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Everyone Wants To Know Who Played Madam President In Jay-Z's "Family Feud"

Shannon Carlin
December 30, 2017, 5:00 PM
Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images.
From the non-stop string of star-studded cameos (why yes, that is a very pregnant Mindy Kaling) to Beyoncé's stellar fashion to Blue Ivy's acting debut, Jay-Z's video for "Family Feud" is a sight to behold. Not to mention, a lot to take in. So it's no surprise that when fans were done watching the clip they had a lot of questions, including who plays Madam President in "Family Feud"? Luckily, the video's director Ava DuVernay was willing to share that fun fact, which should be even more fun for Disney fans.
DuVernay's "Family Feud" video shows that the future is most definitely female by flashing forward to a time when the "Founding Mothers" re-write the constitution and the country is co-led by a woman whose ancestors really founded this nation. This wasn't lost on fans. "I’ve never seen a representation of a Native woman at that level of power," one person tweeted.
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It's true, this future DuVernay created is one where women, people of color, and indigenous people lead together. It's something that isn't often seen in real life or onscreen, but DuVernay makes a case for it. "We have worked and fought side by side for generations," Madam President says in the video. "We are all related."
When this fan tweeted at DuVernay praising her for including Native American representation in her video, the director was quick to respond.
"Thanks for noticing," she wrote, explaining that "in this future, due to harm currently being done, America demands that the position of POTUS be filled by two people. Here Mister President is played by my fam Omari Hardwick and Madame President is played by the stellar Native American actress Irene Bedard."
That name may not sound familiar, but if she started speaking it's likely you'd recognize Bedard's voice. That's because she played Pocahontas in the 1995 Disney animated film. Yes, in DuVernay's future Pocahontas is POTUS, and that sounds just right to us.
It also sounded right to fans on Twitter who celebrated Bedard's casting. "You’ve earned every accolade in your career the hard way, you stood for Natives in filmic media holding out for roles bringing honor not shame (to us)," What TRIBE project, an arts campaign "deconstructing stereotypical images of Native people & other cultures," tweeted to Bedard. "With your greatest performances & roles still ahead, we congratulate you on #FamilyFeud."
While being in a Jay-Z video is a pretty great gig, Benard has been acting for nearly 25 years, appearing in 1998's Smoke Signals, 2011's Tree Of Life, 2015's Songs My Brothers Taught Me, and the A&E Western crime series Longmire. Next year she'll reprise her role of Pocahontas for Wreck-It Ralph 2.
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Benard has been representing indigenous people onscreen for years, but DuVernay was excited to have her represent a different kind of leadership in her video. "I loved the idea of their being Co-Presidents of the United States in the future. And that a Native American woman was one of them," she tweeted. "One of the first ideas I shared with @S_C_. He was all in. We had fun dreaming this up. This country will not stay the same. #ChangeIsComing."
After watching this video, it's clear that it couldn't come soon enough.
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