We doubt anyone really thinks Taylor Swift is racist.
Gurl is only full of GOOD things!
But some people, including rapper Earl Sweatshirt, felt her music video for Shake It Off was racist. Even though he hadn’t watched the video, he felt that the scenes with Swifty in a hip-hop outfit of cutoff shorts, a cropped leopard-print jacket, and gold hoop earrings were “perpetuating black stereotypes” as she was filmed crawling under a row of twerking dancers.
However, while Tay will likely be silently shaking off this claim, the director of her music video has something to say.
Mark Romanek defended their work:
“We simply choose styles of dance that we thought would be popular and amusing. And cast the best dancers that were presented to us without much regard to race or ethnicity. If you look at it carefully, it’s a massively inclusive piece. It’s very, very innocently and positively intentioned. And ├óΓé¼ΓÇ¥ let’s remember ├óΓé¼ΓÇ¥ it’s a satirical piece. It’s playing with a whole range of music video tropes and cliches and stereotypes.”
Mark also added that those dissing the video as racist might want to watch it first:
“In a way, the whole video is just a setup for that moment. And this is why, I think, if Earl Sweatshirt was open-minded enough to take the four minutes to watch it, he might see what the larger, humanistic, and utterly color-blind message was intended to be.”
BURN! We see what you did there with telling Earl Sweatshirt to watch the vid.
Considering the vid is about not caring what people are saying and just being you, we’re guessing we won’t be hearing from Swifty├óΓé¼┬ªshe’s too busy getting her awkward dancing on!