Quibi – The Nod Feature: “The Blackest Instagram Filter”
Role: Cultural Technologist & Featured Creator
Leighton McDonald was featured on the Quibi show The Nod to co-develop what the hosts called "the Blackest Instagram filter." The segment explored questions around cultural ownership, digital privacy, and platform equity—centered around Leighton’s concept for an access-locked Instagram AR filter based on the Hotep meme.
Originally used within Black communities as a satirical critique of performative consciousness, the Hotep meme became a lens for pre-woke commentary—poking fun at those who appeared “too woke” before the mainstream co-opted the term. Leighton’s filter intentionally restricted access as a statement against cultural appropriation and miscontextualization, sparking a broader conversation on Black tech, digital gatekeeping, and memetic misrepresentation.
To access the filter, users could pay $10 and receive a private link for permanent use—a direct-to-community approach that offered a monetization model outside platform-based tools. This method reflected an early push toward creative ownership, cultural stewardship, and new pathways for earning from digital IP.
Watch the segment:
Instagram Feature Clip →