21 Savage has revealed that the trailer for the biopic about his life is fake.
The rapper hinted to fans that a biopic about his life, entitled American Dream, was on the way earlier this month – dropping a new music video that also doubled up as a film trailer.
The clip, which was co-directed by Atlanta collaborators Stephen Glover, Jamal Olori and Fam Udeorji, alongside Luis Perez, featured Donald Glover and Stranger Things star Caleb McLaughlin playing 21 Savage at different ages.
It began with a young Savage (played by McLaughlin), depicting the rapper’s experience of being bullied in school before entering the rap scene. From there, Savage is seen in what looks like an interrogation room, talking to McLaughlin as he eventually becomes Glover, who plays an adult version of him.
Now, the rapper has confirmed in a new interview that there will not be any upcoming biopic and the trailer shared was a hoax.
“No, that was a parody,” Savage told Shannon Sharpe when asked about the project during an interview with the podcast Club Shay Shay on Wednesday (January 24).
Alongside starring Glover and McLaughlin, it also featured a cameo from Natasha Lyonne and an accompanying movie poster.
While Savage confirmed that a film based on his life won’t be arriving in cinemas any time soon, he did reveal that he hasn’t written off the possibility of a project arriving in the future.
“It’s the American dream. You hear about this all the time, people migrating to America, and you’re an American success story,” Sharpe said, explaining why so many people were convinced the biopic could be real. “Very tough upbringing, a single parent. You had love and you could’ve gone down this path and you did for a period of time, but somehow you come back down the straight and narrow and here we are. America loves success stories.”
Replying, the rapper said: “I feel like it could be one day, they’re gonna hate on it now though… They’re gonna be like ‘why the fuck 21 Savage deserve a movie about him for.’”
Just one day after sharing the fake trailer, 21 Savage announced details of a new album, which was then released on Friday, January 12.
Also titled ‘American Dream’, the album is a follow-up to his 2018 sophomore album, ‘I Am > I Was’. He announced it by sharing an image of the album’s cover with the caption: “My 3rd solo album AMERICAN DREAM this Friday,” followed by emojis of British and American flags, seemingly referencing his immigrant status in America.
This isn’t the first time that the rapper has duped his fans to tease new music. Back in 2022, he and Drake both faced legal action after disseminating a fake cover of Vogue parent company Condé Nast to promote their collaborative album ‘Her Loss’ (via Rolling Stone).
