- KiKi Savely
Renegade Dance Creator Finally Gets the Credit She Deserves
There is a new social media platform in town and its name is Tik Tok. This 15-second video app has grasped the attention of many. Modeled like Vine, there have been several challenges and dances that have gone viral. One popular dance, Renegade, has many trying to emulate those who have conquered this challenge. Influencers like James Charles, Lexi Brooke Rivera and Emma Chamberlain have added to its popularity by joining in the challenge as well.
Prior to February 2020, the dance was closely associated with popular Tik Tok user, Charli D’amelio. Charli had uploaded the video in September and by October, everyone was trying the dance. No one thought to question her ownership of the dance because she never stated it wasn’t hers and she had a growing platform. The real creator of the Renegade dance is 14-year-old, Jaliah Harmon. She posted her video on Dubsmash. Charli saw the dance and decided to make minor edits and repost it on Tik Tok. She never tagged Jaliah or stated where she got the dance from.
The problem with this is what happened after the video went viral. Charli D’amelio received many offers and deals because of this dance. She made history by becoming the first Tik Tok user to have a Super Bowl commercial. Did she steal money and opportunities from Jaliah? That’s what Twitter would say when they heard the news. Many were outraged and stated that people of color often get overshadowed when it comes to their accomplishments.
You often never hear about something they did until the novelty wears off. Jaliah told times, “I think I could have gotten money for it, promos for it, I could have gotten famous off it, get noticed.” She was happy to see others doing her dance, but she still wanted her credit for it. Rapper, K Camp, and owner of the Renegade song, Lottery, made sure to shine the light back on Jaliah. Following Valentine's Day, K Camp posted a video of Jaliah and a friend performing the original dance with him in the background. In the post he wrote, “tell the blogs to eat this up.” He also went on to thank Jaliah for popularizing his song, since it had stream over 50 million listens.
This grabbed the attention of many and offers started to roll on for Jalaih. She was invited to perform at the NBA All-Star game and Ellen recently had her on her show. It is great to see her getting credit, but many would say it is still too late. What do you think?