Black TikTok creators strike to protest uncredited content. ‘Can’t do it without us’
“Renegade.” “Twerkulator.” And the “Throw it Back” dance.
These are just a handful of TikTok’s most popular dance trends, and the Black creators behind them have reached a breaking point after repeatedly having their work appropriated — and often without credit.
As a collective, they’re staging a strike to protest what they consider a “watering down” of their talents as the white creators who co-opt them are praised, recognized and rewarded. Until credit is given, Black TikTokers are refusing to provide the platform with yet another 8-count of free choreography.
“This app would be nothing without Black people,” TikTok star Erick Louis captioned a recent video on the topic. The clips ends with him holding up his middle fingers.
“They can’t do it without us, y’all,” an app user commented. “We sitting this round out.”
The app’s biggest dance trends are often set to the nation’s hottest songs. That includes rapper Megan Thee Stallion’s latest hit “Thot S—,” which was released last week. Mashable reported that “despite the song’s arguable success ... no specific dance trend for the song has taken off on TikTok because most Black dancers are refraining from posting their choreography.”
The issue is reminiscent of a plot ripped from the 2000 film “Bring It On,” in which a predominately white cheer squad rah-rahed their way to national competitions using elaborate cheers and routines stolen from a Black cheer squad across town. TikTok, which has amassed nearly a billion users worldwide, bills itself a community of “diverse and inspiring voices.” However, Black creatives feel the app could do a better job at promoting and supporting those voices.
“We care deeply about the experience of Black creators on our platform,” a spokesperson for TikTok told McClatchy News in a statement. “We continue to work every day to create a supportive environment for our community while also instilling a culture where honoring and crediting creators for their creative contributions is the norm.”
’People have no clue it’s me’
The sting of being snubbed is all too familiar for Black TikTokers, including college student Nicole Bloomgarden.
The 21-year-old is behind the viral “Out West” dance, set to a song of the same name by rappers Travis Scott and Young Thug. Bloomgarden posted her choreography on TikTok in 2019, Newsweek reported, where it gained popularity and was replicated by white TikTok stars Addison Rae Easterling and sisters Charli and Dixie D’Amelio.
Bloomgarden recalled her shock at seeing the trio perform her dance live, courtside at the 2020 NBA All-Star game in Chicago.
“I was like wow that’s crazy, like I created this dance out of the creativity of my own mind, and now these people are being invited to do it, all of these celebrities are doing it, and people have no clue it was me,” she told Newsweek.
Then 14-year-old Jalaiah Harmon finally got her moment to shine after a New York Times profile revealed that she was the original creator of the wildly popular “Renegade,” a fast, hard-hitting dance set to “Lottery” by Atlanta rapper K-Camp.
“I was happy my dance was all over,” Harmon told the newspaper at the time. “But I wanted credit for it.”
The Atlanta-area teen lamented over being robbed of recognition, brand deals, promotions and other opportunities often afforded to social media influencers: “I think I could have gotten money for it, ... I could’ve gotten famous off it, get noticed. I don’t think any of that stuff has happened for me because no one knows I made the dance.”
‘Black culture has been exploited’
Black creators like Harmon are looking to take their power back, and an augmented reality firm is helping them do that..
“Black culture has been exploited in all areas, especially when it comes to dance and music,” Isaiah Chavous, an employee at software company Jadu, told The Denver Post.
The firm has Colorado ties and specializes in augmented reality experiences for mobile devices. It recently created holograms of TikTok’s hottest dances, including Harmon’s, to be auctioned off as non-fungible tokens, or NFTs. The digital assets make it possible to claim ownership of digital art, music and videos, according to Forbes.
Harmon and fellow TikTokers Cookiee Kawaii (“Throw it Back” dance) and Blanco Brown (“The Git Up”) performed their iconic dances in a room full of cameras that recorded their every move, The Denver Post reported. On the Jadu app, their likenesses will appear next to whoever the user is filming, so they can dance in tandem.
“Now we can compensate the originators of these [TikTok] phenomena by immortalizing them in the physical world through digital means,” Chavous told the newspaper.
This story was originally published June 25, 2021 at 5:40 PM with the headline "Black TikTok creators strike to protest uncredited content. ‘Can’t do it without us’."