21 Savage Confirms His ‘American Dream’ Biopic Trailer Was a Fake

21 Savage’s American Dream biopic and its trailer were a spoof, the rapper confirmed in an interview on podcast Club Shay Shay with Shannon Sharpe on Wednesday.

“No, that was a parody,” Savage told Sharpe with a slight smirk after he was asked about the upcoming project during the lengthy two-hour long interview.

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The trailer was complete with a poster for the fake movie and included the intro shot for film production company Lionsgate. The trailer claimed the film would release on Independence Day and included Stranger Things star Caleb McLaughlin playing Savage’s younger self, as well as fellow Atlanta rapper Donald Glover playing an older version of him. Natasha Lyonne took part in the trailer as well.

While the film isn’t happening, Sharpe himself told Savage he feels his story could make a compelling movie.

“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. “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.”

Savage, Rolling Stone’s cover star last month, replied that he thinks it could be a film some day, but likely not any time soon. “I feel like it could be one day, they’re gonna hate on it now though,” Savage said. “They’re gonna be like ‘why the fuck 21 Savage deserve a movie about him for.'”

The hoax movie trailer isn’t the first time the rapper has faked collaborations with famed media outlets to tease music. In November of 2022, he and Drake landed in a legal skirmish with Vogue parent company Condé Nast for disseminating a fake cover of the magazine to promote their collaborative album Her Loss, with Conde Nast seeking $4 million in damages. The duo settled with the company last year for an undisclosed sum.

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