Ava DuVernay reacts to Derek Chauvin sentencing

Ava DuVernay has taken to social media to react to the sentencing of police officer Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd.

Chauvin was sentenced to 22.5 years in prison for the 2020 murder of George Floyd, which sparked last summer's Black Lives Matter protests, on Friday, and now celebrities are responding.

Film director Ava DuVernay, who wrote: "Derek Chauvin is a murderer. A murderer who watched multiple people plead for the life of the man he killed in broad daylight. A murderer who placed the full weight of his body on another human being’s neck and felt the life drain out of him. Derek Chauvin is a murderer."

She also made a shout out to other victims of police brutality, tweeting, "Tamir Rice should have turned 19 years old today. Breonna Taylor should be thinking about what to do this weekend. Elijah McClain should be playing the violin this summertime evening. Their murderers walk free today."

Beyonce's mother Tina Knowles-Lawson insisted that the prison sentence wasn't long enough, noting that it is almost the same as her godson's, who was jailed on drugs charges.

"My Godson was sentenced to 20 years for 2 ounces of marijuana he has been In Jail for 11 years. This man convicted of three charges He Murdered This man on TV before the world. And will only serve 15! The system has to change (sic)!" she wrote.

There were also reactions from Kathy Griffin, civil rights icon Al Sharpton, and Rosanna Arquette.

Chauvin was found guilty in April of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter - for kneeling on Floyd's neck for nine minutes in May, 2020.

Before sentencing, four victim impact statements were read, including one from Floyd's seven-year-old daughter, Gianna, and his brothers Terrence and Philonise Floyd.