Grey’s Anatomy’ Showrunner Krista Vernoff’s Tweets About Her Non-Confrontational Encounters With Cops Are Going Viral

The Daily Show host Trevor Noah delivered a powerful monologue in response to the police killing of Rayshard Brooks, who was fatally shot last week in Atlanta after being apprehended for sleeping in his car while drunk. After learning what happened to Brooks, Grey’s Anatomy showrunner Krista Vernoff felt motivated to open up about the many (non-confrontational) encounters that she had with police as a young adult (and teen), none of which resulted in any lasting consequences. Mostly, she was let off the hook with verbal warnings.

Vernoff feels that her experiences point directly toward white privilege, and she’s speaking out in an effort to spur change because, as Noah stated on Monday night of Brooks, “He’s broken some law, a law not worth dying for. I think we can all agree on that.” What follows is a lengthy Twitter thread from Vernoff, who details how she shoplifted thousands of dollars of mall merchandise as a teenager and walked away with no record. She was also pulled over for drunk driving as a young adult and semi-refused to take a breathalyzer, which a cop laughed off and let her go.

She also detailed how she committed two physical attacks, one of which happened in front an officer, who acted… kind of impressed. And he laughed as well.

Ultimately, Vernoff is “asking the white people reading this to think about the crimes you’ve committed… Think of all the mistakes you’ve made that you were allowed to survive.” She hopes that people will realize that Brooks should never have been shot by police, and his fate is evidence of “a broken system that must change.”

Selma and When They See Us director Ava DuVernay reacted to Vernoff’s outpouring. “This is a white woman talking honestly about her experiences,” she tweeted. “[A]nd it’s one of the best threads on the criminalization of Black people that I’ve read lately.”

https://twitter.com/ava/status/1272747372758487041