Daughter of Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, Willow Smith seemed to be following in their footsteps to fame when she released her new hit single, “Whip My Hair.” Tweens squealed with glee at the prospect of a new party jam, and hundreds of thousands tuned in for the premiere of the song’s music video, which aired Tuesday on the Disney Channel.
What no one could have predicted was the carnage that ensued. The video came on. Willow and her back up dancers began to whip their heads around in a seizure-like motion, the video’s signature dance move, and thousands of unsuspecting adolescents followed their idol’s lead.
“It was a massacre,” said Debbie Johnson, mother of Juwana Johnson, who had twenty friends over for the viewing. “The moment they started whipping their hair they were cracking their skulls, giving themselves whiplash, getting concussions…one of the girls even killed my cat Nibbles when she smashed into her while head-banging like Willow. I had to bring all 20 girls to the hospital.”
Debbie’s daughter and her friends were not alone in their pain. The “hair-whip-lash,” as experts are calling it, has been sweeping the nation as more and more tweens are exposed to the song. Current estimates predict that the 200,000 reported concussions will double within the week.
“Kids just can’t help themselves from watching and following,” Paul Reubens, noted tween-music-video expert, said, “Justin Bieber’s video became the most watched video on YouTube and bowling sales jumped 800%. These little girls see Willow whipping her hair, and they just impulsively follow her lead.”
The Smith clan had surprisingly little to say about the video. “My little girl does her thing, and that’s that,” Will said,”It’s not her fault if the other kids get too jiggy with it.”
