Ummmm, Jill Scott?

If you’ve read the poems; if you’ve listened to the music – you know that Jill Scott is no stranger to “sex talk.” The video that surfaced Tuesday of “Jilly from Philly” getting intimate with a microphone during a performance, however, was quite the shocker.

So far, it appears there are two reactions:

1). “Let Jill be sexually liberated and do what she wants.”

  2). “What the hell Jill?”

We’re pretty sure that our girl Jill thought long and hard about her decision to perform fellatio via a microphone, but this one still leaves us scratching our heads. Jill is a highly regarded artist, her vocals are appreciated and her musical vibes are unparalleled.

Why exactly did she do this?

Publicity stunts are for the artists desperate to reinvent themselves. Sexual innuendos are moreso for the less-talented singers, vying to stay relevant. Jill Scott didn’t need to do this.

In a culture where black women are too often sexualized and dismissed, what exactly does this accomplish? Mere hours after the reveal of the video, memes flooded social media hyping up BBWs (big beautiful women), suggesting that “this (the video antics) are why men have interest in larger women.

Was this really the attention that Scott wanted? Is this instead going to bring about more mocking-like attention? What would have been the reaction if the very creative-with-words Scott wrote and performed a song describing a man performing oral sex on her, as opposed to her performing oral sex on a man? Would men demonize her or celebrate her?

At the end of the day, Jill Scott did what she wanted to do. Some will praise her for being raw and free. Others will wonder if what she has done causes more harm than liberation. Perhaps in a month or so, the artist will regret this entirely. This is possibly just another case of platform squander.

Image: Sandra Alphonse