After the British Metropolitan Police filed a complaint claiming that drill music incites “gang violence,” more than 30 videos have been removed from YouTube, according to The Guardian.
Drill music, which originated in Chicago and was first made popular by the likes of Chief Keef, is allegedly responsible for the rise of gang violence in London, according to Cressida Dick, the British Metropolitan Police Commissioner.
Citing “extreme violence against women” and music which “glamorizes violence,” Dick led the charge of complaints against almost 60 music videos, of which 30 were removed by the streaming video giant.
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A spokesman for YouTube said they’re working with the British Metropolitan Police, among other British law enforcement agencies, to play their part in the reduction of violent crime. However, it isn’t clear whether the 30 videos removed from the site involved drill music.
London-based drill music collective 1011 started a Change.org online petition calling upon the police to stop banning these videos on YouTube. As of this writing, more than 5,000 people have signed the petition. 1011 is also claiming they’re being targeted by the police.
Pressplay, a British marketing company that promotes drill music, took to Instagram to issue a public apology to their followers about some of their music videos being removed from the platform. The company said they were meeting with YouTube to “sort it all out,” and predicted the removed videos would be back on the platform in a few weeks.
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Meanwhile, British reporter Adeel Amini, who works for a company that — incidentally — is called PressPlay as well (but isn’t the record label in question) took to the BBC to share his thoughts on how the removal of drill videos “sets a dangerous precedent” and “reveals double standards.”
Here’s the full clip for those asking: pic.twitter.com/OQgbLzQkSi
— Adeel Amini (@adeelamini) May 29, 2018
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