After releasing the song “Blurred Lines” in March 2013, Robin Thicke was at the top of his career. The song became extremely popular in the months that followed. This was partially due to the iconic music video, in which Emily Ratajkowski debuted as one of the protagonists of the song’s “Blurred Lines.” A now-famous foam finger Miley Cyrus made at the VMAs that year may have also had a role in part. Years later, the former music video star and model said that Robin Thicke had groped her when they were filming the clip.
In the upcoming weeks, Emily Ratajkowski will transition from model and actress to author as she prepares to release her new book, My Body, in which she made her claims public. She writes in the book, quoting The Sunday Times (from Page Six):
I was suddenly surprised to feel a stranger’s icy, foreign hands touching my bare breasts from behind. I automatically started to back up while turning to face Robin Thicke. His eyes were hidden behind his sunglasses as he lurched backward with a silly grin on his face. I looked beyond the set into the gloom. Are you OK? [The director, Diane Martel] called out to me, her voice breaking.
Ratajkowski continues by saying that she had been having fun while filming ahead of time with the other female team members. She claims that she simply tried to move on and “didn’t respond” at the time. The version of what transpired has also been supported by Diane Martel, the creator of the music video for “Blurred Lines,” who noted,
I can still see him grabbing her breasts. In each hand, one. They were both in profile and he was standing behind her. I exclaimed, “What the fuck are you doing, that’s it!” in my loud, combative Brooklyn accent. The shoot is finished!
Drinking on the scene was blamed for the incident, and Martell claims Robin Thicke was “sheepish” afterward, adding that it might not have happened if there hadn’t been any alcohol there. The performer has already gone into trouble because of the song. Following its debut, Marvin Gaye’s estate filed a copyright lawsuit. In the months and years that followed, the song and the music video received complaints, with some accusing “Blurred Lines” of encouraging misogynistic culture.
Even the song’s producer and star, Pharrell Williams, who also appears in the music video, was critical of it in 2019 and expressed his “embarrassment” about some of his earlier work.
Even if it’s not my conduct, I learned that there are men who use that phrase to take advantage of women. Just how it impacts women matters. My eyes were enlightened to the song’s genuine message and how it might affect listeners.
Even though it was divisive at the time of its release, the video ultimately helped Emily Ratajkowski and Robin Thicke become household names. Even though he has since moved on to a second profession as a judge on Fox’s The Masked Singer, it would continue to be Robin Thicke’s biggest hit. As of October 2021, “Blurred Lines” had received over 761 million YouTube views.
