How TikTok Turned a Black Creator's Trauma into a Trend
We’ve all seen the trend on TikTok, but do you know where it started? Joey Cassanova, a former MMA fighter, uploaded a video to TikTok that went viral, but for reasons that ignored the original message of his video. Cassanova’s video was meant to show the many traumatic experiences and events he has faced during his life, such as child abuse, foster care, being molested, depression, PTSD, the murder of his ex-wife, the loss of his father two months ago and three heart attacks. The video pictured Cassanova pretending to be shot by a spray of bullets while attempting to walk forward while words of his experiences flashed across the screen, ultimately portraying the message of “If only you knew what I’ve been through.” Before he knew it, Cassanova’s video audio was being used by thousands of others making versions of their own. The difference though, was that these creators, who are predominately white, have used the audio to complain about trivial inconveniences in their lives or first world problems. Some examples include missing a final exam, having small boobs, not having working jets in a hot tub, regretful hookups, etc.
The audio is a slowed-down version of Vicetone and Tony Igy’s “Astronomia,” which incorporated the gunshot noises. Cassanova described the audio to Rolling Stones as very fitting for the type of message he wanted to convey. With now more than 185,000 videos under the same audio, people have turned the audio Cassanova used into a humorous and privileged trend. Whether people are aware of the original video or not, most did not even credit Cassanova for the video in the process. This is a prime example of white people’s failure to credit Black creators for their work and listen to Black voices and experiences. Discrediting Black creators has been an issue for a very long time and has recently come to people’s attention on platforms like TikTok. We all know the Renegade dance, but did you know Addison Rae and Charli D’ Amelio didn’t actually come up with it? No, they just made it famous because they are white creators, whose content is never not promoted on the TikTok “For You Page.” Jalaiah Harmon, a 14-year-old dancer created the dance back in 2019. This is just another example of Black creators’ content being stolen by white creators on social media. Tia C.M. Tyree, professor and interim associate dean of the Cathy Hughes School of Communications at Howard University explained more in depth to Rolling Stones, “Black people have always been trendsetters. Therefore our content has been consistently taken.” She goes on to mention how “With social media and the pervasive nature of it, the magnitude of it is not only incredible, but easily seen.”
People use Tik Tok for a variety of reasons: to share moments of vulnerability and hardship, to spread awareness, to produce humorous content, to simply interact with others, to post cooking, dancing, travel, skits and workout videos — basically anything at all. Let us remember to elevate each other’s voices, listen to others, be respectful and always give credit where credit is due.
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