Donald Glover, aka Childish Gambino, topped a huge weekend with the release of the explosive video “This Is America” after the show aired late Saturday. By Monday morning the Vevo/YouTube video had surpassed 16 million views.
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UPDATE: By mid-afternoon Monday, the video was approaching 21 million views.
Comedian, writer, actor,singer and now rapper Donald Glover, aka Childish Gambino, began his weekend hosting Saturday Night Live.
He appeared in almost every segment, including this sketch where he skewers the lack of black characters in films and television shows about outer space. Glover will appear in the soon to be released Star Wars film, ‘Solo.”
Unsurprisingly, Glove was also his own musical guest. Childish Gambino performed live. Gambino recently signed with RCA, after 3 albums with Glassnote, as well as a new publishing deal with Kobalt.
But is was the explosive video released late that night that got the most attention online. “This Is America” references many of the country’s recent mass shootings from the Charleston, SC church shootings to Florida’s Stoneman Douglas High School.
As Childish Gambino raps about the cost of gun violence, he is accompanied by dancers who borrow from 10 popular old and new dances including Gwara Gwara, which originated in South Africa, according to Forbes contributor Adrienne Gibbs who did an analysis of the video.
By Monday morning. “This Is America” had garnered 16 million views, and appeared to be adding 250,000 views an hour.