Folk singer goes viral with song about Brian Thompson killing

The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. I’ve never seen anything like this before and it sort of took me over in the same way it took over everybody.” DeVito, a folk singer and songwriter who counts Woody Guthrie and Mississippi John Hurt among his influences, says he felt some unease about being perceived as sympathetic to the killer, but he felt he could say in a song what he many people were trying to express through jokes and memes about the killing online. “It’s a very sort of callous reaction, but in a lot of ways it’s justified.” Joe DeVito, a 26-year-old songwriter from Yonkers, wrote a song about the killing of Brian Thompson. DeVito seems to play on both of those ideas when he sings in the song: “Living is a curse if you ain’t got the purse to pay them, and we could all be free as long as we ain’t all too patient.” DeVito’s song was part of a wave of commentary, memes, jokes and even celebration that followed the killing of the 50-year-old Thompson on Wednesday. It shows that people have suffered for a long time.” His song was removed from TikTok some hours after it was posted because of an apparent breach of the company’s community guidelines — although he isn’t sure the exact reason why.