He Should’ve Known Better: Jesse Williams Faces Backlash for Turning Emmett Till Into a Nike Meme to Promote His New Movie [Photos]

BY: Denver Sean

Published 6 years ago

 

Jesse Williams is set to make his directorial debut with a movie about the murder of Emmett Till aptly titled ‘Till.’

Unfortunately, Jesse thought it would be a good idea to promote the flick using memes inspired by Nike’s ‘Just Do It’ campaign with Colin Kaepernick using photos of Emmett and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley

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It was a bad idea.

via MSN:

One image shows Till-Mobley at Till’s casket behind the Kaepernick quote, “Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything.”

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Till was 14 years old when he was lynched after being accused of flirting with a white woman in Jim Crow-era Mississippi in 1955.

Williams’ upcoming movie, Till, will focus on the murdered teen’s mother’s quest for justice and is based on Keith A Beauchamp’s 2005 documentary, “The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till.”

The actor announced on Monday he would be directing Till, which will be produced by Whoopi Goldberg, according to Deadline.

But Williams deleted his announcement on Monday after facing backlash over the photos he posted of Till-Mobley.

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He later replaced his tweet with an announcement featuring screen grabs from Deadline’s story.

He also posted a Nike ad-like image to Instagram, but instead of featuring Till’s mother, he used a photo that appeared from the murder trial that followed his death. 

Jesse’s been woke for so long he’s delirious. He couldn’t have possibly thought that was a good idea on his own — or did he?

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