Kendrick Lamar's 'Alright' Reportedly Caused A Student Emotional Distress, Connecticut Town to Shell out $100K
Kendrick Lamar's 2015 track "Alright," wasn't that alright with a middle school student. Now a school district is paying the cost.
According to the New Haven Register, a Connecticut town is days away from awarding a family six figures after a student –the child of a police officer– claimed to have suffered emotional distress when a teacher showed the music video in school.
The incident occurred in 2020 when the eighth-grade student's social studies teacher from Vernon Center Middle School showed the "Hip Hop: Songs that Shook America" documentary that included the K-Dot song.
In the black and white visual to the song that won two Grammys, a white police officer is captured gesturing a gun motion while pointing at the MC who is standing atop a light pole. Seconds later, a gunshot is heard as Kendrick's body falls to the ground.
After watching the visual, the student said reportedly suffered emotional distress, along with post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression, shock, and social withdrawal.
As a result, the student had to be transferred to a different school.
According to the New Haven Register, the suit claims that the music video “depicted officers as murderers and contained other shockingly violent scenes and controversial statements about police officers." It further asserts that the teacher was aware that a parent of one of his students was a police officer.
The Board of Education is expected to finalize the settlement on Monday.
"We always do what's in the best interest of students, and each student is different so each decision is different, but it's always what's best for the kids," said the school's superintendent Joseph Macary.