Dear Nicole Arbour,
I'd like to start off with: Why?
I recently saw Childish Gambino's "This is America" music video, which tackled many issues within the nation in addition to how America views black culture. In my opinion, the video is a masterpiece. The imagery and dancing presented in the music video are meant to distract us from what is actually going on. The video parallels America in several ways: Jim Crow imagery that depicts African Americans stereotypes,America valuing black culture more than black lives, and social media crazes that distract us from what is actually going on with our society, and most shockingly gun violence and how society treats victims.
Then I saw your video. To say I was shocked would be an understatement.
Don't get me wrong, I understand what you were trying to do with your video. I got the underlying message of feminism, but how you went about it was very distasteful.
I think the worst part about this is that there's a lot of subtlety and symbolism to dissect in "This is America," and you, Nicole Arbour, you threw all that out the window and tried to invalidate the feelings of Black Americans through this parody.
It wasn't appropriate for you to piggyback on the success of Childish Gambino's "This is America," recreating a well-put video explaining the black experience in America to talk about white women in your version.
Your piggybacking on Gambino's success did not come as a surprise to many. You do have a history of being a problematic, fat shaming and racist individual. Stealing a black man’s music video and calling it a "woman's take" — seriously? Nicole, you do not speak for me or countless other women.
I don't think you meant the video in a malicious way, but I do think you should have known better, especially in this political climate. I also think you should have been creative in your own way instead of a way that minimizes the importance of "This is America."
I understand that you might have been trying to create dialogue and you did, it just wasn’t the right kind or what you were expecting
