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Prince video colored by effects of racism
Chris Riemenschneider, Star Tribune
October 15, 2004 PRINCE1015


A comeback year for Prince would not be complete without a little controversy.

Minneapolis' Rock and Roll Hall of Famer is stirring up debate with a new music video showing an Arab-American teenage girl who imagines herself as a suicide bomber.

The "Cinnamon Girl" video -- created mostly in the Twin Cities and released to MTV and other music channels this week -- already has been criticized on Fox News and CNN.

"Prince intended for it to spark some dialogue," said the video's director, Phil Harder, of Minneapolis-based Harder-Fuller Films. "We're getting a lot of calls on it," added his partner, Rick Fuller.

The innovative, watercolor-styled clip features Keisha Castle-Hughes, 14, the Oscar-nominated actress from the movie "Whale Rider."

She plays a schoolgirl who witnesses a 9/11-like attack and then experiences racism from classmates and others, which pushes her to dream about carrying a bomb into an airport.

Keisha Castle-Hughes“Cinnamon Girl” video"Cinnamon Girl of mixed heritage, never knew the meaning of color lines," Prince sings. "9/11 turned that all around, when she got accused of this crime."

His publicist said Prince will not comment on the clip because he prefers that people make up their own mind about it.

Representatives for MTV, VH1 and BET channels said their programmers were aware of the clip's content. MTV plans to begin airing it next week on MTVU, its universities-only channel, to gauge the reaction of viewers. VH1 and BET, which regularly aired Prince's "Musicology" video earlier this year, have not yet decided on this one.

Rana Abbas, deputy director of the Midwest chapter of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee in Dearborn, Mich., voiced her support after seeing the video Thursday.

"It was shocking, but in a good way," Abbas said. "Prince is the first major recording artist to address the prejudice and issues that [Arab-Americans] are facing after 9/11, and I think he has done it in a very powerful way."

Reaction by news commentators has been mixed, however. A short blurb in the New York Post said it "might be the most tasteless video ever." Fox News commentator John Gibson suggested that Prince is "causing trouble" with the clip, and CNN anchor Kyra Phillips said it is "shaking and rumbling the entertainment industry."

Talking on NBC's "Today" this week, Rolling Stone magazine music editor Joe Levy said, "Let's put this one into context. This video is illustrating what the song is talking about, and what the song says is after 9/11 Arab-Americans were targeted as victims of hate."

Harder, who also has shot music videos for the Foo Fighters and Incubus, said that the lyrics show that Prince is "sincere in wanting to speak to the times." He also emphasized that the video "resolves itself peacefully."

Whatever the fallout, the director believes it will add to Prince's reputation as a risk-taker and music-industry outsider.

"It's telling that the video was made in Minneapolis and not Los Angeles or New York," Harder said. "In those cities, there probably would have been a record-company executive breathing down our necks saying, 'No way.' "

Chris Riemenschneider is at chrisr@startribune.com.