Holy crap, this year's Sept. 21 Demi video looks like it was a lot of work

Demi Adejuyigbe released some behind-the-scenes shots of his annual charity video, as a reminder to fans to donate

By William Hughes  |  October 2, 2021 | 12:15am
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Holy crap, this year's Sept. 21 Demi video looks like it was a lot of work
Demi Adejuyigbe, arguing about Grease Screenshot: YouTube

One of the central jokes of Demi Adejuyigbe’s annual September 21st videos—the accidental internet holiday celebrating Earth, Wind, Fire, charity, and the principle of increasingly heightening expectations—is that Adejuyigbe has been forced to try to find a way to top himself every single year since that first, simple video went viral. This inconvenient fact has led to a lot of beautiful, innovative nonsense over the years, involving choirs of children, mariachi bands, and skywriting. But it also presumably contributed to Demi stating, unequivocally, that this year’s extravaganza had to be the last one, period.

Still: Hell of a note to go out on, something made only clearer as Adejuyigbe has gone on Twitter today to post a series of behind-the-scenes videos from the incredibly elaborate shoot—most notably the spinning room that was built to create the video’s central “dancing on the walls and ceiling” effect. It’s easy to just laugh and smile at these annual videos, but seeing the sheer amount of craft and effort that went into assembling them is actually kind of overwhelming. (Also: They made a fake, safe toilet, finally achieving one of mankind’s most deeply cherished dreams.)

Adejuyigbe made this little last-minute video blitz for a very pointed reason, though: Today is the last day that you can enter the charity raffled promoted by the video, wherein you can potentially win the painting featured in the video—and, more importantly, donate money to The West Fund, The Sunrise Movement, and Imagine Water Works. (The raffle/donation site is running at sept21st.com.)

How can you say no to that? They built a whole rotating room with a disco ball in the ceiling, just for an internet video! It’s one of the most convoluted and elaborate things we’ve ever seen, and while your donations almost certainly won’t convince Adejuyigbe to subject himself to this again next year, it will express how much you appreciate all the sweat and tears that went into this year. And also, y’know, support reproductive rights, hurricane relief, and climate change education.

 
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