Imagery in Childish Gambino's new music video for "Feels Like Summer" depicting Michelle Obama hugging a crying Kanye West wearing a MAGA hat is causing a lot of mixed feelings online.
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The music video, released over the weekend, is fully animated and features a host of artists, like Drake, Nicki Minaj, and Travis Scott — many of whom are engaged in some kind of drama at the moment.
Two celebrity depictions in Gambino's video in particular have people forming all kinds of interpretations.
About two minutes in, a cartoon image of a crying West in a MAGA hat is seen being embraced by a cartoon Obama.
Obama smiles as West sheepishly looks over to her. The image seems to be a response to West's growing support of Trump and far-right politics, which culminated in the infamous moment on TMZ in May where he proclaimed that slavery was "a choice."
The embrace is being interpreted in all kinds of ways. Some people appreciated it and kept it as simple as that.
Michelle Obama gave Kanye West a hug in the new childish gambino video and that was the perfect shit to top the summer off..that whole video fye
Others said they found it problematic that a black woman was being portrayed to "fix" the problems created by a man, as the narrative commonly gets written this way.
Waiting yall to stop this nonsense that its black women job to fix black men https://t.co/nAqVnEjObH
childish gambino depicting michelle obama as like a savior for kanye is such bs lmao i’m tired of black women needing to “save” black men so they can come to their senses about who they are and the realities of the world we live in
The Root even called attention to the criticisms with a quippy tweet. "According to Childish Gambino, Kanye West needs a black woman to save him. Also related, water is wet," the magazine wrote.
According to Childish Gambino, Kanye West needs a black woman to save him. Also related, water is wet: https://t.co/ykCBcxpSCI https://t.co/zXN0zotgK1
Soon people reacted to and countered the initial reading of the moment, and said they read it as "a strong mother figure" giving Kanye much-needed love and guidance after his own mother died in 2007.
I don’t think that’s what he means Michelle Obama is a strong mother figure for her children Kanye hasn’t been the same since his mother figure passed on I believe this is just imagery used to describe Kanye’s need for a strong mother figure to be present & give him guidance! https://t.co/E5P9ybG82e
I think everyone is misinterpreting that Childish Gambino music video with the image of Kanye crying with Michelle Obama hugging him smh
The different interpretations of a few seconds of the video have become their own moment. Some are telling critics to "chill."
Michelle Obama gave Kanye West a hug in the new childish gambino video and people are losing their minds... chill
I need someone to help me understand why black women are offended by Michelle Obama hugging Kanye West in Childish Gambino’s new video. I thought we all supported the sentiment that the only person that can hold down a black man is a black woman? 🤨🤔
It even prompted the Root to issue a follow-up tweet on Monday clarifying that its initial criticisms were its own, not Gambino's.
While we believe it isn’t a black woman’s job to save anyone, we want to clarify that a tweet about a scene between Michelle Obama and Kanye West was our interpretation not Donald Glover’s: https://t.co/ykCBcxpSCI https://t.co/9meq8G5O9g
People are baffled that a cartoon image has caused such an uproar. But isn't that what hashtag l'art is made for?
so everybody mad cause Michelle Obama hugging Kanye...In a cartoon?
BuzzFeed News has reached out to Gambino and his team about what his actual intentions and the scene's meanings were.