TheQuartering [3/29/2021]
This is why we can’t have nice things.
Jimmy Fallon may have booked one of the biggest social media stars on his show with Addison Rae, but not everyone is excited about the TikTok celebrity’s late night stint. Rae, who appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon last Friday (March 26), joined Fallon on stage to show off some the dances she performs TikTok; but users of the platform were quick to point out that it wasn’t Rae who originated the choreography — it was mostly Black creators who weren’t receiving the same credit or attention.
In the bit, titled “Addison Rae Teaches Jimmy 8 TikTok Dances,” Fallon holds up different cue cards with the names of popular TikTok dances on them while Rae shows him how to do each one. Not long after it was posted on Friday, the clip went viral as people began to call out Fallon for featuring Rae, who is white, performing the dances, and not the Black creators who first introduced them, per Buzzfeed. Fallon also left out the names of the creators, leaving Rae as the face of some of the most popular dances.
“Stealing from black entertainers and having white ‘creators’ regurgitate it to the masses is american history 101,” one Twitter user replied to the video of Rae’s performance. Another commented, “Jimmy Fallon is a prime example of performative activism. The chance to bring out black creators but finds one yt girl instead to do the dances created by black creators.”