John Langley, the creator of the long-running reality TV show "Cops," died after suffering a heart attack during an off-road race in Baja California, Mexico.
The 78-year-old, who was an off-road enthusiast, died at around 3 p.m. on Saturday while competing in the Coast to Coast Ensenada-San Felipe 250, race organizers confirmed to CNN.
"The rescue teams acted quickly, but he didn't survive," said Ramón Castro, the Director of Record Off-Road Races.
Born in Oklahoma City and raised in Los Angeles, Langley served in the U.S. Army in the early 1960s after graduating from California State University, Dominguez Hills, according to Fox News. In 1989, he created and produced "Cops," which followed on-duty police officers throughout the U.S.
The show premiered on Fox but moved over to cable network Spike TV, later rebranded as Paramount Network, in 2013. In 2020, the series was pulled from the air following unrest that followed the death of George Floyd in police custody.
"'Cops' is not on the Paramount Network and we don’t have any current or future plans for it to return," a Paramount Network spokesperson said in a statement obtained by Fox News last June.
Versions of the series still air internationally in syndication and new episodes are being filmed for these channels, Deadline revealed last year.
"We have a longstanding relationship with Cops and Langley productions, and we are pleased they have decided to return, highlighting the outstanding work our Deputies provide to all of you," the Spokane County Sheriff’s Officers stated, according to the outlet.
The show has drawn controversy in the past. In 2004, two separate studies concluded that "Cops" could be used to justify racial profiling, Entertainment Weekly reported. This piggybacks off previous studies that sound viewers were more inclined to associate violent crimes with Black and Brown people, as opposed to white people.
"For more than 30 years, 'Cops' has miseducated the public and normalized injustice," said Arisha Hatch, vice president of Color Of Change, the advocacy organization that campaigned against the show in 2013.
"Crime television encourages the public to accept the norms of over-policing and excessive force and reject reform, while supporting the exact behavior that destroys the lives of Black people. 'Cops' led the way, pushing troubling implications for generations of viewers."
Langley later said that the show had been adjusted to feature a racially diverse mixture of cops and perpetrators.
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Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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