A Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) spokesman confirmed to The Tennessee Star on Thursday that YouTube pulled its video of legendary musical artist Jon Bon Jovi talking a “distraught woman” off the ledge of a Nashville bridge, potentially saving her life.
MNPD Public Affairs Director Don Aaron confirmed to The Star the video was originally published to a YouTube channel operated by the police department, and that it was removed from the platform by YouTube. The platform did not impose additional punishment to the MNPD-operated channel beyond removal of its video, Aaron told The Star.
Asked for comment on the removal of the video, Aaron told The Star, “The video is on X.”
X is the pro-free speech platform, formerly known as Twitter, which is privately owned by Elon Musk.
The original post to the social media platform X, which contains the link to the censored YouTube video, had nearly 250,000 views at press time, while the version of the video posted by MNPD to X had just over 10,000 views.
— Metro Nashville PD (@MNPDNashville) September 12, 2024
The video, which does not contain audio, appears to show Bon Jovi and production members assembled to film a music video intervene as a woman stands on the ledge of a bridge which MNPD revealed crosses the Cumberland River.
After briefly speaking to Bon Jovi and members of his production team, crew members help the woman safely leave the ledge as the singer-songwriter hugged the woman. The video concludes with the pair speaking near the ledge where she precariously stood.
MNPD Chief John Drake commented after the video was filmed, “It takes all of us to help keep each other safe.”
The Star contacted Google, the parent company of YouTube, to ask why the video was removed, whether special consideration is made when contemplating censorship of YouTube channels operated by law enforcement, and whether the social media platform regularly pulls videos uploaded by law enforcement, but did not receive a response prior to press time.
YouTube is regularly accused of censoring those with conservative or independent political views, including by former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who had at least three videos suppressed by the Big Tech platform when his candidacy began.
The platform also censored the Christian satire website, The Babylon Bee, claiming it was associated with “violent criminal organizations” after the outlet covered the “manifesto” left by transgender Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
