It turns out taking something from a black man and making it about a white
woman is going to upset some people. Now who could have predicted that? You're
watching What's Trending, I'm Martine Beerman. Make sure to subscribe for more
social media and news stories daily. Nicole Arbour's "This Is America: Women's Edit"
takes the structure and format of Childish Gambino's "This Is America" and
alters the lyrics to make it about women's issues. This is America. We'll say
North America. Look how we livin' now. The boys will be trippin' now. This is
America. Got rape in my area. You got a drink? Yeah. The roofies got into your cup.
Unsurprisingly, this has set off a wave of criticism about cheapening Donald
Glover's art. AnimeOtaku1723 tweeted: "Nicole Arbour's "This is America" parody is
proof white people think black pain & oppression is funny. They're constantly
joking about things they don't experience because they lack empathy.
They laugh at our pain & deny our oppression, while stealin our culture
for money. #Evil" And Sean Finnegan wrote: "It's problematic to satirize a
video that depicts, on an incredibly nuanced and subtle but forceful level,
the reality of oppression and suffering and pain that black people face in
America. Childish Gambino's video is art Nicole arbors is a f*cking pile of garbage."
While Nicole's video is definitely talking about issues that are faced by
American women, it's definitely not subtle. This is America. Smile for the camera. Come
on, girl. Where's your teeth? That pill will take care of ya.
Look how I'm spitting truth. Oh! I'm so trendy. Yeah. I wear Fendi. Yeah. I'm so sexy.
The argument is that what made Childish Gambino's video great, was its ability to
use eclectic visuals and dance moves to momentarily distract you from the
violence going on in the background and this works as a commentary on everyday
life in America. Conversely, Arbours video is being pretty blunt about its message.
Here are the complaints about being a woman in America and we're just gonna
tell it using the exact style of Glover's video. And the backlash was
swift and fierce. And people have also been sharing some old deleted tweets of
hers, which say things like: "Every time I see black people even speak to each
other I yell "World Star!!" and start recording on my cell... Whatever it's a fun
game," and "Sometimes I fantasize about being a black person so I could be in a
movie playing a character who overcame being black and win an Oscar." She also
just wrote on May 4th, in a now-deleted tweet: "I'm so sick of people mad at
slavery. It's the past, we weren't there. We didn't do it. But what we CAN do is
fix economic slavery. Focus on the now." Is she completely lacking in empathy? I
don't understand how anybody can sit in front of a large audience, or even a
small audience, and think those things. Like, slavery is a very, very real thing
that happened that you can't just expect like millions of people who've
experienced it to suddenly be like okay I'm just gonna let that go and not
have that be a part of my heritage. Arbour's since updated the video's
description to defend herself. It reads in part: "The purpose of my rendition was
to honour the spirit of the video which absolutely moved me, by adding my and
many women's life experiences and truths to the brave and brutal truths expressed
in the original." She also writes: "I firmly believe the best thing that can happen
in America and North America right now is for everyone to create their own
version of this video and show what life is like from their side. Through this
honesty, I believe we can discover a new level of empathy and understanding for
each other though ultimately and finally lead us to healing and unity that is
desperately needed in society." Maybe a large part of her doesn't actually even
understand what all this backlash is about. And the videos that Nicole puts
out there are not anything that's female, that's based around female empowerment,
or trying to make the world a little bit better or positivity. A lot of
her videos are ripping things down and not building females up like when she
fat shamed or said fat shaming isn't really even a thing. Despite the fact
that she's piggybacked off of an incredible work of art that speaks
volumes about years of struggles for the African-American community, I don't
actually think Nicole is the right voice of all women in America. Producer and
voiceover artist Bethany Watson puts it nicely. The best thing that can happen is
NOT for everyone to create their own version of #ThisIsAmerica. You don't get
to co-opt @donaldglover's art just because it's popular right now. Come up with your
own idea if you're feeling this strongly about speaking out." And, admittedly, by
Nicole herself, she has made a profession by being an instigator, so if she's taken
aback by this, that's gonna be really surprising. Her most-watched video is
still "Dear Black People" from 2015, which intentionally pushes back against
allegations of insensitivity and appropriation. I know the N-word is a
really bad word like never say it. Can you please do white people a favor and stop
putting the N-word in the best hip-hop songs. I feel like black people are
watching me in the club waiting to see what I'll do when that word comes. "I'm
the youngest (blank) reppin'. Oh my God, Oh my God." And she followed that up with a series
of videos called "Dear Fat People" and you can guess what those were all about. Some
guys like fit, some guys like curvy. Who the f*ck cares? This is not about race. But when I saw today
that the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition is featuring a plus-size model, I
was like "the f*ck?" And this cringe-worthy interview that she did on The View
didn't help her case at all. Are you surprised?
Do you understand why people are offended by it? Frankly, I'm the most
offended by my hair in that video. If I would have known it would go viral... Babe, babe, babe.
You're here. This is your, this is your shot. Did you? Ooh.
Whoopi was not having any of it. You know if she shuts down your joke, you are in
deep trouble. A parody of "This Is America" I feel like is absolutely something that
was in the cards. Somebody out there was going to try and piggyback off of this
situation. It's just a shame that it came back in such a poorly wrapped and
oblivious package. What do you guys think? Are there other ways that Nicole Arbour
could have expressed her opinion? Do you think she should be making more original
content? Let us know in the comments, and for more
trends head to whatstrending.com.