‘Live PD’ Host Was “Shocked and Beyond Disappointed” by Show’s Cancellation

After his show was canceled by A&E this week, Live PD host Dan Abrams is voicing his disappointment with the network’s decision. Abrams, who is also the chief legal affairs anchor for ABC News, opened up about the end of Live PD on his SiriusXM show The Dan Abrams Show, defending his series from the criticism it has faced in light of recent protests against police brutality, Entertainment Weekly reports.

A&E axed Live PD yesterday (June 11) as calls to defund the police are spreading across the nation, and protests continue weeks after the death of George Floyd. Abrams called Live PD a victim of the current culture, saying the show’s cancellation came from an “overreaction going on.”

“I think that it’s very troubling that we’re suddenly in a culture where all police officers have to suffer for the sins of a few,” Abrams said. “And I say that for every group, it’s not just police officers. It’s just so interesting to me that many on the left have criticized this sense of collective justice, right? That it has to be individual justice. You can’t sort of impugn a community of people. And yet when it comes to this, the left seems very willing, ready, and able to impugn all police officers.”

“Now let me say again, that doesn’t mean we don’t have to have a discussion about the inequities in our society,” he continued. “And not just a discussion — action. There should be changes. There’s real positive change in many ways going on in this country. But there’s also an overreaction going on. And I think that that’s what Live PD suffered from.”

Abrams told listeners that he wanted to negotiate the future of his show with A&E, and he was “shocked and beyond disappointed” when it was fully canceled.

“I thought we were going to have a discussion about how to make the show better,” Abrams explained. “And we were going to sort of try and — together — figure out how to deal with some of the positive change that people are implementing and figure out how to incorporate that into the show. But lo and behold, the show got cancelled. So yeah, that’s where we are. I’m definitely not happy about it.”

Live PD‘s cancellation came days after Paramount Network canceled Cops, a long-running reality show that had come under fire in recent years for glorifying police officers. Although Live PD had not been on the air as long as Copsit faced a fair share of criticism for similar issues. Calls to cancel the show were heightened by a report in the Austin-American Statesman that Live PD destroyed footage of Javier Ambler, a 40-year-old man, being tasered by two sheriff’s deputies and begging for his life. He later died in police custody, but A&E admitted that Live PD deleted the video evidence of Ambler’s violent arrest.

The Live PD host addressed the footage and claimed it was part of the show’s policy to delete the video. “Live PD cameras had been there with him at the time, and it wasn’t while we were on the air,” Abrams said. “It was during a hiatus in the show where we’re just shooting for additional footage. The show has a policy of not retaining video for more than roughly 30 days. The reason for that is that we didn’t want to become a video repository for either side — prosecutors, for defense, et cetera. We didn’t want to become an arm of law enforcement.”

A&E’s decision to cancel the show comes after four years of strong ratings on the network. Live PD was often the top-ranked show on cable on Friday and Saturday evenings, and A&E had been planning to keep it on air a while; the network ordered 160 more episodes last month.

Where to watch Live PD