Childish Gambinos This Is America — Tweet comparing Childish Gambino's pose in This Is America to a Jim Crow illustration

Childish Gambinos This Is America

2018viral videoclassic

Published August 10, 2026

"This Is America" is a 2018 Childish Gambino song whose Hiro Murai-directed music video pairs dance moves with sudden gun violence, sparking Twitter theory threads, r/MemeEconomy object-labeling posts, and a Vice-versus-meme-fans backlash. The clip later fueled a 2020 TikTok protest-edit wave and plagiarism claims tied to rapper Jase Harley.

music video memes hip hop memes protest memes object labeling 2018 memes

Overview

"This Is America" is a 2018 song by Childish Gambino, the rap alias of actor Donald Glover, best known for the Hiro Murai-directed music video that pairs upbeat dance moves with sudden acts of gun violence inside a warehouse1. The video was widely read as a critique of American racism, police brutality, and media distraction, with Glover's exaggerated poses drawing comparisons to Jim Crow-era caricatures1.

The clip's dense background staging, including a suicide, a rider on a pale horse, and the shooting of a gospel choir, turned it into an interpretive puzzle for viewers who paused frame-by-frame on Twitter2. Within days of release, stills from the video also became object-labeling meme templates on Reddit's r/MemeEconomy3.

Origin & Background

Platform
YouTube (release) / Reddit r/MemeEconomy (meme spread)
Key People
Childish Gambino, directed by Hiro Murai
Date
2018

On May 5, 2018, Glover appeared as musical guest on Saturday Night Live and premiered "This Is America," then uploaded the accompanying video to his YouTube channel the same night2. The clip pulled in over 10 million views in its first 24 hours and passed 17 million in under three days3. Director Hiro Murai, who also works on Glover's FX series Atlanta, shot the video in a single expansive warehouse space, with singer SZA making a brief cameo near the end2.

How It Spread

The Guardian called the video a "satirical masterpiece" and cataloged Twitter theories about Jim Crow imagery, black performance labor, and the "shoot" dance move distracting from the rioting staged behind Glover1. CNN highlighted how the guns in the video were handled more carefully than the human victims, tying the imagery to the ongoing gun control debate and the use of Black artists as a "brand shield"2. Within a week, stills spread on r/MemeEconomy as object-labeling posts, including one by user Thehusseler referencing recent Kanye West comments that topped 18,000 upvotes3.

On May 8, 2018, Vice published a piece arguing meme-makers should not turn the video into image macros because doing so reduced the source to a punchline3. The r/MemeEconomy Twitter account replied with "The Meme Economy is not meant for you," and mocking posts flooded r/MemeEconomy and r/dankmemes over the following days3. In late June, New Jersey rapper Jase Harley's 2016 track "American Pharaoh" resurfaced after fans flagged similar beat, flow, and subject matter; Metro reported Harley told Instagram commenters he was "not mad" but felt a shout out would have been "cool"4.

The song surfaced again on TikTok in 2020, when creator @carneyval posted a mashup with Post Malone's "Congratulations" on April 22 that was used in over 390,700 videos within a month3. During the George Floyd protests, protest edits from @kareemrahma on May 28 and @suecothechild on May 31 drew millions of views each in days3.

How to Use This Meme

The object-labeling format takes a still from the video, usually Glover striking a pose or firing a weapon, and labels the actors and objects to stand in for a real-world scenario, often something being ignored while a distraction plays in the foreground3. On TikTok, creators typically use the "This Is America" audio (or the Post Malone "Congratulations" mashup) as a backdrop for a jump-cut between a lighthearted moment and a serious social image3.

Frequently Asked Questions