NBC’s “This Is Us” made an emotional return in its season 5 premiere Tuesday, featuring the story of a Syracuse man who was killed by police in Pittsburgh.
Note: Minor spoilers follow for the episode, which aired Tuesday, Oct. 27.
According to Trib Live, the Emmy Award-winning drama often features references to real-life events and locations in the Pittsburgh area, including characters cheering on the NFL’s Steelers. Tuesday’s two-hour episode included references to the coronavirus, with actors wearing face masks and using hand sanitizer in some scenes, and Randall (Sterling K. Brown) having an emotional reaction to the killing of George Floyd and the nationwide Black Lives Matter protests that followed.
Randall then shares the story of Jonny Gamage, a Black man from Syracuse who was killed by police in Pittsburgh 25 years ago, with his daughter’s boyfriend Maliq (Ashante Blackk).
“He was the cousin of Ray Seals. Ray was a former defensive end for the Pittsburgh Steelers,” Randall says. “Jonny was 31. He was driving home one night in this fancy car. Cops tried to pull him over for an expired registration. He ended up getting pinned down by five of them for resisting arrest. He died right there.”
The show cuts to a scene of a 15-year-old Randall in 1995, watching what appears to be real news footage from a Pittsburgh TV station.
Gammage, who attended Henninger High School with Seals, was living in Pittsburgh to be near his cousin and business partner. Gammage managed entrepreneurial businesses like Athletic Promotions, and arranged autograph sessions and charitable giveaways for Seals.
On the early morning of Oct. 12, 1995, Gammage was driving home in Seals' Jaguar XJ6 through Brentwood, a majority white suburb of Pittsburgh, at 30 miles per hour in a 40 mph zone. He was pulled over by Brentwood Police Lt. Milton Mulholland, who said he thought it was suspicious for someone driving a luxury car to go 10 miles under the speed limit; Mulholland called for backup and four other cops rushed to the scene.
Twenty-one minutes later, Gammage was dead. An autopsy report said he died of positional asphyxia, due to all five police officers pinning him down on his stomach; the compression of his chest and neck made it impossible for him to breathe. His death made national news and the Steelers, who went on to win Super Bowl XXX that season, dedicated their game the following Sunday to Gammage.
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Floyd died May 25 while handcuffed when then-Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee against Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes. Chauvin is charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter while three other cops involved have been charged with aiding and abetting both second-degree murder and manslaughter.
But Gammage never got justice. A coroner’s jury recommended all five cops be tried for first-degree murder, but only three ended up going to trial on reduced charges and none of them served a day in jail.
“This is Us” writer Kay Oyegun, a 2010 University of Pittsburgh graduate, told Trib Live that she wanted to bring Gammage’s story to the show.
“Jonny’s life and story has been on my heart for years,” Oyegun said. “Grateful to be able to share that.”
Parade notes the episode follows Randall, who was adopted by Jack and Rebecca Pearson (Milo Ventimiglia and Mandy Moore), as he addresses his past growing up Black in a white family. His sister Kate (Chrissy Metz) says she “can’t even imagine what you guys are going through. I’m so sorry.”
“Sorry about what?” Randall says Kate has never apologized before, and notes that Floyd isn’t the first Black person to be killed by police.
“We grew up in the same house. Things like this have been happening to Black people for years. And we’ve never talked about it. Not once, not once in 40 years," he says. “Growing up, I just had to keep so many things to myself, because I didn’t want to make you guys feel bad.”
“...And normally I would hug you. And I would tell you that you did all the right things. I would try to make it all okay for you. But if I did that, Kate, if I made things better for you, then where does that leave me? I’m sorry, but I can’t do that. That has been my pattern all my life. And honestly, Kate, it is exhausting. I’m exhausted.”
“This Is Us” airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on NBC.
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