Seven-year-old Jordan Bascombe-Ralph became an internet sensation with his amazing contribution to the #MBakuChallenge, in which he impersonated M’Baku, Zuri, T’Challa and more in the challenge scene from Black Panther. (We actually featured him on TWS back on March 6, 2018, and you can see his performance below.)
OH JESUS I AM LITERALLY SCREAMING !!! #MBakuChallenge #BlackPanther pic.twitter.com/WvL0K4LaVt
— Lady M’Baku 🦍💍 (@itsAlexJordan) March 6, 2018
Good Morning America invited him and his mother Brittni Rae Bascombe on the show to chat. “As soon as we watched it, he wanted to go back and see it again,” says Brittni Rae. “He normally doesn’t even stay awake through two-and-a-half-hour movies, so I knew that something was different about this movie.”
“I want to know how many tubes of your lipstick it took to make him into M’Baku,” George Stephanopoulos asks.
She laughs. “About five.”
While Jordan is adorably shy during the interview, he lights up when they surprise him with a message from Winston Duke, who played M’Baku in the movie. “I, M’Baku, leader of the Jabari, wish to make you an honorary member of my tribe,” Duke says. “Thank you for killing the M’Baku Challenge. You are amazing. I love you. You’re amazing. Thank you for participating. Thank you for making such an amazing video. I couldn’t have done it better myself. You did Forrest. You did everyone’s voice. So cool. Thank you, thank your family. You guys are awesome.”
Thousands of viewers recognized the importance of Black Panther when it comes to representation for young black kids. Initiatives like the #BlackPantherChallenge raised money for kids to see the film for free, and the movie has inspired some amazing art projects—from kids posing as Black Panther characters to posters that reimagine black leads in other science fiction and fantasy media. The actors in the film were also keenly aware of what their roles represented, whether for women of color in STEM or black men growing up in America. And as Jordan’s videos make clear, Black Panther lets kids see themselves as heroes in a really meaningful (and adorable!) way.
As Brittni Rae said above, “It’s more than a movie. It’s a movement.”
(Featured image: screengrab)
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