00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at music videos that are uncomfortable to
00:07watch in light of information that was later revealed.
00:14Age ain't nothing but a number, Aaliyah.
00:17Aaliyah made an incredible impact on the music industry before her tragic death at age 22.
00:24Unfortunately, we can't talk about her early career without talking about R. Kelly.
00:30The disgraced R&B star produced and was the primary songwriter for her debut album, Age
00:35ain't nothing but a number.
00:41The title track finds the teenaged Aaliyah pledging her devotion to someone evidently
00:45outside of her age range.
00:46Though Kelly is absent from the video, his uncomfortable presence is still felt, and
00:50knowing that he and teenaged Aaliyah were illegally married the year of the song's
00:54release just makes things worse.
01:01Deserve
01:02Kris Wu featuring Travis Scott
01:03The international pop community was stunned when Chinese-Canadian rapper and former EXO
01:08member Kris Wu was charged with and convicted on multiple counts of sexual assault.
01:19Having that knowledge makes this video, which portrays Wu as some kind of master seducer,
01:24all but unwatchable.
01:25And lyrics avowing his dominance over his partner certainly don't help matters either.
01:36Wu is currently serving a 13-year prison sentence for his crimes, and while this video doesn't
01:40explicitly out him as a predator, any possible feeling of romance or seduction is gone.
01:45Instead, the primary feeling is overwhelming disgust.
01:54Crazy
01:55Aerosmith
01:56There's a lot to unpack here.
01:58This video casts Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler's daughter, Liv, alongside Alicia
02:02Silverstone as two truant schoolgirls who get into all sorts of mischief.
02:12Even setting aside the familial aspect, Liv Tyler was only 16 years old at the time, and
02:17the video has her doing some rather grown-up things.
02:24Furthermore, decades earlier, her father became the legal guardian of 16-year-old Julia Holcomb,
02:33referring to her in his memoir as his partner in crimes of passion.
02:37In 2022, Holcomb, now known as Julia Miseley, named the rocker in a lawsuit citing grooming
02:43and abuse.
02:44As such, it's hard to see this video as particularly empowering.
02:51Blurred Lines
02:52Robin Thicke featuring T.I. and Pharrell.
02:54In seemingly the blink of an eye, Blurred Lines went from being a number one hit to
02:58being widely reviled.
03:07The unsettling implications of the lyrics did arguably the most damage, but the crass
03:10video certainly did not help, nor did Robin Thicke's reported conduct on set.
03:17In 2021, model Emily Ratajkowski, who's featured in the video, alleged that Thicke
03:22sexually harassed her during filming, a claim backed up by the video's director, Diane
03:27Martell.
03:32Given that the song has been maligned for being seen as promoting boundary violation,
03:36hearing about this only makes it all the more irredeemable.
03:42Happy Hour
03:43Jazzy Pha featuring CeeLo Green.
03:45In the early 2010s, musician CeeLo Green went from being a star to being a pariah with his
03:50conviction for spiking a woman's drink with ecstasy.
03:57While this song and video, made in collaboration with Memphis artist Jazzy Pha, is nowhere
04:05near as popular as songs like Crazy or Forget You, it's pretty discomfiting in retrospect.
04:12Why?
04:13Well, it's about encouraging women to loosen up with some drinks, and it features CeeLo
04:19Green.
04:26Even though he's just the featured artist, it doesn't undo the disconcerting connotations.
04:35Give It To Me Baby, Rick James.
04:37Chappelle's show helped to briefly revitalize his career by humorously recounting debaucherous
04:42moments in his life.
04:44However, there are aspects of Rick James' life that can't be mined for laughs.
04:55His legacy is tarnished by multiple allegations of sexual assault, including a case where
04:59he was sentenced to prison for holding a woman hostage for six days with his girlfriend.
05:03Being aware of all of that makes this song and video, which finds James demanding intimacy
05:08from his partner, incredibly off-putting.
05:13It might have seemed playful at the time, but seeing James incessantly touch and hound
05:16a woman resisting his advances now, it's hard to give him the benefit of the doubt.
05:26Catholic Schoolgirls Rule, Red Hot Chili Peppers.
05:29As with Aerosmith, this is a case of an artist literally telling on himself.
05:36While on tour in Louisiana, then-23-year-old Chili Peppers frontman Anthony Kiedis had
05:41an inappropriate relationship with a teenaged Catholic schoolgirl.
05:44Then, he wrote this song about the experience.
05:49Kiedis freely admitted to this in his memoir, and he's largely managed to escape anything
05:53in the way of consequence for it.
05:57The song's video matches its lyrics, with its portrayal of rebellious Catholic schoolgirls,
06:01but the carefree mode is irrevocably sullied by being aware of just how heinous its inspiration
06:06was.
06:10Murder on My Mind, YNW Melly.
06:13In 2019, rising Florida rapper YNW Melly made headlines, not for his music, but for his
06:19double homicide charge in a still-pending case that sees him accused of killing two
06:23of his friends.
06:28To make a bleak situation worse, Melly's breakout single was entitled Murder on My
06:31Mind, and the video sees Melly clutching various firearms while talking about the lethal thoughts
06:36preoccupying him.
06:42While plenty of artists have cast themselves as killers in their songs for the sake of
06:46artistic license, you can't watch this video without thinking of the charges that Melly
06:49would soon face.
06:55Satisfy You, Puff Daddy ft. R. Kelly.
06:58The reputations of both Sean Combs and R. Kelly were destroyed in recent years, with
07:03the revelation that they had both allegedly used their power and influence to cause unspeakable
07:08harm to multiple people.
07:14Kelly is currently serving a 31-year prison sentence for his crimes, while Combs is currently
07:18awaiting trial on a multitude of federal charges.
07:21Does that get anyone in the mood to watch a video for a song that casts these two as
07:25experts in the art of romance?
07:29A video of this type featuring just one of them will be bad enough.
07:32With both, it just reaches a new level of unintended ickiness.
07:58A Town Called Hypocrisy, Lost Profits.
08:02Welsh rock band Lost Profits had their image permanently tarnished upon the news of Frontman
08:06and Watkins' unspeakable acts involving minors.
08:12Upon learning of this stomach-churning news, you might have recalled this video, which
08:15casts Watkins as the host of a children's TV program.
08:19We hope we don't need to explain why that's so utterly repulsive, especially given the
08:22innuendo and suggestiveness hiding in plain sight in this video.
08:32And seeing Watkins cheekily act like someone who cares about the well-being of the youth
08:36is horrifying in retrospect.
08:38A Town Called Hypocrisy, try a video called Unwatchable.
08:46What wholesome music video are you going to watch now?
08:49Let us know in the comments!
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