The Great Smoky Mountain Journal
Staff Reports
Posted: Sunday, January 21, 2018 03:52 PM
Rapper Under Fire For Video Showing White Boy Being Lynched As African American Boy Looks On
The video “Look At Me!" debuted on Tuesday and features imagery depicting police brutality, violent protests, and the 19-year-old Florida-based rapper placing a white child’s head in a noose on stage in front of a crowded theater and then hoisting him up into the air.
The child’s feet are shown dangling and twitching and then they suddenly stop.
The casting director of the video LaShawnna Stanley told that finding parents who would allow their child to be hanged on stage was a challenge.
“We had to delay the video because the mom that originally agreed and said okay but when she got there she didn’t feel comfortable. We delayed for a week,” said Stanley.
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“I called a lot of parents. It was a direct booking. No one was okay with their white child getting lynched,” Stanley said. “With all the racial tension in the world right out they were nervous.”
Stanley said the mother who finally agreed “was serious about acting and the message. The mother of the son is very serious about acting. She’s a stage mom. She has three sons and takes them to LA to audition. She understood the vision.”
That vision, according to Stanley, is that the “little white boy and black boy show innocence,” and that society has become desensitized seeing black men hung and shot, but the imagery of a white child being hung is shocking.
She explained that the rapper made sure to make both children feel comfortable on set.
“XXX was very lovely to the kids and hugging,” she said.
Not everyone on social media agreed.
A Twitter user questioned the use of the child in the video.
“I'm not sure if hanging a child in a music video is right, regardless of the message you send.”
A fellow follower agreed the video was going too far.
