Hours after Taylor Swift premiered her single, “Shake It Off,” and its accompanying music video, Earl Sweatshirt took to Twitter to express his thoughts on how it is “inherently offensive and ultimately harmful.”
haven’t watched the taylor swift video and I don’t need to watch it to tell you that it’s inherently offensive and ultimately harmful
— EARL (@earlxsweat) August 19, 2014
perpetuating black stereotypes to the same demographic of white girls who hide their prejudice by proclaiming their love of the culture
— EARL (@earlxsweat) August 19, 2014
for instance, those of you who are afraid of black people but love that in 2014 it’s ok for you to be trill or twerk or say nigga
— EARL (@earlxsweat) August 19, 2014
Others, besides Earl, deem Taylor Swift’s video as racist or an example of cultural appropriation, pointing out that the scenes of her twerking and breakdancing (or trying to) takes signifiers of black culture and uses them as a form of entertainment or mockery.
“Shake It Off” continues the conversation of cultural appropriation that sprung up when Katy Perry released the music video for “This is How We Do,” in which she wears her hair in cornrows and uses slang, and when Miley Cyrus began twerking (in public).
“I guess I’ll just stick to baseball and hot dogs, and that’s it,” Katy Perry told Rolling Stone of the criticism. “I know that’s a quote that’s gonna come to f–k me in the ass, but can’t you appreciate a culture?”
Earl, as like the rest of the Odd Future collective, isn’t one to shy away from expressing his thoughts. Neither is A-Trak, who sarcastically tweeted about the video.
You know what this Taylor Swift video is missing? Some nice graffiti by Bieber. Let’s be urban, everyone! Yay, cupcakes.
— Flan Emoji (@atrak) August 18, 2014