Avril Lavigne: Is Her ‘Hello Kitty’ Video Racist?

Avril Lavigne is causing a bit of a stir with one of her recent music videos. Called Hello Kitty, the song features the singer performing with a group of Asian dancers as she drinks sake. Some people ...
Avril Lavigne: Is Her ‘Hello Kitty’ Video Racist?
Written by Kimberly Ripley
  • Avril Lavigne is causing a bit of a stir with one of her recent music videos. Called Hello Kitty, the song features the singer performing with a group of Asian dancers as she drinks sake. Some people have deemed the video racist and embarrassing.

    Other people take the song’s lyrics to be suggestive–meaning that the intent behind the title--Hello Kitty–is a double entendre. Others find the expressionless Asian dancers to be no different than using Tokyo as a prop.

    In a recent interview, Avril tried explaining the video and the title away. She said that although it is “flirtatious and somewhat sexual” it is “genuinely about my love for Hello Kitty as well!”

    Well, that might very well be the case, but it doesn’t make the production of the music video anywhere near to being politically correct.

    The Complicated singer released the new Hello Kitty video just two days ago and since then it has been removed from YouTube.

    #Avrilracist started trending on Twitter shortly after the video’s release.

    Diehard fans defended her, however.

    Others found more fault with Lavigne’s performance than with Hello Kitty as a blatantly racist piece of video.

    “Folks shouldn’t be mad at Avril for a (not really) racist video,” a source says. “They should be mad such a crappy song was produced in the 1st place.”

    Although you can’t watch Hello Kitty on YouTube any longer, it is still available for viewing on Avril Lavigne’s web site. Check it out and see whether you think the video and its content are offensive.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

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