TV show Cops axed amid racial tensions

US television show Cops has been dropped by the Paramount Network after 33 seasons on air, as protests against police proliferate around the world.

“Cops is not on the Paramount Network and we don’t have any current or future plans for it to return,” a spokesperson for the cable channel said in a statement on Tuesday.

The show had been pulled temporarily from the air in late May, when protests aimed at police over the death of George Floyd began to gain momentum. That move has now become permanent.

It was not immediately clear whether Langley Productions, which makes Cops, would try to find a new network to broadcast the show.

The reality show, which was shown on British TV and which featured a well known reggae theme song of Bad Boys, allowed viewers to ride along with police officers on patrol in various cities.

It ran on the Fox network for 25 years until 2013, when Viacom-owned Spike TV picked it up. The show remained on the air after Spike was re-branded as the Paramount Network in 2018.