Yesterday protests broke out on the streets of Baltimore following the funeral of 25-year-old Freddie Gray, who died from a spinal injury sustained while in police custody last week. Following an afternoon and evening of violent clashes between protesters and police, Maryland governor Larry Hogan issued a state of emergency and ordered the National Guard to enter the city. While the events in Baltimore have sparked national debate immediately, many celebrities have offered their views of the situation. One in particular has sparked some controversy: David Simon, creator of the HBO series The Wire, which depicted throughout its five-season run the intricacies of the drug trade in Baltimore.

Taking to his blog last night, Simon issued support for the residents of his city, but also urged that the protestors maintain a level of nonviolence in their assembly:

First things first. Yes, there is a lot to be argued, debated, addressed. And this moment, as inevitable as it has sometimes seemed, can still, in the end, prove transformational, if not redemptive for our city. Changes are necessary and voices need to be heard. All of that is true and all of that is still possible, despite what is now loose in the streets. But now — in this moment — the anger and the selfishness and the brutality of those claiming the right to violence in Freddie Gray’s name needs to cease. There was real power and potential in the peaceful protests that spoke in Mr. Gray’s name initially, and there was real unity at his homegoing today. But this, now, in the streets, is an affront to that man’s memory and a dimunition of the absolute moral lesson that underlies his unnecessary death. If you can’t seek redress and demand reform without a brick in your hand, you risk losing this moment for all of us in Baltimore. Turn around. Go home. Please.

Joining him in his stance on a nonviolent protest are Wire actors Wendell Pierce and Andre Royo, who expressed similar opinions on Twitter last night.

These comments have not avoided controversy from those who support the protests in Baltimore. The Atlantic‘s Ta-Nahesi Coates, also a Baltimore native, looks at the complicated nature of the protests and the layered definition of “nonviolence” in the long-standing war between Baltimore residents and the city’s police, writing, “When nonviolence is preached by the representatives of the state, while the state doles out heaps of violence to its citizens, it reveals itself to be a con.” But one Twitter user directly responded to Simon’s comments, offering up a powerful take on the irony of The Wire creator’s point of view.

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