Fresh off pulling double duty as host and musical guest on "Saturday Night Live," Donald Glover released a music video for "This Is America."
The actor, who performs music under the name Childish Gambino, appeared to address gun violence, police violence, and racism in the graphic video.
The music video, directed by Glover’s frequent “Atlanta” collaborator Hiro Murai, begins with a black man waking toward a guitar on a red chair. He sits and begins strumming as the camera moves toward a bearded, shirtless Glover dancing in an empty warehouse.
Glover then walks toward the man, who now has a hood over his head and no guitar, and shoots him in the head.
The video then shows Glover doing choreography with black dancers wearing school clothes. In one scene, a choir sings the chorus and Glover appears behind a door and shoots them with a machine gun.
The school children appear again while in the background cars are on fire and a police car can be seen. When Glover makes a gun-like gesture with his hands, the children run away and Glover is left alone.
The man from the beginning of the video then appears again in the red chair, strumming the guitar with the hood on his head as Glover dances on top of an abandoned car.
In the last scene of the video, Glover is seen running through the warehouse, which is now darkened, with blurred figures running a few steps behind him.
Numerous think pieces and Twitter threads have been created in response to the video, but Glover himself has not offered commentary.
Watch the official video for "This Is America" on YouTube. It contains graphic images and explicit language.
About the Author
