CBS premieres 13 Days in Ferguson, a special about the aftermath of a police shooting of a young Black man in 2014, on Friday, August 9. The special features Cedric the Entertainer, who grew up next to Ferguson, reuniting with his longtime friend and retired lead task force officer, Capt. Ron Johnson, for what CBS calls “an emotional journey, walking the streets of Ferguson in remembrance of the shocking events that took place there a decade ago.”
“The story of Ferguson is the story of America,” Cedric said. “It’s important to tell this story now with my friend Ron Johnson because, with the benefit of 10 years, we can see the lessons learned, the progress made and the road ahead with more clarity. This is Ron’s elegy.”
Unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown Jr. was shot and killed by police officer Darren Wilson following a confrontation in Ferguson on August 9, 2014. Protests and rioting followed. Assigned to lead law-enforcement efforts to defuse the violence was Johnson, a Black Missouri State Highway Patrol officer.
The special includes the first-ever sit-down discussion between Johnson and the victim’s father, Michael Brown Sr.
“If I was going to step up to be a leader, then I had to accept whatever came, the good and the bad,” Johnson said. “Leadership is an honor. People are critical of leadership and a leader has to take whatever comes with that, because he or she has been honored to be in that position. And so, whatever came with it, it was a part of it.”
13 Days in Ferguson is a production by See It Now Studios and Bungalow Media + Entertainment in association with A Bird and a Bear Entertainment. Executive producers are Robert Friedman and Deborah Riley Draper for Bungalow Media + Entertainment, Cedric the Entertainer and Eric C. Rhone for A Bird and a Bear Entertainment, JD DeWitt for Fear Not Productions and Susan Zirinsky and Terence Wrong for See It Now Studios. Riley Draper is the director.
The special streams live on Paramount Plus.
Cedric the Entertainer is in the cast of CBS comedy The Neighborhood.
