MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Now, if you've ever watched any of those late-night shows, then you know that their hosts almost always comment on the news. The killings of two Americans by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis were no exception.
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JIMMY KIMMEL: Just one atrocity after another being committed by this gang of poorly trained, shamefully led mask-wearing goons, and that is what they are.
MARTIN: That's Jimmy Kimmel on his show on ABC. But the outrage has spread to places you might not expect. Social media influencers are also reacting, including some whose accounts have nothing to do with the news or politics. We're talking about people known for their baking demos or funny dog videos. NPR's Elizabeth Blair has been watching all this.
ELIZABETH BLAIR, BYLINE: Terrence Gutierrez makes mouthwatering desserts, like a Swiss three kings cake for his more than 38,000 followers on his Instagram, TerrenceBakes.
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TERRENCE GUTIERREZ: I have some room temperature butter, one egg, some sugar.
BLAIR: But in a recent video, we see him baking, but he's added a more serious voiceover.
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GUTIERREZ: I made a snacking cake for the week, but instead of walking through steps for this bake, I wanted to share what I'm doing in light of current events in Minneapolis, but also the entire country because of ICE.
BLAIR: For her 232,000 followers on Instagram, Dylan Mansour creates funny voiceover videos featuring her adorable Australian shepherd, Artemis. But this week, she broke with her regular content to talk about the violence in Minneapolis.
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DYLAN MANSOUR: I know I'm going to lose followers. I do not care. That is OK if you feel the need to leave. This account is not going to become a political account, but I cannot stay silent with what is happening in the world today.
BLAIR: There's an account featuring portraits of American girl dolls, and now some of them are captioned with anti-ICE images, and another account on the history of dogs that's posted an image of Alex Pretti with his beloved canine.
ANAND PANDIAN: That space of normal life, that sense of the everyday that we all take for granted, has somehow been punctured.
BLAIR: Anand Pandian is an anthropology professor at Johns Hopkins University and the author of "Something Between Us: The Everyday Walls Of American Life, And How To Take Them Down."
PANDIAN: I think a lot of people have the sense now that they have to stand up and say something. They can't pretend that normal life can simply go on, as it does, even if everything in our lives conspires to give us the illusion that somehow we could just go on.
LIAM LAYTON: In the past, when I've talked about politics, you generally don't get very far with people.
BLAIR: Social media influencer Liam Layton uses humor to talk about fitness and eating healthy. Most of his content is him watching other people's cooking videos and then trying the recipes himself.
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LAYTON: So he sautes fresh broccoli. That sounds ideal, but me no have. So...
BLAIR: But this week, Layton used his Instagram account to speak out.
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LAYTON: Because I know they will go after Alex's character and reputation. They've done it before, and they'll do it again.
BLAIR: Layton says the main response he's getting from followers who disagree with him is that people should stay out of the government's way.
LAYTON: That is quite a frustrating response because, you know, if we look in the past at every dictator that kind of needed some of that in every autocracy, they needed people who would just stay out of the way. That's how we end up here. That's how things get worse, is by not saying anything.
BLAIR: Layton says he had to say something, even if that meant losing some followers.
Elizabeth Blair, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF FELT'S "MAGELLAN") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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