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Jalaiah Harmon--Renegade--Video credit Connie P

Keara Wilson--The Savage Video Credit Fresca Dance

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@thericklouis

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The Curious Case of Addison Rae and Chari D'amelio

In June of 2021, Megan Thee Station released her hit song "Th*t Sh*t", and as the case for today's music, fans waited patiently to see the accompanying dances on Tik Tok. These dances would not be debuted because simultaneously "Black Tik Tok" was going on strike. Black Tic Toker's refused to post any new dances, calling attention to White Tik Tokers stealing choreography and performing the routines as their own. Namely Charli D'amelio and Addison Rae.

Rae/D'amelio took to The Late Show with Jimmy Fallon to perform the popular dances. Rae performed the dance "Savage" along with 7 other dances. While on another appearance D'amelio performed a popular dance known as "Renegade". Both dances were created/ choreographed by two lesser known Black Tik Tokers Keara Wilson (Savage)/Jalaiah Harmon (Renegade). Wilson created/posted her dance "Savage" during the pandemic in March 2020, while Harmon's dance Renegade was created/posted in February 2020.

In addition to Jimmy Fallon D'amelio/Rae were invited to red carpet events like the Nickelodeon Awards, the NBA All Star Game, etc. Due to the backlash from Black Twitter/Tik Tok, the dance/dancers became the subject of national debate of cultural appropriation/ creative thievery. The backlash was so severe, after Rae/D'amelio's appearances, Fallon invited Wilson/Harmon to perform their dances via satellite unlike the in-person/live appearances Rae/D'amelio enjoyed.

In addition, Rae/D'amelio made substantial money courtesy of Wilson/Harmon's hard work/creativity. During this time many commenters' liking the thievery to the 2000 comedy Bring It On. Minimalizing Rae/D'amelio's stealing of intellectual property and presenting it as their own. Wilson/Harmon's effort helped skyrocket Rae/D'amelio's personal worth to over $20 million dollars a piece.

In closing, Black Twitter, Black Tik Tok etc is important to the social media landscape from anything trends to multi-million dollar ad campaigns using Black slang for example "on-fleek." Black Creators should be afforded the same opportunities as their white counterparts including job opportunities, accreditation for their work and appropriate pay for their intellectual property.

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"You’re writing about my hashtag and I see myself on your site and apparently I’m enough in 140 characters and yet I’m not what you’re looking for when you’re actually looking for a writer or an editor? When, really, that’s what I’m doing with my tweets all day long.... …she also believes that white media prefers hearing black stories filtered through the lens of white observers. “I think that they’re still hiring white people to tell our stories and saying, ‘Go out there and live among the natives and come back and tell us what you’ve found,’ instead of hiring the natives. ” April Reign @ReignofApril