Social media fires back, calls this statement racist
Social media, you can get a message out to your fans instantaneously. The problem or revealing nature of this is we often get the unfiltered and the emotionally charged peek of how someone feels, often to their own detriment.
Not one to shy away from letting his feelings known, car Youtuber Alex Choi blasted out an Instagram story earlier this week letting his followers know where he stands on rappers owning high-dollar McLaren supercars.
In twenty words, Alex Choi said rappers ruined luxury brands like Gucci and Lamborghini and to please not ruin McLarens by making them “trap.”
As quickly as he shared it, it was deleted, but, not before everyone with enough sense to call him out, screenshot the offensive story to unpack on their own feeds
Not only did they share the story, they called out the statement for what it is, racist and ignorant.
Here’s a screenshot of his story passed around on Twitter below.
Aye what did Alex Choi mean by this ?? pic.twitter.com/ifw5Ok6zX4
— Cowboy T ? (@Terrence_KS) November 12, 2021
he meant to say "baby im racist"
— Pilly D. Drilliams (@CodeineKobe_) November 12, 2021
Naw, the man’s just racist. “Simplest explanation…” and all that.
— Dragon (Weird Car Witch) Fish (@DragonFishOfish) November 13, 2021
Although using “rappers” does not call out a certain race, it has implications that do. Hip Hop music developed by rap artists is a music genre intertwined with the history of inner-city African Americans. Calling out rappers is calling out the people that formed it.
It’s also a bad idea to refer to ruining something as making it “ghetto.” The word has a long history in American English that, according to linguistic Anthropolofist George Broadwell, means “poor and urban, cheap, substandard. When used by people who are not African-American, the word is…offensive.”
If it wasn’t already abundantly clear this Instagram story is racially charged, Choi using the “trap” just like he used “ghetto,” as an insult, makes it certain.
Trap is a sub-genre of rap popularized in the Southern United States. Trap artists frequently use supercars like Lamborghinis and McLarens in their videos as status symbols.
Twitter user @OneEyedRakim breaks it down for us.
Make them “black” , them using trap is another way of saying black
— Hakeem (@OneEyedRakim) November 12, 2021
A five-year-old using these words during recess is arguably forgivable, grounds for a teachable moment. Young kids are impressionable, learn racism by being indoctrinated into it as OK, and don’t know any better.
Choi is *looks up age* 22, an adult with an internet connection who should be responsible enough to look up and know the weighted meaning behind his words before vomiting them out on Instagram.
Your making it seem like he is a racist. Y’all are just implying on what he said. He never said, “ Make them black.” Y’all are taking it out of context and pulling the race card and the poor me card too. The cars they put the wraps on are absolutely ugly and I 100% agree that they shouldn’t go on the cars.