The self-proclaimed anti-defamation and civil rights organization, the Catholic League, had some hot takes to share on Jay Z's latest visual treatment. Catholic League President Bill Donohue slammed the video for "Family Feud" as "gratuitous" and "exploitive."
The video, which is co-written and directed by Ava DuVernay, portrays a complex narrative that is both visually and contextually thought-provoking. Jumping through various future timelines, "Family Feud" paints the picture of a future royal family and the progressive nature of a new world order dreamt up by a group of founding mothers. The video then circles back to Jay Z in a church, at one point depicting him rapping into a confessional with wife Beyoncé on the other side, draped in a royal blue gown and Russian Orthodox-inspired garb.
In his statement, Donohue explained, "Is it anti-Catholic? No, it is not a bigoted assault. Indeed, it pales next to Jay Z’s relentlessly racist (and anti-black) lyrics. But it is nonetheless gratuitous as well as exploitative, just the kind of thing we would expect from this genius couple." Of course, Donohue did not point to any examples of the supposedly "racist" and "anti-black" lyrics.
