Credits roll on Jamie Foxx’s short film/music video, “Blame It” to reveal not just the magnitude of Foxx’s many talents, but also that of his Rolodex. Jake Gyllenhaal, Forest Whitaker, Sam Jackson and most oddly, Ron Howard are just part of an impressive cast of cameos who star in this supercilious music video. This does little, however, to distinguish this Oscar-nominated silver screen stud from other hip-hop stars who employ the usual tripartite of sex, money and alcohol. In fact, at its lyrical core, “Blame It” reads more like the plot of a Law & Order: SVU episode than a nightclub anthem.
Foxx’s use of high caliber celebrities cloaks the malevolence riding under the backbeat— another song propagating a culture of date rape and unaccountability. The operative here is “blame,” which touts alcohol as exoneration, a literal get-out-of-jail-free card, if you will, for countless men who harass and sexually assault women when either or both parties are under the influence. Innumerable sexual assaults remain unreported as assailants are allowed to “blame it on the alcohol” and call into question women’s intentions and consent. Who will take the blame for that?
