In an impassioned speech on his Instagram, actor Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson criticised United States President Donald Trump's lack of leadership amid the racial protests happening in the US, sparked by the death of black civilian George Floyd caused by a police officer.

The eight-minute-long video posted on Wednesday started with Johnson repeating the phrase: "Where are you?".

Although the actor did not mention Mr Trump by name, the video appeared to be a jab at how the US head of state was not the "compassionate and accountable" leader that the country needed.

Johnson's caption began with: "Where are you? Our country is crippled and on its knees, begging to be heard and pleading for change."

In the middle of the video, the 48-year-old thanked the rest of the world for standing in solidarity with the US in its fight for equality, saying: "We see you. We thank you. We love you".

He concluded his speech with: "You can feel it across our country, change is happening. It's going to take time. We're going to get beat up. We're going to take our lumps. There's going to be blood, but the process of change has already begun."

The video has more than 11 million views on Instagram.