Is This Blackface? vol. Olympic Edition

[DCAllAfrican]

Internet gives them so much courage man.

I really would like to see them interact with black people on campus after folks found out who they were

 

[DCAllAfrican]

Antoine Griezmann Goes Full Blackface For "80s Party" [Update] http://deadspin.com/antoine-griezma...ium=sharefromsite&utm_source=Deadspin_twitter via @deadspin

 

[DCAllAfrican]

Australian Model Sophie Applegarth And Friends Decide To Honor Venus, Serena And Kobe With Blackface | BLAVITY https://blavity.com/australian-mode...al&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

 

[superblytrife]

Damn near 2018 and this **** still goes on, huh? Some white folks will never learn. Or they simply don’t care. I’m going with scenario two.

And how the hell is calling Venus and Serena “*****es” honoring them? You ain’t slick with these pleas you’re copping.

Btw, those model broads look atrocious, blackface or not.

 

[Maximus Meridius]

These white folks know what they're doing. They love playing dumb about this stuff and just racism period.

 

[hand2handking]

 

[hand2handking]

 

[calibeebee]

 

[SC kid]

The extra long black turtleneck, which comes up to the midpoint of the wearer’s face, just past the nose, features an overexaggerated red mouth (with a hole in the middle for the wearer’s actual mouth). On social media, people pointed out that the sweater looks very similar to the way white performers offensively painted their faces in minstrel shows to play black characters.



We’ve previously discussed how aspects of black culture can be so appealing to the masses that they want to emulate them (and sometimes go too far). But recently, smack dab in the middle of Black History Month, people admitting to dressing up in blackface, in a former life or otherwise, seems to be (dishearteningly) in style.

Virginia’s Governor Ralph Northam — who still refuses to step down — had photos surface of him in medical school wearing blackface (next to a friend in a KKK costume), and also admitted to “darkening his skin” to dress as Michael Jackson the same year. Not to be outdone, Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring admitted to wearing blackface to dress like Kurtis Blow for a college party in the ’80s. Joy Behar of The View even joined in, commenting that she had once used makeup that was “a little darker than her skin” to dress as a “beautiful black woman” in her late 20s. And to top off the Black History Month fouls, everyone had to sit through Liam Neeson’s WTF of a statement about desiring to commit a racially charged crime. Lovely February we’re having, no?

Racist fashion faux pas from foreign designers (like H&M’s “coolest monkey in the jungle” or Prada’s window display) are becoming a little too common to use the excuse that they didn’t know about America’s racist history or that they were unaware of the painful implications of blackface imagery. And so while everyone has been apologetic (Gucci, in particular, issued a statement about valuing diversity and pulled the sweater from stores and online), it’s becoming increasingly a less credible defense.

And as one Twitter user pointed out perhaps if they actually valued diversity they could, “hire more Black people and cultivate an environment where people on all levels of the company feel comfortable to speak up,” in order to avoid incidents like this in the future. Just an idea.

 

[RustyShackleford]

The Governor of VA finna be draped in Gucci tomorrow.

 

[Mark Antony]

"I went to a party dressed as my favorite African-American singer, what was his name honey?"

 

[hand2handking]

Prada’s window display

 

[DCAllAfrican]

Gucci knew what they were doing

 

[Mark Antony]

Gucci knew what they were doing

I agree.

 

[blastercombo]

If not then what is it?

 

[RustyShackleford]

hand2handking byke!

DCAllAfrican missed you like crazy famb

 

[DCAllAfrican]

I see you cuz

 

[DCAllAfrican]

 

[Nouss]

Whoopi clown *** defended him too.

 

[brivera716]

I don’t think the Prada situation was intentional

there were multiple color ways & figures

 

[hand2handking]

I don’t think the Prada situation was intentional

there were multiple color ways & figures

subterfuge

 

[sfc415]

I don’t think the Prada situation was intentional

there were multiple color ways & figures

I think that whether it was intentional or not, these are massive companies that SHOULD know better. Most people I've seen talking about Gucci and Prada are highlighting the fact that if those companies had black people on their design teams or even any type of marketing, advertising, etc. teams, things like this wouldn't happen. You're a company that sells clothes to ALL people so it's your responsibility to make sure you understand ALL the cultures you're catering to. Yes, that's difficult for anyone to do, so that's why you hire people from different backgrounds to guide you. What disappoints people is that this obvious step wasn't taken, which makes black people feel like the brand thinks their feelings don't matter.

I can see where it can be unintentional. I grew up in a majority Latino and Asian community without any black friends, so I didn't immediately catch a lot of offensive imagery that could affect black people (not talking about obvious things like straight up blackface). If you showed me that Gucci sweater in 2003 with no context, I'd honestly think it was just Gucci trying to stand out with a tacky design.

However, like I said, it's 2019; the world is a lot smaller and you have the ability to hire/consult with people all over the globe. True, there's not many black people in Milan and Florence, but you could easily get some prominent African/African American designers (like Louis Vuitton did). You could easily have teams based in all the major markets you cater to, rather than just have offices in Europe and the white parts of NYC.

 

[sooperhooper]

It honestly may have been intentional on Gucci's part. They may not like how hip-hop has adopted them as the 'it' band and this may be their way of saying be gone without actually saying it.

 

[sfc415]

It honestly may have been intentional on Gucci's part. They may not like how hip-hop has adopted them as the 'it' band and this may be their way of saying be gone without actually saying it.

This might've been true in the past, but they've been bending over backwards to cater to the hip hop/hip hop fan demographic in order to boost sales. Almost no one was wearing Gucci for the past decade before they started doing that. 99% of what they put out these days looks like the garbage outrageous fake @#$@ rappers used to wear in the early 2000s. They even collaborated with Dapper Dan and put out a lot of pieces for that

 

[hand2handking]

wasnt it really that they stole from dapper dan back in the 90s and only did the collab as an apology/acknowledgment?