Levee Posted April 1, 2010 Share Posted April 1, 2010 Los Angeles, California (CNN) -- Erykah Badu shed her clothes as she walked along a Dallas, Texas, sidewalk until she was nude and then fell near where President Kennedy was assassinated. The result was a controversial video, released Saturday, for her song "Window Seat," which Badu said was "shot guerrilla style" with no crew and in one take March 17. Children could be seen nearby as Badu stripped in Dealey Plaza, a popular tourist spot since Kennedy's 1963 assassination. The singer's management did not immediately respond to request for comment, but Badu responded to the controversy via Twitter. She tweeted that "there were children there. i prayed they wouldnt b traumatized." Badu will not face indecent exposure charges for shedding her clothes on the Dallas, Texas, sidewalk, a Dallas Police spokeswoman said. Although children were nearby, no one filed a complaint against Badu after the March 17 incident, Dallas Police Senior Cpl. Janice Crowther said. "But if we had had a call and would have caught Ms. Badu in the act of walking down the street taking her clothes off, she would have been charge with a Class B misdemeanor," she said. The R&B singer said she was making a statement against "groupthink," which she tweeted was an "unwritten rule" that "i will not express my true opinion if it opposes those i love and fear." Some fans sent tweets praising Badu's artistic vision. One fan tweeted to Badu on Sunday: "thank you, because your being brave, i no longer feel afraid to say what i really feel." The video opens with a November 22, 1963, radio broadcast describing Kennedy's motorcade turning onto Elm Street seconds before fatal shots were fired. In the video, Badu is behind the wheel of a 1965 Lincoln Continental, parked along Kennedy's route. A single camera focuses on her as she walks toward Elm Street and the book depository where Kennedy's assassin fired his rifle. Badu tweeted that "i was petrified while shooting this video ... but liberation began to set in. i conquered many fears in that few moments." She said she was "too busy lookin for cops" to be embarrassed by her nudity. "i been naked all along in my words actions and deeds. thats the real vulnerable place," she tweeted. The video does not include shouts from people off camera, she said. "they were yelling, 'THIS IS A PUBLIC PLACE : YOU OUGHTA BE ASHAMED : PUT YOUR CLOTHES ON : DAMN GIRL! etc," Badu tweeted. More than a dozen people stood along the plaza's "grassy knoll" when Badu took off the last piece of clothing. "the people caught in the shot were trying hard to ignore me," she tweeted. As she reached the spot where Kennedy was first struck by a bullet, the crackle of a gunshot is heard and Badu's head snaps back and she falls to the ground as if dead. Badu said when the camera stopped "we ran." The singer was born in Dallas, where she is raising her three children -- ages 1, 5 and 12 She tweeted to fans about her 5-year-old daughter's response when told of her plans for the video: "she looked at me with a blank face and replied ok mama can i have another pudding?" The video was released days before the singer's next album, "New Amerykah Part Two: Return of the Ankh," hits record stores. The single "Window Seat" is at No. 28 on Billboard's R&B/hip-hop chart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Electrophile Posted April 1, 2010 Share Posted April 1, 2010 Maybe it's just me, but I think Dealey Plaza should be afforded a tad more respect than that. I don't care that she got butt-naked in a video, that's her prerogative. I just think the site of a President's murder shouldn't be used for something like that. I'm sure there were other parks/areas in Dallas where she could have shot the video if she wanted to do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pagemccartney95 Posted April 1, 2010 Share Posted April 1, 2010 Stripping nude in the spot where a President was assassinated... What a tacky tramp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3hrsoflunacy Posted April 1, 2010 Share Posted April 1, 2010 Tacky, tasteless, and offensive. +1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RamblinReticence Posted April 2, 2010 Share Posted April 2, 2010 I get her point and don't feel offended or anything. She was criticizing people's intolerance to anything outside the social 'norm'. Something im guessing she associates to Kennedy's assassination. On the other hand the music itself didn't stand out at all. Also the lyrics don't seem to back her point either. All that aside, she wasn't 'stripping' or being provocative. It's just a naked human body where a president died. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTM Posted April 2, 2010 Share Posted April 2, 2010 Folk getting upset at a little nudity.... The mind boggles (shades of Janet Jacksons nipple at the superbowl).. what a sad prudish world we live in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poindexter Posted April 2, 2010 Share Posted April 2, 2010 Never heard of her but I have now. Clever and perhaps part of the grand design. I think her getting arrested would have only boosted record sales of a third rate singer. The thought of a pushing-40 woman getting buck nekkid in public is more frightening than the Zapruder film. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danelectro59 Posted April 2, 2010 Share Posted April 2, 2010 Just one question Did Zapruder film it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaijubait Posted April 2, 2010 Share Posted April 2, 2010 As a Dallas resident, I can publicly state... that I don't really care. However, looks like the police do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danelectro59 Posted April 2, 2010 Share Posted April 2, 2010 As a Dallas resident, I can publicly state... that I don't really care. However, looks like the police do. i like the comments better than the article. people have an opinion about anything and will argue about it for hours. I like the one guy saying "if it were me doing that, i'd have to register as a sex offender after it was all over." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Electrophile Posted April 2, 2010 Share Posted April 2, 2010 Folk getting upset at a little nudity.... The mind boggles (shades of Janet Jacksons nipple at the superbowl).. what a sad prudish world we live in. What makes you think the fact she got naked is the reason some people have a problem with it? If she filmed this video in the same way in any other public space in Dallas, I wouldn't have given a shit, and I said as much in my initial post. I just think the location she chose was tacky, insulting and stupid. Same goes for Ground Zero, Pearl Harbor, or any other site of a major historical event in this country. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poindexter Posted April 2, 2010 Share Posted April 2, 2010 Just one question Did Zapruder film it? If you`re asking if Zapruder filmed this publicity ploy, let me dust off the Magic 8-Ball and ask. Its smarter than the "Mirror, Mirror in the Wall" guy. The answer is NO. Down shifting to serious, I`ve been there several times and everyone there respected this somber place. Has Dealy Plaza been desecrated? If this event is just the second worst thing that ever happens in West End, all Dallas has to be ashamed of is The Cowboys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RamblinReticence Posted April 3, 2010 Share Posted April 3, 2010 How morbid is it that people only care about the "desecration" of places where public figures were assassinated. IMHO she was criticizing the murder of JFK and not the late president himself. but that's just what i understood from it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danelectro59 Posted April 3, 2010 Share Posted April 3, 2010 If you`re asking if Zapruder filmed this publicity ploy, let me dust off the Magic 8-Ball and ask. Its smarter than the "Mirror, Mirror in the Wall" guy. The answer is NO. Down shifting to serious, I`ve been there several times and everyone there respected this somber place. Has Dealy Plaza been desecrated? If this event is just the second worst thing that ever happens in West End, all Dallas has to be ashamed of is The Cowboys. just a little humor there, Poindexter. everyone knows that it would be impossible for A. Zapruder to have filmed this, since he died in 1970. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dazedcat Posted April 6, 2010 Share Posted April 6, 2010 I'm not offended by this. I didn't have a clue who this woman was before she did this but of course, now I do. That was the whole point though wasn't it? It was indeed in horrible taste to do this where JFK was murdered. The nudity isn't the issue, the location of it was. This really shouldn't have to explained, should it? Modern junk culture rears its' ugly head once again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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