Donald Glover's Latest Interview Has Fans Talking For All The Wrong Reasons

Donald Glover has two very distinct and different personas. First, there's Glover: the comedian, actor, writer, director, husband, and father of three. Then, there's Childish Gambino: the three-time Grammy award-winning hip-hop artist. Gambino released his hit track "This Is America" in 2018. The song's thought-provoking and controversial video quickly went viral, racking up 12.9 million views within 24 hours. Until then, many people had no idea the "Atlanta" creator and the musician were one and the same. A Google search for "Are Donald Glover and Childish Gambino the same person?" brings up more than four million results.

Gambino is renowned for his outspoken views, creativity, and pushing the boundaries. "He sings in a dulcet, ecstatic falsetto and raps like a demon, mixing sex with comedy, and rage with slow jams, as though OutKast's louche André 3000 and mercurial rapper Big Boi were united in one muscular body," The Guardian writes. Glover has the same rep and is infamously multifaceted.

So, who better to interview Glover than Glover? That's precisely what he did for Interview magazine. "Yeah, so first question, why'd you want to do this?" he asked himself. "I guess I don't love interviews, and I asked myself, 'Why don't you like interviews?' And I think part of it is that the questions are usually the same," he replied. However, Glover's quirky, unusual interview has fans talking for all the wrong reasons.

Donald Glover's interview with Donald Glover has fans blowing up Twitter for all the wrong reasons. "You don't think this is contrived?" Glover asked himself at the start. "I don't think it's more contrived than any other interview," he replied. However, many begged to differ and questioned the point of the "sit-down" in the first place.

"I try to think of editorial from all angles — executive level, impact level, story level, etc. — but I quite literally don't understand the point of this," editor-in-chief Ivie Ani commented. "Donald Glover interviewing himself is a great example of how the skills of profilers/critics/interviewers are so undervalued," Vulture and New York Magazine critic Angela Bastien opined.

One of the subjects Glover came under fire for was his self-discussion about being "afraid" of Black women. "I feel like you're using Black women to question my Blackness," Glover declared. "For chaos reasons, now I need a Black woman to interview Donald Glover since he said he's not afraid of us," writer Najma Sharif tweeted. But it's not the first time the BAME community has slammed the actor. Childish Gambino's fanbase was primarily white when he first started out. Glover subsequently faced criticism for not being "Black enough" — he has even been called an "Oreo." He Tells Stories asked Glover why Black hip-hop fans thought he wasn't cool enough. "Drake wears gold chains," Glover said. "I could never pull off wearing chains. J. Cole's been to jail. I haven't."