Nickelodeon briefly goes off air to honor George Floyd, upsetting some parents

Nickelodeon, the cable TV channel devoted to children's programming, briefly suspended its regular broadcasting on Monday to air a message expressing solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement - a strategy that drew both praise and criticism.

The scheduled interruption lasted for exactly 8 minutes and 46 seconds - reportedly the same amount of time a Minneapolis police officer had his knee on George Floyd's neck. Floyd's death on Memorial Day has sparked outrage and protests across the nation and beyond.

During the moment, which started at 3 p.m. PT (6 p.m. ET), the screen went orange with a “Declaration of Kids' Rights,” which read:

“You have the right to be seen, heard, and respected as a citizen of the world. You have the right to a world that is peaceful. You have the right to be treated with equality, regardless of the color of your skin. You have the right to be protected from harm, injustice, and hatred. You have the right to an education that prepares you to run the world. You have the right to your opinions and feelings, even if others don't agree with them.”

The network also aired another, more provocative video message that directly references the George Floyd tragedy. It features the sound of a person breathing and is accompanied by the words “I CAN'T BREATHE” in white text against a black background.

This message, which also aired for nearly nine minutes, appeared on all Viacom channels, including Nickelodeon, MTV, VH1, Comedy Central and TV Land, according to Fast Company.

Nickelodeon received an overwhelming amount of parental praise for the message. But others were offended, asserting that Nickelodeon isn't the proper platform and that it could scare some children.

In a post on the network's Facebook page, a woman wrote, “You just lost a viewer.” Another wrote, “I agree with this but young children that don't understand what's going on shouldn't have this stuff shown to them.”

Nickelodeon defended its decision, posting this message on social media:

“Unfortunately, some kids live in fear every day. It's our job to use our platform to make sure their voices are heard and their stories are told.”