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Druski's latest sketch has hit dogs (predators and their allies) hollering
TW: Mention of sexual assault, rape
I don’t know if I should say anything. But I will. Until my brother convinced me earlier (I do not take requests), I was fully ready to ignore the conversation surrounding internet comedian/content creator Druski’s now-deleted sketch. Not because the conversation isn’t an important one, but because of what I told you all last week: I’m protecting my peace. Part of me doesn’t even feel qualified to speak on the video in question because I am not an active consumer of Druski’s content. Once in a while, reaction GIFs of him appear on my timeline and his skits find their way to my corner of the web, but his sphere of influence —and it is a large one— has not really touched me yet.
In summary, Druski posted a skit captioned, “That Friend that tries to make the girls OVERLY Drink [laughing emoji, facepalm emoji]” where he acts as a “creepy” guy at a kickback trying to get the women there drunk without actually participating in the drinking himself. There’s an implication that he’s doing it because he’ll have a better chance at getting with them. Throughout the video, he’s egging the women on take more and more shots and pretends to take shots alongside them while he’s really missing his mouth or only sipping his liquor. One part is edited to look like the group is drinking on Instagram Live, and he and his other male friend are dapping each other up in the background, feeling accomplished.
It’s obvious that Druski’s video is meant to make fun of the ways some men act at parties, not to encourage the behavior. But the real discourse resulting is one that questions intent versus impact: Even if this skit was just meant to be a light laugh, the severity of the subject matter kept it from being taken that way. Yes, it is a satire in line with the typical themes this creator uses in his videos, but viewers pointed out that this specific video was not just about corny dudes, it was also about predatory practices and rape culture.
Everyone is not placing the blame on Druski for making the skit, in fact there’s a lot of people applauding him and arguing he shouldn’t have deleted it because it shines a light on an important issue. What’s really missing here is the language, or lacktherof, that would’ve distinguished the behavior demonstrated in this video as sinister, whearas other Druski videos like, “That friend that’s Overly Aggressive in front of girls,” are not. Although, both are eerily accurate commetaries. I’m not a comedian, and literally do not care about the state of comedy the way so many of you pretended to after this year’s Academy Awards, but I don’t think it’s unfair to challenge them to dig deeper and unpack their work like this sometimes.
The discussion is necessary, no matter how many “comedy fans” will say it’s dragged or buzzkilling. Too many people in real life, specifically cisgender heterosexual men, actually do believe that what’s being acted out in this video is just comedy. Across cultures and communities, pretatory behavior is downplayed as being ridiculous, weird, creepy, or bothersome. If you’ve ever partied before, you’ve likely seen this play out right in front of you. Whether it’s a too drunk girl being cornered by a guy at a function while her friends try to pull her away from him, or a random drink being passed to you by someone who refuses to explain what’s in it or where it came from. When you see women holding hands to find a bathroom together, it’s not because we want to be close for the sake of it. We cannot afford to lose a friend at the bar, club or house party because of the risk. And unless someone is physically harmed (not even then, most of the time), we’re expected to shrug off these situations like they’re not that serious.
I’m not going to get into the part where fans are saying that Druski is being “canceled” over this video. No one ever gets canceled. Bill Cosby is literally chilling in his Pennyslvania mansion as I type this. This skit has accidentally taken on a life of it’s own, and that’s a good thing. More of us should be be pointing out and recognizing rape culture and how it shows up in our daily lives. The stuff that goes down at parties is like the the 101 class on this shit (pardon my French!), and we haven’t even been able to master that. Until everyone can name what’s being shown in Druski’s video for what it actually is without the downplaying or the sugarcoating, then we’ll stay right here, class. I’ll wait.
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