Entertainment

Offensive? Pop Star and Rapper Make Music Video Recreating JFK Assassination

Is it too soon to use the life (and death) of President John F. Kennedy as inspiration in pop music videos?

That’s the question posed by the music video “National Anthem,” a song by pop star Lana Del Rey. The video, which depicts Del Rey in a romantic relationship with rapper A$AP Rocky as the fictional “President,” is deliberately designed to invoke everything about the Kennedy years.

Lana Del Rey and Rapper A$AP Rocky Make Music Video for Song National Anthem That Recreates Kennedy Assassination

The video is shot in grainy film reminiscent of 60′s era footage, Del Rey dons an assortment of costumes reminiscent of Jackie O, and even opens the video singing “Happy Birthday Mr. President” in the style of Marilyn Monroe. Perhaps most shockingly, though, it concludes with a sequence that will stir several highly problematic memories in the minds of older viewers. To just give you a hint, here’s how that segment opens:

Lana Del Rey and Rapper A$AP Rocky Make Music Video for Song National Anthem That Recreates Kennedy Assassination

However, the video isn’t meant to be strictly a recreation of the Kennedy Presidency — the Kennedy figure in the video, after all, is black, a difference which the New York Daily News claims was intentional:

Directed by Anthony Mandler, there is an extra level of metaphor in “National Anthem”: Does their interracial relationship (complete with two beautiful young children) lead to the assassination attempt?

“Anytime you’re dealing with the American Camelot of the Kennedys, you’re dealing with a packed powder keg,” Mandler told MTV News. “And really, what Lana was trying to do — this was her concept, she came to me with it, and I kind of dug it out with her — was really look and explore an archetype. Just like Shakespeare wrote ‘Romeo and Juliet,’ and that became the archetype of the forbidden love story.”

A complicated allegory is obviously at work here. But at the risk of second-guessing the artist, we have to ask whether this particular “forbidden love” story was really in the best taste. In any case, we invite you to watch the full music video below and make up your own mind:

Comments (30)

  • TheCalis
    Posted on July 10, 2012 at 10:44pm

    Did any of you even watch the video? It appropriates the event, and whether you think that in itself is disrespectful or not is up to you, but it’s clearly meant to be reverent of that somber moment. The singer in the video doesn’t rap, and the rapper himself has no lines. A lot of the commenters here are clearly just venting attitudes that have no place in respectful society.

    Report Post »  
  • BlessedONE333
    Posted on June 29, 2012 at 8:01pm

    Matthew 13:16
    But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.

    LOL the illuminati are not very creative – in fact they tell you everything they are going to do – before they do it.

    DO YOU SEE IT CHRISTIANS?
    it’s very simple. the black man – worshiped by the white woman -
    trying to equate obama to kennedy as the great hope -
    the words telling you that MONEY is the national anthem – [my personal favorite when they say it out loud and over obvious]

    all demonic – all preparing you –

    as soon as the illuminati do not need you anymore – they get rid of you. as soon as obama can’t meet their needs they will destroy him, make a martyr of him etc – its what they do best – MANIPULATION.

    1 Timothy 6:10
    For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

    EVIL wants you to just go to work and not pay attention to their propaganda – but God wants you to SEEK HIM AND HIS KINGDOM

    Report Post » BlessedONE333  
  • LeadNotFollow
    Posted on June 29, 2012 at 6:47pm

    …
    I’m waiting for the Black rapper video of “Mohammed the pedophile”.

    Report Post »  
  • LeadNotFollow
    Posted on June 29, 2012 at 6:45pm

    …
    Kennedy was our first Black President?
    I thought Clinton was our first Black President.

    Report Post »  
  • Tennessee Veteran
    Posted on June 29, 2012 at 1:58pm

    Will there be a sequel featuring Martin Luther King, Jr. or Malcom X?

    Report Post » Tennessee Veteran  
  • Scaz
    Posted on June 29, 2012 at 1:48pm

    This is not the first rap video to mock the Kennedy assassination.

