Toonami Trends Worldwide After Addressing BLM in New Commercial

Toonami has been around for decades, and its status as a go-to spot for anime is known around the world. Over its lifetime, the TV block has used its platform to tackle some tough topics, and it continued that timely tradition this weekend with a special message from TOM. The team at Toonami took a moment to address the growing Black Lives Matter movement, and the spirited speech has got the anime block trending worldwide.

The speech was shared last night during Toonami’s usual Saturday slot. The minute-long promo honed in on TOM as the program’s mascot brought up the topic of race. TOM went on to critique the rhetoric people use to deflect attention from Black Lives Matter, and the mascot made it clear why such interjections are harmful.

“Racism still exists. Discrimination towards people of color still exists. It’s up to all of us to recognize that and take action. If you’re thinking ‘maybe but not me’, then you’ve got some truth to uncover,” the promo says.

“Think about how you can be part of an honest conversation about racism. Because Black lives matter and they’ll always matter.”

Over on Twitter, Toonami has been trending since the promo aired as fans new and old react to the speech. Jason DeMarco, one of the program’s creators, gave more info on the promo as he explained it was entirely made by Toonami’s Black staff members.

“This piece came together because a group of Toonami staff came to me and asked, “are we going to address this clearly?” I agreed with them that we should. This piece was produced, co-written, and edited by our Black staff members. The all did an amazing job,” DeMarco wrote. “I work with some very good people and I hope you felt our sincerity, even if it made you uncomfortable. Thanks for watching, as always.”

“We at Toonami know we can only do so much with our platform but we wanted to be clear what our little block stands for. Equality, compassion, love and strength are at the core of so much of our programming and at the core of the message we want Toonami to deliver.”

What do you make of this recently aired promo? Share your thoughts about the Toonami address in the comments below:

An Important Thanks

Another Success

All the Love

An Important Ally

We Stan

A Necessary Lesson

A Moment for Change

Never Powerless