Tyler Merritt ’s new viral video is dedicated to all the Black people “who never made it home.”
The Nashville, Tennessee, actor’s latest clip ― titled “The Playlist” ― shows him putting on his headphones, pulling up his hoodie and walking along to his favorite tunes from Jay-Z, Alanis Morissette, Bon Jovi, Taylor Swift and more.
His internal monologue is an amusing commentary on the music.
There’s even a funny dig at Kanye West.
The video takes a sobering turn, though, when it depicts him being stopped by police.
“For all those who never made it home,” reads the text that appears on the screen.
Check out the clip here:
Merritt produced the video, which social media users have hailed as “powerful,” “poignant” and “inspiring,” earlier this month.
It was “before Amy Cooper, before George Floyd,” he told HuffPost on Saturday.
The video has now garnered more than 500,000 views.
It’s a follow-up to his 2018 video “Before You Call,” which he created in response to a spate of incidents of people calling cops on Black people for no valid reason. Jimmy Kimmel broadcast that clip on Friday’s night’s episode of his late night show. Check it out here:
Merritt acknowledged his new piece is “harder to swallow” than his first.
“And though it says so many less words, with this one you can’t just leave going, ‘Ahh, that’s sweet, we are just all the same,’” he told HuffPost.