On 18 March 2020, Israeli actress Gal Gadot posted a video on Instagram of herself and two dozen celebrity friends singing a rendition of the song "Imagine" by John Lennon, which intended to raise morale in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.[1]
Gadot organized the video with help from Kristen Wiig. "Kristen is like the mayor of Hollywood," Gadot told Vanity Fair, "Everyone loves her, and she brought a bunch of people to the game. But yeah, I started it, and I can only say that I meant to do something good and pure".[2] She told Instyle: "The pandemic was in Europe and Israel before it came here (to the United States) in the same way. I was seeing where everything was headed." So she told Wiig, "Listen, I want to do this thing."[3]
"Hey guys, Day 6 in self-quarantine, and I gotta say the past few days got me feeling a bit philosophical," Gadot explains in the video's introduction. "You know this virus has affected the entire world, everyone. Doesn’t matter who you are, where you’re from, we’re all in this together."[4]
Gadot said she was inspired to make the video after seeing a man from Italy play "Imagine" on his saxophone from his balcony.[4] "I ran into this video of this Italian guy playing the trumpet in his balcony [sic] to all the other people who were locked inside their homes. and he was playing 'Imagine', and there was something so powerful and pure about this video..."[4]
(In order of appearance)
The video was nearly universally panned, with critics dismissing it as an ineffective, out-of-touch, "cringey" response to the pandemic; Jon Caramanica of the New York Times called it "an empty and profoundly awkward gesture".[5][6][7][8][9] Gadot later acknowledged the video did not garner the positive reaction that had been intended but was unapologetic in explaining the thinking behind it.[2] Gadot acknowledged the video ended up being in "poor taste" but maintained that it was made with "pure intentions".[3]
The video was parodied by comedian Zack Fox, whose version was based on the song "Slob on My Nob" by Tear Da Club Up Thugs. Fox's version featured appearances from Eric André, Thundercat, 6lack, Quinta Brunson, Langston Kerman, and Chuck Inglish, among others.[10][11]
Experimental musician Lingua Ignota also remixed the audio of Gadot's version into a harsh noise wall song titled "Above Us Only Sky".[12]
American singer-songwriter John Mayer also parodied the video in an episode of Current Mood. Mayer inserted clips of himself singing "Imagine" by Ariana Grande into Gadot's original video.[13][14]
American jazz musician and YouTuber Charles Cornell analyzed the video from a musical standpoint, critiquing the lack of coordination in maintaining a consistent musical key and rhythm. He then created and performed a new version with his own backing music; using the celebrities' vocals put to a consistent meter and with relevant key changes to transition between singers.[15][16]
The video was also parodied on the series The Boys, in the opening scene of the episode "Herogasm", in which the character the Deep, himself a parody of Aquaman (rather than Queen Maeve, the show's parody of Wonder Woman, the character portrayed by Gadot) mirrors Gadot's comments about feeling philosophical before starting to sing "Imagine" followed by celebrities such as Patton Oswalt, Josh Gad, Mila Kunis, Ashton Kutcher, Elizabeth Banks, Kumail Nanjiani, Aisha Tyler, and Rose Byrne, individually singing a line of the song each.[17]
The video was also parodied by Bob Odenkirk and David Cross during a virtual reunion of Mr. Show, where the participants sung Eat Itby"Weird Al" Yankovic.[18] The cover featured an array of Mr. Show cast members, as well as actors and actresses from both Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, including Rhea Seehorn, Michael Mando, Michael McKean, and Bryan Cranston. Sarah Silverman, who appeared in the original, also joined, along with Rachel Bloom and Yankovic himself.
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