LMFAO’s Redfoo defends his appearance on ‘sexist’ song ‘Literally I Can’t’

Rapper faces calls to be sacked from 'The X Factor Australia'

US rapper and judge on The X Factor Australia Redfoo has defended his appearance on a music video that has been widely condemned for its misogyny.

Redfoo, better known as one half of LMFAO, said the video for song ‘Literally I Can’t’ by production duo Play-N-Skillz was in fact satirical and targeted frat house culture – the very thing it is being criticised for.

He wrote on Twitter: “Another example of critics victimizing an artist by purposefully misinterpreting his/her work to support a pre-existing agenda. #LiterallyICant.” The rapper added that he “respects women” and believes they “are the most powerful people on this planet”.

Advertisement

The video for ‘Literally I Can’t’ mocks a group of sorority girls who show up to a frat house and are pressured into doing what the boys tell them to do, such as drinking, dancing and “girl on girl“. The girls repeat the words “literally, I can’t” to which they are told to “shut the fuck up“.

It then describes the girls as being “transformed one at a time into girls gone wild]”. Lines spoken by Redfoo include: “You got a big ol’ butt, I can tell by the way you walking, but you annoy me because you’re talking” and “get loud while I Instagram ya“.

A petition on Change.org has now attracted more than 12,000 signatures asking Australia’s Channel 7 to sack the artist from The X Factor Australia. Several media outlets have also condemned the video, including Ninemsn’s The Fix, who announced in an open letter that they would no longer write about the artist in protest.

Since the video was uploaded to Youtube by Redfoo’s label Party Rock, Fans have taken to the comment sections to express their disapproval. User Shelfplant wrote: “So the whole concept here is ‘Isn’t it awful when women say no’, complete with misogynistic feminine stereotype, sexual objectification and verbal aggression towards women. Tedious.”

User Maya c added: “Im so confused with our society i thought women were NOT supposed to drink and party hard but are supposed to turn down alcohol and the advances of men. What am I supposed to do? Society please make up your mind.”

There was a similar backlash against Robin Thicke’s ‘Blurred Lines’ last year, which was seen to condone sexual assault. As a result, Thicke’s album ‘Paula’ ended up selling only 350 copies in its first week of release in the UK.

Advertisement

You May Also Like

Advertisement

TRENDING

Advertisement

More Stories