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A new petition has been launched calling for Jesse Williams to be fired from Grey’s Anatomy after he spoke out against racism at last month’s BET Awards.

While making his acceptance speech after receiving an award for his humanitarian efforts, Jesse – who plays Dr Jackson Avery in the hit medical drama – explained how prevalent racism still is in the States today by highlighting cases of police brutality and the lack of equal opportunities available for people of colour.

He said: “I don’t want to hear any more about how far we’ve come when paid public servants can pull a drive-by on a 12-year-old playing alone in a park in broad daylight, killing him on television then going home to make a sandwich.” 

“We’re done watching and waiting while this invention called whiteness uses and abuses us, burying black people out of sight and out of mind, while extracting our culture, our dollars, our entertainment like oil.”

 “The thing is, just because we’re magic, doesn’t mean we’re not real.”

Jesse – who played Holden in The Cabin in the Woods – received a standing ovation before he had even finished the speech, with many audience members being reduced to tears by his impassioned words.

But not everyone was so impressed by the actor’s speech as the Independent has reported that a new Change.org petition has been launched which is calling for Jesse to be removed from his position on Grey’s on the grounds that his speech was racist.

The petition – which has so far received over 2,300 supporters – states: “Jesse Williams spewed a racist, hate speech against law enforcement and white people at the BET awards.”

“If this was a white person making the same speech about an African American, they would have been fired and globally chastised, as they should be, but there has been no consequences to Williams' actions.”

“There's been no companies making a stand against his racist remarks and no swift action condemning his negative attitude.”

So far there has been no reaction to the petition from the ABC network.

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Jathan Muhar’s graduation speech from preschool has gone viral for being ridiculously adorable.

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Star of Juno and Inception, Ellen Page gave a deeply inspirational speech at the “Time to THRIVE” conference organised by the group Human Rights Campaign held in Las Vegas.

During her speech, which you can watch here, Ellen described her own difficulty with accepting her sexuality describing herself as: “tired of hiding and I am tired of lying by omission.”

Continuing on, Ellen told the audience of her wish to help others who may be going through what she went through: “I am gay … maybe I can make a difference. To help others have an easier and more hopeful time … I feel a personal obligation and a social responsibility.”

Ellen also spoke about the bullying endured by schoolchildren and her own suffering at the hands of media scrutiny.

Truly inspirational, well done Ellen!

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Pandora ‘Panti’ Bliss gives an impressive speech on the oppression she has experienced in Irish society.

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