Actor and musician is renowned for his performances in Halloween classics such as The Lost Boys, Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, Gremlins, The Goonies, Bordello of Blood, and Corbin Nash. So, when the next-generation child star Jordan Drayton, also known as 4-year-old viral singer JRD, needed a duet partner for his Halloween-themed single “Here Comes Halloween,” Feldman was the obvious choice. Feldman and JRD had become close friends after meeting at one of Feldman’s pool parties.
However, some fans may find it surprising that Feldman, who has been an outspoken advocate against child exploitation in the entertainment industry due to his own experiences being forced into acting as a young child, would agree to participate in such a project.
“I’m not really a big fan or supporter of kids in the industry. I think everybody knows that. So, I don’t really like to push a child-working agenda. That’s not really my thing,” admits Feldman, now 52 years old, in an interview with Yahoo Entertainment. Despite his reservations, Feldman recognized JRD’s undeniable talent and passion for performing during their initial meeting facilitated by their mutual attorney, Anita Rivas. JRD, the son of Public Enemy rapper/Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Flavor Flav and entertainment executive Kate Gammell, was simply born to entertain.
“Actually, what bonded Jordan and I is, I played my new single for some of the guests at my party, and Jordan was the first one out on the dance floor, kicking it. And he was eating it on the dance floor!” Feldman chuckles, sitting on Zoom with JRD, who’s already dressed in his Jack Skellington costume in anticipation of his favorite holiday. “I saw it right away, and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, look at that little kid dancing!’ … I was just amazed at his energy and his talent, and he was such a show-off.
“If there’s a true passion there and there’s a true love and it’s not being pushed on them, and you’ve got good parents who are very on top of things and making sure they spend all their time with their child on the set or in the recording or whatever it is, as long as your parent is fully aware and active and engaged, then it’s fine,” Corey explains. “You’ve just got to make sure that’s the kind of the preset requisite. And when we did the [“Here Come Halloween”] recording, Jordan’s mom was there. … I think there’s even a shot of her [in the video] handing him the headphones, just to show everybody, ‘This is how you’re supposed to do it responsibly. Make sure that Mom’s in the room.’ That’s just the responsible way. So, I think if anything, it was kind of a way to help him out, but also a double sword for me, which is putting a little bit of the message in there that there’s the right way to do things, and the wrong way to do things.”