Late night host Jimmy Fallon invited Black TikTokers on The Tonight Show to make amends for allowing YouTube star Addison Rae to perform their dances without any credit to the creators, Blavity reported.
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On March 26, what was supposed to be a harmless segment on The Tonight Show became a raging, long-lasting dumpster fire of accusations and mockery. Viewers got to see Rae’s lackluster dance moves of popular choreographs like “Corvette, Corvette,” “Savage Love,” “Laffy Taffy,” and “Savage.”
Some viewers thought it was more painful to see Black representation without Black people getting involved, a practice referred to as “whitewashing.”
Mya Johnson, the 15-year-old girl who created the TikTok moves associated with Cardi B’s “Up,” told TMZ that it was a bittersweet moment to see her dance moves performed on live TV, even if she was not the one dancing.
“I was shocked and I was really happy ’cause it’s like my challenge made it all the way to TV, which is like—that’s crazy.” Johnson said. “But then as I started to think, I was like, ‘Dang, I wish that could’ve been me and Chris [Cotter] performing our own challenge at his show.’”
One video on Twitter amassed hundreds of thousands of retweets, comparing two Black teens to Rae’s rendition of Johnson’s “Up” choreography. The results are embarrassing.