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NOPD pulls new recruitment ad after backlash on social media

The 30-second spot was funded by the city and produced for about $27,000 by the nonprofit Police and Justice Foundation.

NEW ORLEANS — Tennessee Williams famously said, "America has only three cities: New York, San Francisco, and New Orleans. Everywhere else is Cleveland.”

That’s the theme of a new recruitment ad, just shelved by the NOPD. 

The 30-second spot was funded by the city and produced for about $27,000 by the nonprofit Police and Justice Foundation. 

“We never would have submitted anything we thought was objectionable,” NOPJF Board Chair Elizabeth Boh said. “We hoped it would appeal to a younger generation and to upcoming potential new recruits and we’re not sure what the problem was.” 

The ad featured Mardi Gras Indians, Big Freedia backup dancers, Rolling Elvi and Chewbacchus characters dancing around an NOPD officer. 

This week, the NOPD pulled the spot from its social media about an hour after it was posted. 

Police would only say, “The video in question was removed because the department did not want anyone to be offended by the negative commentary that ensued.” 

“The idea behind it was to create a culturally creative, attractive ad that would bring people into New Orleans to show the uniqueness of New Orleans,” Boh said.  

Filmmaker Crista Rock directed the commercial. 

She told WWL-TV, “I was hopeful that the ad would attract folks who want to be part of our diverse community and embrace us all.”  

Instead, she said, “People were offended by a gay man dancing in a commercial to recruit officers for NOPD.” 

The ad controversy comes at a time when the NOPD is hemorrhaging officers and manpower on the street is the lowest it’s been in recent history. The department would not say if the commercial is gone for good or just for now.

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