Sir Lenny Henry's parody of 'This Is America' is a hilarious lament on TV's slow but sure death

Childish Gambino (Donald Glover)’s _'This Is America'_ has created considerable amount of buzz online. Consequently, its popularity has given rise to numerous parody videos and mash-ups, including an Indian and Nigerian version. A new addition to the list is British comedian, Sir Lenny Henry’s hilarious adaptation of the 2018 hit track. Henry sets up the ambiance right off the bat and decides to take a dig at television and its dwindling status in comparison to streaming giants and the omnipresent internet. [caption id=“attachment_5070851” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Still from Sir Henry’s parody of This Is America. YouTube screengrab[/caption] While ‘This Is America’ spoke of grave issues like racism and gun violence in the US, Henry decides to pull in references of television’s gradual death in the video-on-demand era. BBC’s parody titled ‘Wildish Bambino: This is the TV’ is a form of a tribute to the comedian, who turns 60 on 29 August.

The video depicts Henry dancing to the beats of a peppy number and lamenting the end of the television era. “Now there’s a new world order,” begins Henry as he meticulously breaks down the influence (or the lack thereof) that television has on the present world. He warns the advocates of television, “You better work out a quick-fix or you’ll be buried by Netflix.” Released on YouTube on 20 August, the parody video was also featured in a BBC special. Henry who is also an actor, musician and television personality was knighted in 2015.