People will remember the unforgettable “Lose Yo’ Job” video that went viral in February 2020.
It shows Johnniqua Charles from south Carolina asserting her rights to a security guard outside the Diamonds Gentleman’s Club following a misunderstanding.
“Clearly agitated with not knowing why I was being detained and knowing my rights is where that whole scenario came from”, said Johnniqua.
While dancing with her hands cuffed behind her back, Charles sang the now viral lyric, “You about to lose yo’ job, cause you are detaining me for nothing”.
Little did Charles know that she’d be dancing her way to becoming an internet sensation.
The video has since been shared widely across the internet and has been remixed into several different songs and even used as a protest anthem in America.
In a new interview with Atlanta Black Star, Charles spoke about what happened that night and how the viral video changed her life.
She shared that she’s had many blessings since the “Lose Yo’ Job” video went viral, but before it happened she had battled drug addiction.
She said, “I was in and out of the streets begging since I was probably 19”.
“That the viral video couldn’t have come at a better time in her life”.
“I was at my wit’s end, I was at the bottom, the lowest, the deepest that you could be”, she said.
“It placed people in my life that I probably turned away because of the habit that I had”.
Looking back on that fateful night, she recalls forgetting her purse behind the DJ’s booth at Diamonds Gentleman’s Club.
When she attempted to go back inside, security guards stopped her from entering the building.
“He wasn’t listening to me when I was trying to tell him, ‘I’m just trying to get my damn purse,’ like, ‘I just want to get my purse, it has my social security number, it has my license, it has my cash, so just let me get it”, Charles said.
“At first I just asked him, ‘so why are you detaining me?’
“And he acted like he didn’t hear me, so I just raised my voice a little bit and I started singing”.
“In light of every situation, I’m going to make a joke out of it”.
Charles, who was not arrested said a police officer later came to the scene and laughed off the incident.
The clip went viral after the security guard who detained her, Julius Locklear, shared it on Facebook.
Charles said she hasn’t spoken to the security guard.
Since going viral, Charles initially gained a lot of followers on social media, and a GoFundMe page started by her sister raised over $50,000.
When unrest erupted over racial injustices, many used the “Lose Yo’ Job” chant to fuel their protests.
“I think the first time that I’d ever seen my song played at a big protest, of course I dropped a tear because this was amazing”, Charles said.
While the video changed her life for the better, Charles said she also hit a rough patch after going viral.
Her sister had served as her manager, but their relationship has since gone sour.
The falling out led to Charles’s sister locking her out of her original Instagram account, which had over 55,000 followers, leading to a loss of new opportunities, she said.
“I have been in control of nothing that’s been going on with ‘Lose Yo’ Job’ over the last past 3 or 4, maybe 5-months, that’s why the world has seen nothing”, Charles said.
“A lot could’ve popped off with ‘Lose Yo’ Job’ when it came to this election, so much stuff, but she’s made it so hard for me”.
Charles has since started a new Instagram account, @loseyojobgirl, in the hopes of regaining her original fans.
Charles added, “Even though some negative have happened in the situation, I think overall, I got nothing but positive from it, and I think as long as I stay positive that positive will continue to come to me”.
The mother of a 4-year-old boy is expecting a new baby with her fiancé in April.
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