Orlando Jones' Bucket Challenge Is the Only One You Really Need to See

Celebrity ALS ice bucket challenges are going viral, but as you can see in the video above, Jones has bullet shell casings, not ice, in his bucket.

Jones tells Fusion:

…The “ice bucket challenge” sort of started elsewhere, and the ALS Association is a completely worthy and incredible organization. They’ve raised millions of dollars, which is kind of amazing. […]

I wanted to do what ALS did, co-opt a viral thing and make it my own, to talk about the insanity happening in Ferguson and just around the world. My parents are like, “It’s the ’60s again.”

Those shell casings in my video represent the people who paid the ultimate cost for the freedoms we have today. I couldn’t find enough bullets to dump on myself to illustrate the number of people who gave their lives for a very important ideal.

Jones has a very specific view on guns. As a child growing up in the Deep South, a cross was burned on his family’s front yard. His father carried a gun because he wanted to protect his family. He explains:

For me, I became a member (of the NRA) because I wanted to affect change in the organization. Do I share all of their ideals? No. I’m not a monolith in culture. I don’t agree with all black people on everything either. I’m a complex person and I wanted to make that point.

His bullet bucket challenge is a way to draw attention to the gun violence, while also making a statement:

I’m challenging everyone. I’m saying that I’m pointing the finger at myself and holding myself accountable. If you feel the way I do, you can do something. Whatever your challenge is, if you want to write letters, whatever you want to do, spread the message to affect change.