Jay-Z‘s “Jaybo” character from his “The Story of O.J.” music video will be making appearances t-shirts, sweaters, hats, blankets, and other merchandise in the foreseeable future. Jay-Z’s company, S. Carter Enterprises, has filed a document to trademark the animated character. The character, which is inspired by Sambo (from The Story of Little Black Sambo, an 1899 children’s book that is generally considered to be racist because of its illustrations of black people) and Dumbo (the 1941 Disney film that has also been accused of making racist characterizations), is an integral part of the music video for “The Story of O.J.” In the video, Jaybo raps about race relations, contrasting against images of cotton fields, a segregated bus, and other scenes shown in the video.
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