Namewee Accused Of Disrespecting BLACKPINK & Sexualising Women In His Latest MV
Allegations of Wee disrespecting women are not completely unfounded as he had earlier this year uploaded a video that talked about Instagrammers in a disparaging manner. However, it is unsure whether the video was meant to be satirical.
By Yap Wan Xiang — 02 Jun 2021, 07:23 PM
Depending on who you ask, Malaysian rapper-director Namewee is either a musical genius, fearless social activist, patriot, controversial filmmaker, or racial tension inciter
This time, the singer is accused of disrespecting women following the release of his latest music video titled You Know Who Is My Father?
Uploaded on YouTube last Friday, 28 May, the six-minute long music video is sponsored by an online casino and it is said to be a parody of the prevalence of Datuks in Malaysia.
Namewee — whose real name is Wee Meng Chee — can be seen playing a character who is the son of a wealthy person in most parts of the video. While in that character, he parties with scantily-dressed women and constantly flaunts his father's wealth.
Writing in the description of the video, he says, "The moral of the song - don't play play with rich people, they can PIAK your face anytime they want, even in the steamboat restaurant."
The Chinese caption of the video echoed the same, saying Malaysia produces many "frogs, Datuks, and Datuks' sons".
The caption seems to reference an incident in January, in which a Datuk was caught assaulting a young man whose father is also a Datuk.
However, netizens did not find fault in that aspect of the music video. Instead, they were peeved by a line of lyrics that says "Always look at BLACKPINK and masturbate".
Myriads of BLACKPINK fans claimed that the derogatory line is uncalled for. The hypersexualisation of women in the video also made many netizens accuse Wee of disrespecting women.
The comment section of the video has since been inundated with chants of "Respect BLACKPINK, respect Rosé, respect Jisoo, respect Jennie, respect Lisa, respect women"
"I wouldn't care if he mentioned BLACKPINK as a praise but not as a sexual image. Be a man, not a boy. Respect woman in general," one YouTube user commented.
Another person added, "You can make a song without disrespecting women/group etc..."
"Looks like someone needs to go back to his [high school] days so he can know what's the meaning of 'respecting women'," a netizen criticised.
"So you really like to make controversial things. Is that your way to attract attention to your [work]?" questioned a viewer.
However, some people stood up for Wee, saying the rapper does not disrespect women or BLACKPINK as he was merely playing a flamboyant braggart, who is expected to have such a behaviour
A fan who claimed to be from Hong Kong also defended Wee, explaining how BLACKPINK fans have taken the derogatory remark out of context.
One netizen contended that the majority of the song criticises a spoilt rich man — which has a positive message — but most comments on the video disregarded the fact and focused only on one line of the lyrics.
A viewer said most of the commenters here were made by "snowflakes".
Wee has a history of being a succès de scandale, with his works often ruffling feathers of politicians, police, and the law
Prior to this, he had a controversy surrounding his award-winning film Babi. Police reports were lodged against him as certain parties claimed the movie incited racial tension and had many racial slurs on its movie poster.
Perhaps his most controversial work was a parody of the Malaysia national anthem, which he titled Negarakuku and reuploaded to YouTube in 2015. The video, which shot him to notoriety, was first published in 2007.
With that said, allegations of Wee disrespecting women are not completely unfounded as he had on 26 February uploaded a video to discuss 'Annoying Insta Babies'.
In the video, he talks about five things he does not wish to see from an Instagrammer. Among those, he says he feels disgusted every time Instagrammers upload photos with their boyfriends.
"This is the most crucial point of all. Can you please stop posting those lovey-dovey photos after you've got a new boyfriend and got married? I'd always unfollow once I see them," Wee said.
"The reason is simple: because that's gross."
He also repeatedly admits that he loves seeing Instagrammers' voluptuous bodies and encourages various lascivious behaviours.
However, it is unsure whether he was serious or if it was a satire, as he uses an adenoidal voice throughout the video — which is not common in his Tokok (a wordplay of 'talk c-ck') series.
Regardless whether he intended the video to be a satire or not, it went on to garner over 400,000 views.
Many comments cheered Wee for "daring to speak on behalf of the men". A handful of netizens left sexist comments that concur with the idea that Instagrammers should exist for their beauty — and not for their personalities and life experiences.
