You never want to be the center of bad attention on TikTok, and Black British TikToker Jamaal Burkmar is unfortunately learning that the hard way after finding himself in the TikTok hot seat this week. After providing his hot takes on Black America in particular, including saying Michael B. Jordan’s performance in “Sinners” wasn’t as good as Timothee Chalamet’s in “Marty Supreme” and standing up for John Davidson after the BAFTAs N-word incident, both Black and White folks online have had enough. Let’s get into it.
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If you’re unfamiliar with the creator, Jamaal Burkmar is not a stranger to going viral and stirring discourse. However, his latest takes have been the straws breaking the camel’s back, and folks are blocking and calling him out for pandering to White liberals.
For example, in one video, after the BAFTAs incident, Burkmar made a post calling folks “absurdly stupid” for being upset at John Davidson for calling Delroy Lindo and Michael B. Jordan the N-word. He also compared the incident to Jamie Foxx being called the N-word in Quentin Tarantino’s 2012 film “Django Unchained,” and asked how people can understand the context in regards to the film, but not in regards to Davidson’s Tourette’s.
While Burkmar might have thought he was making a decent talking point, this only got him a swarm of angry responses from folks who were tired of hearing from him. One White TikToker @Reel.takes calls out the false equivalency by pointing out that “Django Unchained” is a film, while the BAFTAs happened in real life.
“This (Leonardo DiCaprio’s character) is a racist in the film. He’s playing a character. So when the word is being used, that’s something that he’s (Jamie Foxx) signed up for. Jamie Foxx is playing a character.” Pointing at a screenshot of Delroy Lindo and Michael B. Jordan at the BAFTAs, he added, “This is real life.”
In the same video, @reel.takes also addressed another hot take by Burkmar. In a since-deleted post, Burkmar asked if folks online were being too mean to popular influencer and former MAGA voter Carter Brown, who cried on TikTok about having voted for MAGA in the past and was beginning to regret her decisions. In the deleted video, Burkmar questioned whether it was helpful for people to be mean towards her, rather than welcoming the fact that she had changed. In response, @reel.takes questioned why a Black British man would speak on American politics.
“His video said, do we need to be nicer to Carter Brown. First of all, who the fuck is we? Are you voting in America? Are you living in America? You are British, you are not seeing the past ten years and the effects MAGA has had on this country,” he said. “There’s not a single American, let alone a British man, who has the right to tell any fucking person how they should feel about a three-time MAGA voter. We do not care about their fucking feelings.”
Another TikToker, @bodacious_bobo, called out Burkmar for creating a hostile online community toward Black Americans with his content, but not being able to take the same heat he faced from creators like @Reel.takes.
“It’s so funny to me that when Black Americans were going toe-to-toe with you and telling you why you are wrong and why you should not be talking about Black Americans being upset about being called that violent word, you was going toe-to-toe with them, screen-recording them and had them on your page, you didn’t give a fuck about their mental health,” she said. “But the second a White man steps up and makes a video, all of a sudden it’s, I might need to take a mental health break.”
In the comments, users asked why he’s always talking about America in his videos.
“Why is he always in American business?!” posted one user.
“Idk why he’s even getting involved in American politics at all,” added another.
Although most users have been dogpiling and expressing their anger toward Burkmar and his polarizing takes, one TikTok influencer, Jameelah Jones, attempted to level with him and help him understand that the way politics works in the U.S. compared to the U.K. is very different.
“I don’t think you have a deep enough understanding of the kind of person in the United States who says some of the things that you say, and this is not unique to you at all. I notice this from people outside the U.S. who tend to speak on things that are heavily racialized here,” she began.
Explaining further, Jones added that while he’s speaking from a British point of view, Americans are listening from theirs. Pointing out Burkmar’s strategy of presenting his views like “Should we be nicer to Carter Brown?” as rhetorical questions, Jones explained that it echoed the tactics of MAGA activists Tucker Carlson and Charlie Kirk.
“Remember, just because you’re blowing into a dog whistle that you can’t hear doesn’t mean the dog whistle isn’t doing its job,” she said.
In the comments, folks praised Jones for being patient enough to explain the nuances between how Americans speak on politics compared to folks around the world.
“As a Black American, this was so well said, you put into words an experience I couldn’t explain even to myself,” commented one user.
“Thank you for your video because you have more grace than me. I BLOCKED him over a year ago,” added another.
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