“Peanut” has been trending on Twitter recently, and unfortunately, it’s not for a positive reason. YouTuber Cole LaBrant is catching hell online for posting, then deleting a video of a young white girl stepping on the back of his adopted black “cousin Peanut.”
The video shows “Peanut” running over to the girl who was trying to get on a swing. “Peanut” then gets down on his hands and knees to allow the girl to step on his back to get on the swing. A woman in the background can be heard saying, “Oh my goodness, sweet boy.”
Well, Twitter didn’t seem to think it was a “sweet” gesture and blasted LaBrant for what many believe was blatant racism and disrespect. One person in particular who didn’t find any humor or humility in the video was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s daughter, activist Bernice King.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
King tweeted, “Cole: When many of us see your video, we are reminded of the dehumanization of our ancestors depicted in this photo. This dehumanization of Black people still exists in many forms today. So the video you shared isn’t cute to us. It’s not cute for a Black boy to be a stool.”
Another user tweeted, “Ignorance is a privilege…Peanut may be a gentleman and one of the kindest hearts being raised right to be such…YET he still shouldn’t be taken advantage or subjected to this. But we’re Black and just too sensitive to past trauma/imagery. I forget “WE” must forget the past.”
“Peanut,” whose real name is Truman LaBrant, is actually Cole’s cousin. He was adopted by LaBrant’s uncle Bobby and aunt Tami LaBrant, and has been a part of their family since 2014. He’s also been featured in a few of the family’s YouTube videos.
Buzzfeed reached out to LaBrant for comment on the video, and he responded by blocking the reporter on Twitter. Interesting…
