An African-American author and historian accuses Australian breakdancer Rachael ‘Raygun’ Gunn of failing to understand the culture behind the sport in which she failed at the Paris Olympics.
Gunn became an international laughing stock on Saturday [AEST] when she failed to score a single point in three fights in the newest sport on the Olympic programme.
Her routine – which included kangaroo jumping and lots of rolling on the floor – was criticised online, as was the clothing she wore for the event.
New York hip-hop artist and songwriting teacher Mandella Eskia lashed out at Gunn on social media, giving her performance a viral review.
“Imagine being from Australia and you lied on your Olympic application and said you could breakdance,” he wrote in a post that read “How did they let this happen?”
‘You saw some old highlights from the ’80s and thought, ‘I can do that too.’
‘Now you’re standing on the world stage in a golf outfit and you’re praising yourself in your head.’
Raygun didn’t lie when she applied for the Olympics: she achieved her best score in the Oceania competition, even though she didn’t score a single point at the Olympics.
Breakdance purists were also very enthusiastic about it.
“Did they have to qualify or just show up?” someone asked.
“Sometimes you wanna be Chuck D, but then you’re Flavor Flav,” another responded.
“What on earth is this five-ring appropriation?” asked another.
Rachael ‘Raygun’ Gunn accused of ‘lying on her Olympic application’ to get to Paris
The Australian’s routine on her Olympic debut was widely ridiculed and she failed to score a single point in her competition
New York hip-hop artist and songwriting teacher Mandella Eskia was one of many African Americans who criticized Raygun
Encyclopedia Britannica defines breakdancing as ‘[An] energetic form of dance, formed and popularized by African Americans and Latinos, that includes stylized footwork and athletic movements such as backspins or headspins… [that] originated in New York City in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
But its origins date back to the early days of American colonization and the horrors of the slave trade that gripped the United States in the 17th century.
Now, a historian who focuses on African-American culture has defended Gunn in a sense, saying she never appropriated black culture behind her break.
Because according to him, she never understood that history and culture.
Michael Harriot is an award-winning journalist and bestselling author of ‘Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America’ who initially ridiculed Raygun on the social media platform X by sarcastically posting ‘NGL’ [not going to lie] I actually want to take Raygun’s class.
But on Sunday [AEST]he wrote a long story about the Australian woman and how she didn’t understand breaking, its history in the African American community, and the dancers who invented and popularized dance fighting in the United States.
He wrote extensively about Bill Bailey, the African-American entertainer who introduced the backslide on the screen in 1943. This would later be used by Michael Jackson and renamed the Moonwalk.
Writer Michael Harriot said Raygun failed to understand the history of black dance culture in the United States
Bill ‘Bojangles’ Robinson, pictured with Shirley Temple, was one of the first African-American entertainers to reach the mainstream
Bill ‘Bojangles’ Robinson used dance battles as part of his act in the early 1900s, long before breakdancing became popular from the 1960s onwards
Harriot wrote that black dancers would never use the backslide in battles because it was considered disrespectful. Bailey, however, often used the technique for white audiences, usually accompanied by a joke.
He wrote about how dance battles have always been an integral part of black American dance culture, citing American tap dancer Bill ‘Bojangles’ Robinson, who reached the height of his career in the early 20th century.
“At the end of his show, Bojangles challenged people to a fight. The white audience didn’t know the culture, so they tried it,” Harriot wrote.
“But the black audience knew not to make fools of themselves.”
He talked about black gospel music that had nothing to do with religion, but were protest songs that white audiences didn’t even know were aimed at them.
He wrote about the ancient practice of “cakewalking,” in which slaves dressed in handed-down clothing and performed exaggerated traditional dances such as the waltz. Again, their white audience had no idea they were being mocked.
Michael Jackson is widely credited with inventing the Moonwalk, but it was Bill Bailey who invented the backslide dance move in 1943
Instead, Harriot writes, white audiences celebrated black culture by having churches sing gospel songs, white entertainers like Lady Gaga performed jazz numbers, and now Gunn has embraced a dance style rooted in American black history on the world stage.
But he said Gunn had not appropriated black culture. Instead, he claimed she was another example of a white person who didn’t understand that they were being targeted for traditional black dance.
“Raygun and the Olympics breakers are not appropriating black culture,” he wrote.
‘When white evangelical Christians started shouting during the Protestant Reformation, they weren’t dancing an African dance.
When white Christians sing Negro spirituals, they don’t sing about their enemies.
‘Some of the BEST Olympic highlights are the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing a Negro spiritual, or Eric Clapton being called ‘the best blues guitarist,’ or Lady Gaga and Tony Bennet making a jazz album.
“It’s an homage to something that black people used to do.
‘Raygun was the most authentic part of the Olympic finale.
“She’s the one who made the cake for the cakewalkers. She put Buckra in buckdancing and clapped for the cutting contests. Raygun would have jumped at the chance to take on Bojangles or Bill Bailey.”
Neha Madhok, founder of the racial justice foundation Democracy in Color, questioned why AOC didn’t cast a wider net to find a better option than Raygun
Madhok said that there were countless colored people who were better than Raygun, but they never got their chance.
Neha Madhok, former CEO and co-founder of racial justice foundation Democracy in Colour, slammed the Australian Olympic Committee for taking Raygun to Paris, saying it wasn’t doing enough to find real talent.
“My timeline is just post after post about the breakdancing academic Olympian. I love my cross-section of interests,” she posted.
‘That’s not to say I don’t enjoy the memes and the completely absurd atmosphere of it. But it’s such a shame that Australia is once again sending a mediocre white person to represent us on the world stage because we can’t find the real talent among First Nations people and PoC.
“It’s a reflection of the whiteness of Australian sport and the Australian attitude. We could have sent incredible people, the talent is absolutely there, but you have to go to the people who are there.”
Gunn is a lecturer at Macquarie University in Sydney and is writing her thesis, ‘Deterritorializing Gender in Sydney’s Breakdancing Scene: a B-girl’s Experience of B-boying’. She focuses on the intersection of gender and Sydney’s breakdancing culture.
Before the Olympics, she predicted Australia’s failure and blamed a lack of education and understanding for its eventual downfall.
“When the Olympics were announced, the general Australian public reacted very negatively. There was even widespread ridicule because people didn’t see it as a legitimate sport in Australia,” Gunn told Macquarie University’s website.
Australian chef de mission Anna Meares believed Raygun was being bullied and cried about her treatment after her routine at the Paris Olympics
While Gunn continues to face criticism from a global audience, chef de mission Anna Meares said she should be commended for her courage.
“In 2008 she was locked in a room and cried because she was the only woman in a male-dominated sport,” Meares said.
‘And it took a lot of courage for her to keep going and fight for her chance to participate in a sport she loved.
Australian Olympic legend Sally Pearson also defended Gunn, saying winning the gold medal is not the only ambition of all athletes.
“Pierre de Coubertin, sometimes called the father of the modern Olympic Games, once said, ‘The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning, but taking part,'” Pearson wrote in a column for News Corp.
‘That’s exactly what Gunn did and it’s something everyone overlooked after her performance.