Tyga’s “Ay Caramba” music video was taken down from YouTube following outrage among fans over alleged Latino stereotypes.
Fans representing the Latin0 community took issue with the way Tyga presented Latin culture and sparked uproar on social media, TMZ reported Friday. The video featured a game show host wearing a sombrero in a dirty room, and presented him as being a couch potato surrounded by an abundance of tortilla chips.
During an interview with podcaster American Cholo, Tyga insisted he meant no harm, and said he was genuinely confused by the backlash considering that his song “Go Loko” with YG went double platinum and proved to be a huge hit just a few years prior to the release of “Ay Caramba.”
“My engineer that recorded the song with me, he’s Mexican … like, I was really kinda confused, like, why are people offended?” Tyga said during the show.
He went on to clarify that he had no ill intent when he assembled the Latin elements in the video. “This song is literally for the Mexicans that I grew up with,” Tyga said. “I wanna pay homage to them … this is what I’ve seen growing up.” (RELATED: Fans Slam Gwen Stefani For Cultural Appropriation)
American Cholo broke down the concerns felt by his community by comparing the image of tortilla chips and a low-rider with that of fried-chicken and watermelon, suggesting the African American community would be uncomfortable with the latter, according to TMZ.
Tyga seemed to resist the request to take down the video, stating that he had invested $250,000 of his own money to produce it, but ultimately, the video was wiped clean from the internet and is no longer available.
The “Ay Caramba” video had acquired 4 million views, after just one month of being posted, according to TMZ.