A Japanese rock band has pulled the music video for its new song “Columbus” after drawing flak for scenes that depicted Christopher Columbus with ape-like men.
The video shows three historical figures teaching the ape-like beings to do various things, like how to ride on horses and play musical instruments.
The video swiftly sparked a backlash after it was released on Wednesday - it was removed just a day later.
The band, Mrs Green Apple, apologised on Thursday, saying the video “contains expressions that lack understanding of historical and cultural backgrounds”.
"We were concerned from the beginning that [the apes] might be seen as discriminatory expression, but we had no intention of likening apes to humans.
That sounds like “we are sorry for insulting apes” lmao
I don’t know how many times people need to be told Japan still has a huge racism problem and a problem with acknowledging the crimes of Imperial Japan, including mass slavery, before you guys figure out that “they’re just ignorant of our history” isn’t a good excuse.
