--- title: Watch Paul McCartney's Super-Meta Mannequin Challenge Video description: Watch the rockstar Beatle's version of the viral video trend, appropriately set to hip-hop due Rae Sremmurd's "Black Beatles." canonical: https://time.com/4566291/paul-mccartney-mannequin-challenge/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-11-10T17:36:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:38:36.247Z og:title: Watch Paul McCartney's Super-Meta Mannequin Challenge og:description: The rockstar Beatle got in on the viral video trend for very relevant reasons. og:url: https://time.com/4566291/paul-mccartney-mannequin-challenge/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch Paul McCartney's Super-Meta Mannequin Challenge twitter:description: The rockstar Beatle got in on the viral video trend for very relevant reasons. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Paul McCartney Just Aced the Most Meta Mannequin Challenge Ever > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=b4014f51-e3da-4412-a92e-23abb13d8dea&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1)  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Nov 10, 2016 5:36 PM UTC  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Nov 10, 2016 5:36 PM UTC As the [viral Mannequin Challenge](http://time.com/4561330/celebrities-mannequin-challenge/?iid=sr-link2) has captivated internet audiences and spread to the [upper ranks of celebrity](http://time.com/4562272/hillary-clinton-mannequin-challenge/?iid=sr-link1) awareness, it was only a matter of time until [still-hip rockstar Paul McCartney](http://time.com/4316361/coachella-desert-trip-paul-mccartney-rolling-stones/?iid=sr-link5) got in on the action. His involvement is especially apt because of the song that soundtracks most of the mesmerizing videos, hip-hop duo Rae Sremmurd’s “Black Beatles.” That song is, of course, a pun on—and reference to—McCartney’s iconic band. In the song, rappers Swae Lee and Slim Jxmmi name drop the band and its leaders John Lennon and Paul McCartney multiple times, comparing Rae Sremmurd to a modern-day version of the leaders of the British Invasion. (Even their official [name on Twitter](https://twitter.com/RaeSremmurd?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor) is currently set to “Black Beatles.”) So then, in a very meta move, McCartney himself took on the challenge on Thursday morning, filming a short clip in which the legendary musician is fastidiously frozen in place next to a piano. “Love those Black Beatles,” he captioned the video in a tweet that’s been shared more than 25,000 times. Rae Sremmurd retweeted it, too, completing the social feedback circle. McCartney: always relevant. > [](https://twitter.com/PaulMcCartney/status/796723111710298112) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4566291/paul-mccartney-mannequin-challenge/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4566291/paul-mccartney-mannequin-challenge/"},"headline":"Paul McCartney Just Aced the Most Meta Mannequin Challenge Ever","datePublished":"2016-11-10T17:36:25.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:38:36.247Z","description":"In which the original Beatle tips his hat to the \"Black Beatles\"","url":"https://time.com/4566291/paul-mccartney-mannequin-challenge/","keywords":["Newsfeed","celebrities","Music","viral"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4566291/paul-mccartney-mannequin-challenge/","name":"Paul McCartney Just Aced the Most Meta Mannequin Challenge Ever"}}]}] ```