being cancelled by FOX in 2013, Spike TV (Now Paramount Network) picked up the series in 2017.
Cops is not free of controversy. In 1994, viewers claimed that the show was racially profiling the participants on the show. Viewers said that after watching the show they felt like black and brown people were more likely associated with violent crimes on the show than white people. In 2004, two different studies concluded that the show was racially skewed.
According to Entertainment Weekly, co-creators of the show John and Morgan Langley said in a 2018 interview that they had adjusted the way they film the show. They claim that they feature more black police officers and black perpetrators as a direct response in the feedback they were racially profiling.
