Lil Dicky’s ‘Earth’ video makes Bieber a baboon, Grande a zebra for Earth Day
Ahead of Earth Day 2019, which is Monday, rapper and comedian Lil Dicky has assembled dozens of stars for an anthemic and bawdy “Earth” music video, ripping names from the pop charts and beyond to sing about climate change.
“Why did it take me so long to get wind of this?,” Lil Dicky said in a release. “I feel like everybody on the planet should be talking about this 24/7. But that’s not the case. So I wanted to make the most entertaining and epic piece of content possible, to get everyone aware and talking.”
The next decade could be critical in fighting the effects of climate change. But after watching the video for “Earth,” we’re guessing people will be talking more about details like Justin Bieber as a baboon obsessed with his own butt, or Kevin Hart making an appearance as Kanye West, or Lil Yachty showing up under a microscope as an animated human papillomavirus that begs, “Don’t let me in!”
Here’s a cleaned-up version, which may have been released in the spirit of expanding the conversation.
No, this is not “We Are the World,” though it does “forgive” Germany and salute marijuana, the latter voiced (natch) by Snoop Dogg. The backbone is the simple refrain, “We love the Earth. It is our planet. We love the Earth. It is our home.” All the people-as-animals chime in between choruses.
Leonardo DiCaprio, whose foundation will distribute all profits from the song, music video and merchandise to select charities fighting climate change, chimes in with an endorsement of “Earth”: “This might be my favorite song ever,” he says. In the video, Dicky nominates DiCaprio as the chosen one should aliens ever swing by and require a negotiator, because of the actor-activist’s environmental knowledge.
Lining up the talent came surprisingly easy, the comic explained to Rolling Stone, saying he started with his friends and then let the effort snowball.
“Charlie Puth was the first person. I think I got Snoop and then Adam Levine, Meghan Trainor. It’s blurry, but I got Bieber pretty early. Ed Sheeran was in early, but he didn’t record until late,” Dicky, whose real name is Dave Burd, told the magazine.
In order of appearance, the video’s roster includes Bieber, Ariana Grande, Halsey, Zac Brown, Brendon Urie, Hailee Steinfeld, Wiz Khalifa, Snoop, Hart, Adam Levine, Shawn Mendes, Charlie Puth, Sia, Miley Cyrus, Lil Jon, Rita Ora, Miguel, Katy Perry, Lil Yachty, Ed Sheeran, Megan Trainor, Joel Embiid, Tory Lanez and the Backstreet Boys, with John Legend, Psy, Bad Bunny, Kris Wu singing the “We Love the Earth” refrain and Lil Dicky starring as Mankind.
Half the time, he said, he was in the studio with celebs when they taped their cameos, but the other half of the time folks were emailing in their parts.
“It definitely wasn’t like ‘We Are the World’ where you see all these icons sitting in one studio and hanging out like they’re the Avengers,” Dicky told Rolling Stone. “I don’t think there was any time where even two were in the studio.”
This post was originally published on April 19.
@theCDZ on Twitter and Instagram
The biggest entertainment stories
Get our big stories about Hollywood, film, television, music, arts, culture and more right in your inbox as soon as they publish.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
