TikTok? ’s Assistance in the Whitewashing of Black Art

-- By RickeyOrr - 26 Oct 2024

Throughout time, Black artists have constantly had their work whitewashed and their contributions to art erased. In March 2024, Beyoncé released her album “Cowboy Carter” highlighting the Black pioneers of country music and the genre’s roots in Black folk music and Black western or cowboy music. Unfortunately, this constant erasure of Black art and contributions to popular American culture continues to this day. TikTok? has contributed to the appropriation of Black art by denying Black creators of recognition for their artistic achievements and crediting white influencers and celebrities instead.

Choreography

Black dancers on TikTok? have not received credit for the dances they choreographed. These dances to songs including Lottery by K Camp, Savage by Megan Thee Stallion and Up by Cardi B have gone on to become some of the biggest dances on the platform. Due to a lack of credit and recognition for these Black dancers’ achievements and originality, the white influencers who popularized their dancers have been afforded many opportunities. Charli D’Amelio is one of the biggest TikTok? influencers. She currently has 155.7 million followers on TikTok . In 2020, Charli, Dixie D’Amelio and Addison Rae Easterling performed multiple TikTok dances created by Black dancers during the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) All-Star Game. The only Black dancer invited to perform was Jalaiah Harmon following a last minute invitation and a New York Times profile crediting her as the lost creator of the Renegade dance to Lottery by K Camp. In March 2021, another TikTok? influencer, Addison Rae Easterling, performed multiple dances on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. This performance received subsequent backlash as none of the Black dancers who created the dances Addison performed were invited to the show. TikTok? ’s ability to catapult everyday people into fame and share people’s creativity in a rapid way is one of its strengths. However, this often leads to dances getting copied and remade without any mention or credit for who created these dances in the first place. This leaves Black dancers who are driving the creativity and artistic expression on the app without any benefits for their work. Their opportunities are going to the white influencers who popularize their dances. This leaves Black dancers out of potential monetary income as well, including licensing their dances to video games and music videos, and the ability to sign representation contracts with agents and managers. In addition to choreography, TikTok? has assisted in the erasure of Black fashion designers and icons.

Fashion Aesthetics

Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Black designers and musicians drove popular fashion. Y2K was a fashion aesthetic that began during the mid-1990s and lasted until the early 2000s. Y2K is named after the Y2K bug and is inspired by futurism, space exploration and technologic advancement. The aesthetic was pioneered by Black musicians Aaliyah, Missy Elliot, and TLC. McBling was a fashion aesthetic that lasted from the early 2000s until the late 2000s. McBling? is inspired by consumerism, excess and celebrity culture. The aesthetic was pioneered by Black designers Dapper Dan and Kimora Lee Simons and Black musicians Missy Elliot, Eve and LL Cool J.

Beginning in the early 2020s, users on TikTok became fascinated with the Y2K and McBling aesthetics. This fascination grew so much that both aesthetics began influencing 2020s fashion thanks to TikTok? . However, the McBling? aesthetic was incorrectly referred to as Y2K? , and Paris Hilton was given credit for pioneering this aesthetic by many users. Once again, the Black visionaries who created a unique art form have been erased. Moreover, TikTok? has no content warning or fact checking capability to prevent this misinformation from spreading. This led to the original Y2K? aesthetic, one focused on space exploration and technological advancement to be completely overshadowed due to its conflation with the McBling? aesthetic. The original purpose behind the Y2K? aesthetic was lost as well. It is inherently Afrofuturistic as it depicts Black people existing and thriving in a futuristic utopia, instead of in pain or subjected to discrimination. It also combatted the numerous space themed narratives that have excluded Black people as a whole from their storylines and imagery. The recurrent problem is Black artists throughout time have not received credit for their artistic contributions to society.

Legal Solutions

There are numerous legal solutions for this recurring problem. The Black dancers should copyright their choreography as soon as they create it or post it to TikTok? . Any professional uses of their choreography where people receive compensation including a Tonight Show or NBA halftime performance would be an unlawful use or infringement of their choreography. The only limitation is the extent to which a perpetrator could claim fair use by performing the choreography in a different context or changing a couple moves. The fashion designers should also copyright their work if it includes sketches they created, or any colors used for specific purposes. An example would be the red underneath Christian Louboutin heels. Black musicians will have a harder time protecting their contributions to fashion, however. Unless these musicians register one of their looks used in a music video or performance for copyright protection or sketch it, it would not be protected under copyright law.

Even though Black musicians helped pioneer major fashion aesthetics including Y2K? and McBling? , there is no clear way to ensure they receive credit for their contribution and to prevent others from being credited for it. A new area of law might be needed to do so. One that safeguards artistic contributions for overarching aesthetics in the same way that copyright law does for individual works of art. This would TikTok? ’s ability to further appropriate Black art by returning the credit for choreography and the Y2K? and McBling? aesthetics to the Black artists who originated them.

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