Blood Orange pays tribute to murder victims on ‘Conan’

We’ve seen a number of names float through hashtags and headlines this past summer, each belonging to a victim of violence, both state-sanctioned and not. Last night in a televised performance on Conan O’Brien’s late-night TBS show, Blood Orange paid tribute to three of those slain, Vulture reports.

The British musician, a.k.a. Dev Hynes, opened by playing Freetown Sound track “Augustine” at an all-white grand piano. He then transitioned into “Thank You,” another song off of his third studio album, as he made his way to the front of the stage. Resting against the Yamaha piano were photos of people who’ve recently lost their lives to violence: Philando Castile, a Minnesota man killed by police during a routine traffic stop, Alton Sterling, a Baton Rouge man who was shot while held on the ground by police, Hande Kader, a prominent trans activist in Turkey who was raped and beaten to death by a mob, and Terrence McCrary, Jr., who was shot and killed at a birthday party in Oakland.