There are a lot of words that can be used to describe the performance by so-called B-girl Rachael Gunn aka Raygun at the Paris Olympics. Most people on social media have rightfully called it “cringe,” “embarrassing” and “stupid.” Black people who care about the way something our culture created is presented on the world stage called it a “mockery,” and the “gentrification of Hip- Hop,” among other unflattering nouns and adjectives. People who enjoyed laughing at Raygun’s ridiculous Kangaroo Stomp may have called it “amusing” or even “hilarious.” Writing for NewsOne, Dr. Stacey Patton called it a “modern-day minstrel.”
One word that should not be used by anyone to describe Raygun’s routine is “defendable.”
MOREThe Privilege To Fail: How Rachael ‘Raygun’ Gunn’s Olympic Routine Made Breakdancing A Global Joke
In fact, in my opinion, the only thing more “embarrassing,” “cringe,” “amusing,” “hilarious” and “stupid” than the dance itself are the people who are stretching themselves to defend Raygun’s “mockery” and caucasity-infused “gentrification of Hip-Hop” by way of a “modern-day minstrel.” The only people who reach Gunn’s level of pure Caucasian obnoxiousness are the family members, Olympic judges and other assorted white people who are using words like “courage” and “dignity” to describe what it took for this privileged white woman to get on the global stage and embarrass herself, and words like “originality” to describe what she brought to that stage.
According to Fox Sports, Martin Gilian, the head judge in the Breaking competition, said with a straight face that Gunn losing 18-0, 18-0, and 18-0 against the USA, France and Lithuania was not a sign that she didn’t do a good job flopping around on the ground and impersonating either a kangaroo, bunny or velociraptor while hopping around like a toddler trying to get her mother’s attention. Gilian…
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