Editors at Issues and Insights explore the growing use of the phrase “Let’s Go, Brandon.”
Over the weekend, a song by little-known rap artist Bryson Gray leaped to No. 1 on Apple Music, supplanting the latest song by 15-time-Grammy-Award-winning Adele.
More surprising is that Gray’s song – “Let’s Go, Brandon” – is a Biden-bashing tune that had so offended the delicate sensibilities of the censors at Google’s YouTube and Facebook’s Instagram that they banned the video from their platforms.
The Big Brothers at YouTube said the song contained “medical misinformation” and Instagram’s excuse was that the video spread “harmful false information.”
Let’s rewind the tape.
“Let’s Go, Brandon” became a popular online meme after an NBC reporter was shown interviewing NASCAR winner Brandon Brown as the crowd behind them unmistakably chanted “F*** Joe Biden.”
In an attempt to gaslight viewers on behalf of Biden, the reporter’s response to the serenade was to utter: “Brandon … as you can hear the chants from the crowd: ‘Let’s go, Brandon!’”
Suddenly, that phrase started showing up everywhere, on T-shirts, in headlines, and across the internet. One traveler had it announced over an airport public address system. A Southwest Airlines pilot is being investigated for saying “Let’s go, Brandon” over the intercom. The term even has its own Wikipedia page.
So, by trying to protect President Joe Biden from the embarrassment of “F*** Joe Biden” chants, the media created an even more popular saying – one that can’t be censored but gets the message out just the same.
Except, then they did try to censor it.
By taking down Gray’s “Let’s Go, Brandon” video – on the ludicrous grounds that it was spreading misinformation about COVID vaccines – YouTube and Instagram apparently helped propel the song’s popularity and drive it to the No. 1 spot. At least, that’s what Gray thinks.
The New York Post quoted Gray as saying: “Cancel culture doesn’t work anymore. It only works on people who are scared … all it does is help me out. Thanks, YouTube!”
