Childish Gambino’s This is America, one of 2018’s most critically acclaimed music videos, tackles the United States’ gun problem and the systemic racism faced by its minorities.
It’s not exactly a fun song, so a few netizens were baffled when Filipino YouTuber Mikey Bustos remixed it for his latest video posted on Saturday, which was titled This is the Philippines. The video was uploaded just in time for the country’s National Heroes’ Day celebration.
The video looks like a tourism ad for the country, complete with a fiesta in full swing and shots of Filipino food.
Watch it for yourself:
It has gone viral, with more than 43,600 views on YouTube and has been shared more than 1,800 times on Facebook.
Bustos made a name for himself for creating videos that highlight only positive attributes of Filipinos, so it’s not exactly surprising that this new content had #PinoyPride written all over it.
But his critics cannot help but tell him that it totally missed the mark.
One of his followers on YouTube called the video “narcissistic.”
Wrote a user named Eiji Tomiyama: “What made the original ‘This is America’ such a masterpiece was that while on the surface it was all fun and delightful (as seen from the smiles and the dancing to the happy music), it showcased the the (sic) other side of America (the real America) where problems of gun violence, consumerism, and racial suppression still remains.”
“It showed us that we the people, despite being aware of such problems, choose to look away and focus on the good happy stuff, instead of facing the ongoing issues in our current society. Not only that this video contradicts (sic) the whole message of the original, it is clearly a missed opportunity. It could have spread awareness to millions, but instead ended up as a typical narcissistic, self-praising Filipino video,” Tomiyama ended.
One user said Bustos might offend other people.
Another user, who goes by the name Seelenzerfall, wrote that using This is America feels wrong: “The original song makes an important statement for all colored people. This was a missed chance to not only show the positive sides of the Philippines, but also the huge problems [the] Philippines is dealing with. It’s not only fun in the Philippines and we all know it.”
Yet many of his Facebook followers clearly loved it.
One of its admirers, Nik Capiral, wrote: “Always happy so proud of you Mikey. Hoping as a fellow [P]inoy who now live[s] in Bathurst and Eglinton area, misses everything in the Philippines. Just for my kids that [I] am holding on living here. Hoping [I] can meet your personally and hugs (sic) you for doing this.”
Another user by the name of Marc Piramide called it hilarious. “Hahaha Mikey, you’re awesome. I don’t know how you do it but man, this is hilarious!” said Piramide.
Do you think Bustos should have used a different song? Let us know by tweeting to @CoconutsManila.
