It’s 2017 and people still aren’t giving black people credit where credit is due. America loves to feed on black culture but doesn’t love to give black people their credit. Buzzfeed, a multimillion-dollar Internet media company known for their trendy and relevant content, is no exception. Everytime there’s a new trend, meme or joke from black Twitter, Buzzfeed, as the culture vultures they are, slap a witty title on the trend and call it theirs. Their writers congregate in the followers of black twitter and pretend as if they aren’t stealing content that has clearly come from our trends, memes and culture. They capitalize and profit off of things we create and have the nerve to claim it as their own. So far this year, these are the highlights:
29 of the most fire photo captions that you never knew you neededhttps://t.co/oliuazPTRz pic.twitter.com/4Uf4BnSW0E
— BuzzFeed (@BuzzFeed) May 22, 2017
19 rompers you and your man can share https://t.co/pmxWfqJHjg pic.twitter.com/sZs9pK7T9z
— BuzzFeed (@BuzzFeed) May 17, 2017
The internet is freaking out over all the references on JAY-Z's new album https://t.co/FDDF50xvCm pic.twitter.com/f01HoemgtF
— BuzzFeed (@BuzzFeed) June 30, 2017
Now you may think, what’s the big deal? So what if they copy and paste black twitter’s jokes? The problem here is not only is Buzzfeed stealing content that isn’t theirs, but they are profiting off said content. Buzzfeed has Peaches Monroe’d Black Twitter and we won’t stand for it. Black people are done being capitalized off of without any credit or stipend. Peaches Monroe was 16-years-old when she coined the term “eyebrows on fleek” and she didn’t see a cent of it. She revolutionized social media in her time with that term and no one gave her credit for it.
https://twitter.com/hoodcuiture/status/822461471611355137
https://twitter.com/geauxgabby/status/866649459303874560
https://twitter.com/kxyonn/status/868249540171902976
https://twitter.com/riannablair_/status/869881625223585793
This year we’ve seen Kylie Jenner profit from a black woman’s creations, Peaches Monroe demand for her long-awaited credit and now we see Buzzfeed copying and pasting from Black Twitter. Black people have no more patience to watch our trends and culture be snatched and profited off of, right before our eyes.This is a message to Buzzfeed, Kylie Jenner and any other culture vulture out there: it’s time to stop capitalizing off of black culture and start genuinely appreciating it.
