MUMBAI: Canadian singer The Weeknd has made donations to the tune of $500,000 to organisations supporting the Black Lives Matter movement. He has urged "everyone with big pockets" to do the same.

"Keep supporting our brothers and sisters out there risking everything to push for actual change for our black lives," he captioned screenshots of the donations, reports etonline.com.

"Urging everyone with big pockets to give and give big and if you have less please give what you can even if it's a small amount #blacklivesmatter."

The Weeknd donated $200,000 to the Black Lives Matter Global Network, $200,000 to The Colin Kaepernick Know Your Rights Camp Legal Defense Initiative, and $100,000 to the National Bail Out. In total, The Weeknd's posted donations come to $500,000.

The singer is one of many celebrities who have donated to the Black Lives Matter movement in recent days. Star couple Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds announced a $200,000 donation to the NAACP, model Chrissy Teigen posted that she donated $200,000 to bail outs of protesters across the US.

The surge in donations comes after George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man in Minneapolis, Minnesota, died when a police officer pressed his knee into Floyd's neck, holding him down for more than eight minutes.

(Source: IANS)