NLE Choppa in August of 2020. Photo Credit: Bryson Johnson
YouTube has removed the music video for NLE Choppa’s “Paradise” because the track contains a “fake-ass coronavirus” lyric in violation of the Google-owned platform’s “COVID-19 Medical Misinformation Policy.”
NLE Choppa, full name Bryson Lashun Potts, recently announced that YouTube had pulled the official video for “Paradise,” the final track on his newest mixtape, From Dark to Light. Predictably, however, the roughly three-minute-long music video has resurfaced on other channels, including in several reaction clips.
And interestingly, despite the fact that the music video itself doesn’t appear to violate YouTube’s policies (aside from the lyric, that is), the official audio version of “Paradise” was still live on NLE Choppa’s YouTube account at the time of this piece’s writing. Potts uploaded the audio version of “Paradise” on Monday, November 2nd.
“Folks straight deleted me because they know the message I’m speaking is powerful. This is some BS,” wrote the 18-year-old rapper, whose tweet featured a screenshot of YouTube’s removal request.
In a different post, the Memphis, Tennessee-born creator and internet personality — who’s also advocated alternative medicines and claimed that COVID-19 vaccines “will remove parts of your DNA and replace it with GENETIC CODING (TECHNOLOGY)” this month — appeared to suggest that YouTube is targeting his content on a broader scale.
“I’ve been undergoing the most blackballing s—t ever. Every time I drop my songs,” penned NLE Choppa, “YouTube either crashes, I get a spam
, a dislike that blocks it from trending, and today, I drop the “PARADISE” video, and they straight deleted my s—t. They hate a smart melanin king and it’s been showing ALOT.”Worth noting is that the “Paradise” lyrics at the center of the YouTube takedown and the controversy represent a small portion of the track.
The vocals in question arrive at about the 2:50 mark of the work: “Ain’t wearin’ no mask, n—a, f—k the pilot / Fake-ass coronavirus / Cops killin’, startin’ riots / Perception is what you decide.”
YouTube’s COVID-19 Medical Misinformation Policy, for its part, bars creators from claiming in their videos “that COVID-19 doesn’t exist or that people do not die from it.” The “fake-ass coronavirus” lyric in “Paradise” was evidently enough to violate the guideline, but it’s unclear whether NLE Choppa’s off-platform comments contributed to the ultra-fast takedown, or why the audio version remains live.
To be sure, the next two YouTube COVID-19 Medical Misinformation Policy specifications prohibit content encouraging “the use of home remedies in place of medical treatment such as consulting a doctor” or videos that tout “the use of prayer or rituals in place of medical treatment.”
“Paradise” is still available for streaming on Spotify – as are the anti-Semitic works of rapper Freeze Corleone, even though he was dropped by Universal Music Group and criticized by multiple French politicians for the music.
it’s song lyrics. if they delete this, then they should delete all the other songs with false information, like every rap song bragging about shooting, or with fake characters like Eleanor Rigby, etc. That musical Cats? Cat’s can’t sing, delete. “Hey Diddle Diddle”? Cows can’t factually jump over the moon, delete.
You’re an idiot. Comparing cows jumping over the moon to someone perpetuating that a current deadly pandemic is fake? Cmon, get you head straight.
that was helpful.