The sixth anniversary of Childish Gambino’s This is America sent this uncanny Call Me Maybe overdub viral again
It’s an astonishing six years since Childish Gambino – the musical alter ego of actor Donald Glover – released his powerful commentary on violence and racism in the US.
The award-winning video led to a number of parodies, with one by YouTuber LOTI replacing the song with Carly Rae Jepson‘s Call Me Maybe. It worked a lot better than you’d expect.
CW: Simulated shooting.
When popculture reminded people of the anniversary of the original song, Meesh Hell gave a shout out to the edit.
The song is getting way more hate than it deserves, but I still think the Call Me Maybe version of the video is the best thing that came out of that year https://t.co/m754bG9NOu pic.twitter.com/u9iLTpS3gL
— Meesh Hell (@waziot) May 6, 2024
Some people were seeing it for the first time, but even those who weren’t were reminded just how good a fit it was.
1.
god forgive me but if anyone needs me I’m lost in this for the foreseeable https://t.co/muDpZA1ToI
— Sorcha Ní Nia (@Luiseach) May 7, 2024
2.
I missed this at the time and have watched it like 12 times this morning alone. https://t.co/jk7PkrsI2x
— Sam Whyte (@SamWhyte) May 8, 2024
3.
This is crazy. Childish Gambino’s video but to Carly Rae Jepsen’s Call Me Maybe. pic.twitter.com/64sh66c3WF
— Tim Brannigan (@tim_brannigan) May 8, 2024
4.
I've never seen this before, and my god the timing is perfect https://t.co/bZUtjJ2Sjv
— Buckfast at Tiffany's (@DismalChips) May 7, 2024
5.
Omg the synergy here is off the charts
— chris chambers. (@ofchambers) May 6, 2024
6.
This is just genius! "Call me Maybe" to the "This is America" video!
They were meant to be! pic.twitter.com/tOyYkgjTzQ— Citizen X (@Xma1e) May 7, 2024
7.
This is incredible https://t.co/BRw4azthKL
— Cara Lisette (@CaraLisette) May 7, 2024
8.
Whoever made this should win an award. https://t.co/soDW0riaaM
— Sarah Quiara (@SarahQ) May 7, 2024
9.
Wait how did I miss this mashup I might never stop laughing https://t.co/4WffiiDHW3
— Helen 侯-Sandí (@helenhousandi) May 7, 2024
10.
I’m not sure I can ever forgive any of u for not telling me this existed for SIX WHOLE YEARS https://t.co/UFfksCsKb7
— aly (@omgimaly) May 8, 2024
It turned out to be a bit of a coincidence, given that Kendrick Lamar and Drake are currently embroiled in a very public rap beef.
I didn’t know this version happened despite all the many parodies of this song. This is the greatest
Also crazy that this got brought back up right now since it was originally supposed to be a Drake diss. https://t.co/m1BUSILMgW
— Jim Rot Video (@JimRotVideo) May 7, 2024
If you want to see (and hear) the original Childish Gambino video, you can do that here.
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Source LOTI Image Screengrab, Screengrab
