‘Empire’ star Jussie Smollett uses his creative genius to tackle social injustice in the self-directed black-and-white music video for his new song, “F.U.W.” (F*ck’d Up World). The video brings awareness to racism, immigration, women’s rights, and the battle over transgender bathrooms; it also criticizes Donald Trump and his administration, and empower people through unity.
“This is not a single. It’s not a song to promote the series,” Smollett stated. “It’s an artistic expression. My view of this sick cycle, an era in which we must fight our way out of before it’s too late. This view of unity is something they may never understand. That is why it is up to us. Train your daughters and sons to be soldiers of love, despite and in spite of this F#$*’d Up World.”
Watch the powerful visual below:
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Smollett appeared on Friday’s episode of “The View” where he explained more in depth the meaning of the politically-charged video, insisting it’s not a “hate letter” to the president.
“I just feel like we as a nation, and essentially really as a world, we tend to have a thing that we do where we only stand up for the things that directly affect us,” said Jussie. He pointed out that he’s not a woman or transgender, doesn’t live in Flint and isn’t protesting at Standing Rock, “but I am a human being, and I am part of this world. It’s my opportunity and my responsibility to represent everybody.”
Asked about the moment where a person in a wheelchair ran over a mask of Trump, the actor-singer insisted, “This is not so much a hate letter to our current administration, but more so a love letter and a call to action to us that actually believe the same thing,” he said. “We can easily be turned into a fascist dictatorship with the way we’re going.”
He rejected the criticism his video is inciting violence, and the imagery overshadows his message. “This is for the oppressed. This isn’t for him,” Smollett said, adding, “If that is all you get from it, then my friend, you’re missing the point.” And when asked about Trump’s “jail time” tweet about Snoop Dogg’s controversial music video, the star said, “What’s amazing to me is he has so much time to tweet about these things, yet the first thing I thought of was all of the images of the white folks that had pictures of Obama during the Obama administration hung from a noose, and not once did I hear 45, when he wasn’t the President, step up on Twitter and say those people should be put in prison.”
Smollett went on to say, “I truly respect the office of the presidency of the United States. I do not respect the man who is in the office of presidency of the United States.” Calling for people to “stand up” and “resist,” he noted, “I’ve always led with love, and I’ll always lead with love. So I will only step up and stand up against someone who leads with hate.”
Watch below.
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