Jordan Peele‘s next film, Us, is due to hit theaters on March 22, and our expectations for it couldn’t possibly be any higher. But we don’t even have to wait until then to see another meaningful movie from the likes of Peele, thanks to a new discovery. Long before he was addressing the terror of racism in this country with chilling films like Get Out and sketch comedy like Key & Peele, he was trying to help us deal with a different national crisis by starring in a public service announcement devoted to convincing fellow teenagers to go completely smoke-free.
This 1995 video (which we learned about at Laughing Squid) was discovered by the YouTube channel homeless. It features Peele, who would have been around 16 at the time, and fellow young actors Ola Creston and William Hernandez, extolling the dangers of teenage smoking and how other young Americans have actively worked to make the class of 2000 entirely smoke-free. (Spoiler alert: the class of 2000 was not).
Sitting backwards in a chair was basically the coolest thing you could do in 1995, so you know young Jordan Peele must have been pretty popular.
As for the four-minute PSA, they made a pretty convincing case (and showed some genuinely great work by young people). Smoking is obviously dangerous, and I swear that I will be smoke-free by 2000. (Spoiler alert: totally nailed it!)
We still can’t wait to see Us, but maybe afterwards Jordan Peele can make a new PSA on the dangers of vaping.
Featured Image: homeless/YouTube