    Express Yourself by NWA (NSFW): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u31FO_4d9TY

    Report Post » Scaz  
  • Misand
    Posted on June 29, 2012 at 6:29am

    its called sadpop…and I love her music if you watch “the prince and the showgirl” with marilyn Monroe it makes more sense

    Report Post »  
  • JACKTHETOAD
    Posted on June 28, 2012 at 1:43pm

    Scamelot. Plain english.

    Report Post » JACKTHETOAD  
  • Ih8Taxes
    Posted on June 28, 2012 at 1:11pm

    Remember when music used to be fun instead of political? Those were the days…

    Report Post » Ih8Taxes  
  • Saggar
    Posted on June 28, 2012 at 12:07pm

    Watch the movie Idiocracy and then decide it the movie is prophetic or not.

    Report Post »  
  • sjohn70037
    Posted on June 28, 2012 at 9:54am

    These low-lifes have no respect for themselves why be surprised they have no respect for a president that contributed to their fair treatment under the law? Can’t be amazed when morons do what it is morons do.

    Report Post » sjohn70037  
  • castuslonginus
    Posted on June 28, 2012 at 9:34am

    Me and my whole family plan not to watch(ever)anything rap, hiphop,urban ect. I must say though, I came home the other day and my 14yo. was listening to “My Generation”loudly. where did I go wrong?

    Report Post »  
    • KeystoneState
      Posted on June 28, 2012 at 9:59am

      What ever happened to making music that is enjoyable to listen to? It seem anymore that if its not controversial, crass or consumer marketed cookie-cutter crap, aka “Pop”, its not on the air.

      Report Post » KeystoneState  
  • Stoic one
    Posted on June 28, 2012 at 9:31am

    I watched that fateful parade…

    I wonder if this is an attempt at predicting the future? for the big o?

    Like much that the mainstream media puts out lacks dignity.

    Report Post » Stoic one  
  • dusko
    Posted on June 28, 2012 at 9:27am

    I hate the blaze for subjecting me to such junk.

    Report Post » dusko  
  • Magyar
    Posted on June 28, 2012 at 9:08am

    This is how warped their sense of humor is—sick.

    Even the death of a President in not respected.

    Any wonder why they RARELY debate an issue–instead revert to character assassination or worse!

    Report Post »  
  • Ed_Kel
    Posted on June 28, 2012 at 8:38am

    I’m becoming more and more ashamed to what the human race is finding “popular”. This isn’t music; this is insulting to be labeled as such.

    By the way – if a woman I was with ever held her nose that high I’d kick her out of my Bugatti Veyron on the way to the Hamptons.

    Report Post »  
  • Meyvn
    Posted on June 28, 2012 at 8:34am

    Lame.

    Report Post » Meyvn  
  • biohazard23
    Posted on June 28, 2012 at 8:26am

    Lana who?

    Report Post » biohazard23  
  • GeorgieJo
    Posted on June 28, 2012 at 8:13am

    IF HBO can put GWBush on a stick—-why are the Kennedys untouchable?
    Agree its horrible but Obummer did insert himself in photos with past presidents
    Crap is Rap or Rap is Crap

    OMG 2012

    Report Post »  
  • mama6
    Posted on June 28, 2012 at 8:00am

    Shameful!!!

    Report Post »  
  • soybomb315
    Posted on June 28, 2012 at 7:55am

    i suppose many americans will learn who JFK is after watching that video

    Report Post » soybomb315  
  • huey6367
    Posted on June 28, 2012 at 7:52am

    Not meant to be a recreation of the Kennedy assassination? I cry shennigans on this. How can it not recreate the Kennedy assassination? Starts with someone singing Happy Birthday to the President – Marilyn Monroe style? Shows two people, that strangley look like JFK and Jackie driving in a convertible? Sounds strangely similar. Does the Pop culture have no originality anymore? “Let’s use something that happened almost 50 years ago. OK, I can’t come up with that on my own”.

    Report Post »  
  • piper60
    Posted on June 28, 2012 at 7:51am

    This is the rapper’s attempt to equate Obama with Kennedy.

    Report Post » piper60  

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