(Left) A screenshot of the video by influencer James Charles; a tweet criticising his TikTok
TikTok and India have always had a strained relationship. After being removed from Google Play and Apple stores in India for a bit last year, in the past few months alone, the short-form video app has seen YouTubers calling for it to be banned, been at the receiving end of several attacks after it allowed a video glorifying acid attack to circulate, and finally, been all-out banned in India in June amid the rising tensions between India and China. The blanket ban in India, however, has not stopped Indians from calling out celebrities putting stuff up on TikTok that doesn’t make them happy.
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On August 8, when a TikTok video of YouTuber and makeup artist James Charles was posted on Twitter, several Indians were extremely pissed at it. The TikTok video sees Charles emoting to the audio of high-pitched Indian classical notes while using a filter with a wavy effect on the face.
Indians felt that the video was mocking Indian classical music and being casually racist. Using the audio wasn't the problem, many said. The fact that it was accompanied by a filter which humoured people, especially those who did not belong to the South Asian community, was what irked most. Some pointed out how Indian classical music takes years to master, and does not deserve being casually mocked.
Some others, however, did not agree to the criticism he received. They said, while the video was unfunny, it was a bit much to call it cultural appropriation or racist.
However, after being lashed at online, Charles deleted the video and kinda apologised for having offended people.
But he is not the only one to have used the audio or the accompanying filter. Pop singer Dua Lipa—who deleted it soon after—along with social media influencers Brent Rivera and Josh Peck, and several others made TikTok edits on the song. The filter and the audio have apparently grown to become a TikTok trend.
This is not the first time celebrities have been criticised for using Indian audios on TikTok Earlier this month, K-pop artist Sunmi and her dance group had uploaded a video dancing to the famous Punjabi song Tunak Tunak Tun, which also received criticism from her Indian fans. While she and her group later apologised and asserted they did not have any ill-intent, they also took the video down. Follow Satviki on Instagram.