Childish Gambino’s ‘This Is America’ video hits 110m views in nine days, Nicole Arbour’s women’s edit creates backlash

Childish Gambino’s ‘This Is America’ video has hit 110 million views in nine days, while it has been streamed 160 million times on all streaming platforms.

In Australia it hit #1 on the ARIA chart, and continues to maintain its #1 position on Spotify’s Global Chart and Australian Chart, and #1 on Apple Music.

It reached #1 on iTunes in 45 markets, including Australia.

It also topped the official charts in New Zealand and the United States, and has been the most viewed music video on YouTube for 13 days in a row.

It earned 85.3 million views in its first week on YouTube, making it the biggest first-week debut of any video this year.

‘This is America’ is also tied for the 5th fastest music video to reach 100 million views in YouTube history, reaching the mark in under nine days.

Apart from the compelling message of gun violence and race relations from the viewpoint of African Americans, the video also is a talking point for its hidden messages (see here).

Fans saw it as such an important document that a satirical edit of the video provoked an angry reaction.

Comedian Nicole Arbour’s version focussed on gender inequality with lines like: “This is America, don’t catch you climbing up / Because they’ll get you slipping up” and was posted on her YouTube channel which has 400,000 subscribers.

Responses from Gambino fans included “Stop aligning black plight with white feminism” and “Yep. This is America alright. Black person creates, then it’s appropriated.”

In an open letter, Arbour said that her aim of the parody was “misinterpreted” and went on to explain:

“The purpose of my rendition was to honour the spirit of the video which absolutely moved me, by adding my and many women’s life experiences and truths to the brave and brutal truths expressed in the original.

“It was created with every intention of bringing a light to women’s experiences… a tongue-in-cheek way to give additional glory to what I believe is the most impactful piece of art in recent years.

“In retrospect, due to the sensitive nature of the original, I understand why some people are wrongly portraying this as white vs black.

“However, this was not the intent or theme at all.

“I firmly believe the best thing that can happen in America and North America right now is for everyone to create their own version of this video and show what life is like from their side.

“Through this honesty, I believe we can discover a new level of empathy and understanding for each other that will ultimately and finally lead us to healing and unity that is desperately needed in society.”