YouTube Deletes Bryson Gray’s ‘Let’s Go Brandon’ Music Video

YouTube Space LA in Playa Del Rey, Los Angeles, Calif., on Oct. 21, 2015. Lucy Nicholson/Reuters

Rapper Bryson Gray announced on Twitter Thursday that his anti-Biden music video “Let’s Go Brandon” was banned by YouTube due to “medical misinformation.”

“YouTube has banned ‘Let’s Go Brandon’ song from YouTube due to ’medical information.' What medical misinformation is in the song? Whoa,” Gray posted on Twitter.

The policy reason noted in Gray’s post said, “YouTube doesn’t allow claims about COVID-19 vaccinations that contradict expert consensus from local health authorities or the World Health Organization (WHO).”

The ban involved “1 active strike” that includes the inability to “upload, post, or live stream for 1 week,” the post showed.

Gray noted that the lyric video was the first to be removed. The music video was taken down soon after.

Despite the YouTube ban, Gray’s song recently reached #1 on iTunes in the United States.

“We did it,” Bryson said in another Twitter post on Sunday. “From banned on YouTube to passing Adele on the iTunes charts to become the #1 song in the country!”

The post also challenged fans to stand up against censorship. “Stop being afraid of censorship. Stop being afraid to be cancelled,” Bryson added. “STAND UP. Thank y’all so much! KEEP IT GOING!”

The same post reported Bryson’s video had also been “removed” from Instagram. The Instagram response said, “It goes against our Community Guidelines on harmful false information.”

Bryson responded, “Haha cute but it’s too late.”

The phrase, “Let’s go, Brandon!” began trending online after an NBC reporter interviewing NASCAR driver Brandon Brown after a race said fans were shouting support for the driver in the background. The fans were instead chanting, “[Expletive] Joe Biden!”

The “Let’s go, Brandon!” chant also quickly spread to major stadium events, including the day after the original interview at a New York Jets NFL game.

YouTube said on Sept. 29 that it will ban all “harmful vaccine content” from its platform, including claims that vaccines are ineffective at reducing transmission of disease, prompting concerns that the firm will escalate censorship of dissenting viewpoints.

“We’ve steadily seen false claims about the coronavirus vaccines spill over into misinformation about vaccines in general, and we’re now at a point where it’s more important than ever to expand the work we started with COVID-19 to other vaccines,” YouTube wrote in a blog post.

Now, it removes content that claims, “approved vaccines are dangerous and cause chronic health effects, claims that vaccines do not reduce transmission or contraction of disease, or contains misinformation on the substances contained in vaccines,” YouTube stated on its blog, saying that its policy will now apply to content that questions the efficacy of all vaccines, not just those for COVID-19.

Jack Phillips contributed to this report.