*Rapper DaBaby’s latest music video for “Save Me” has ignited controversy by reenacting the tragic stabbing of 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska on a Charlotte light rail train.
The video portrays DaBaby as a bystander who intervenes to stop the attack, offering an alternate ending where the victim survives. The decision to recreate the killing has drawn significant online backlash for being perceived as insensitive.
The harrowing incident, captured on Charlotte Area Transit System surveillance footage, showed Zarutska, who fled Ukraine’s war in 2022, being stabbed multiple times from behind by suspect Decarlos Brown Jr. on August 22. Brown, 34, with a history of mental health issues, homelessness, and prior convictions, including armed robbery, faces first-degree murder charges. Republican Rep. Brenden Jones blamed “decades of Democrat DAs and Sheriffs putting their woke agendas above public safety,” while Charlotte Mayor Lyles called the incident “a tragic failure by the courts and magistrates.”
As NBC News reports, A.D. Carson, an associate professor of hip-hop at the University of Virginia, offered insight into the music video’s intent, stating, “It’s difficult to think for another artist. But I do believe the read is that it’s about the responsibility of everybody, for everybody.”
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Despite DaBaby’s dedication of the video to Zarutska and linking to her family’s GoFundMe, critics argue the reenactment exploits her tragedy. Republican Rep. Tim Moore called the attack “preventable” on X, demanding accountability and pointing to systemic judicial failures. Ten other North Carolina House Republicans echoed this, criticizing Magistrate Judge Teresa Stokes for releasing Brown, citing her “reckless” decision and “willful and persistent failure” in her duties.
The video, filmed without permission on a Charlotte train, has fueled broader political debates, with the White House attributing Zarutska’s death to “Democrat-run cities” and the “Radical Left.”
Watch the music video below
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