State Champ Radio Blackface
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Source: Dana Jacobs / Getty / Doja Cat
Doja Cat’s behavior has been the subject of conversation. Now, some people are accusing her of donning blackface in a new promo for her upcoming project, and the artist is clapping back.
The 28-year-old rapper/ is now defending herself after sharing a teaser featuring a normal version of herself and her alter ego, Scarlet, who was completely covered in blood from her latest album.
In the video, Doja Cat addresses other criticisms, mainly her behavior toward her fans. The interviewer asks, “This might be a silly question. Do you appreciate the people and the fans who support your music?”
The voices in regular Doja’s head reply, “I hate my fans. My fans are dumb.” Out loud, she says, “Yeah.”
The interviewer replies, “Nice. Love that. Love that.”
The promo did not land well, with some misinterpreting the blood and accusing the “Streets” crafter of being in blackface.
Scarlet has made plenty of appearances, most recently during a performance at the 2023 Video Music Awards for a medley performance of “Attention,” “Paint The Town Red,” and “Demons,” where her dancers were all painted in red.
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Taking to her Instagram Stories, Doja Cat loudly addressed those criticisms, claiming in multiple posts that “YOU HAVE TO BE…A VERY SPECIAL KIND OF F-CKING STUPID,” over photos of her dancers and herself.
X Users Reactions
Doja Cat also has fans coming to her defense as well. “Doja Cat been covered in blood for an album named “Scarlet” for the last 6 months. But of course it’s blackface,” one X person wrote on X.
One post on X accusing her of blackface read, “How’s nobody upset that this grotesque caricature of a self-hating biracial girl who is severely stunted as an unbalanced hormonal femcel pick-me teenage drama queen wearing blackface? The “red paint” is too close to skin tone. It’s time to abandon #DojaCat. We don’t need her.
You can see more reactions in the gallery below.
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Photo: Dana Jacobs / Getty
1. Pretty obvious
2. The filter doesn’t help
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Source: Variety / Getty
A television show in Poland has gotten major flack for two Polish performers who performed Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar songs in blackface.
Social media users got upset as footage from the second episode of the current season of the Polish television show Twoja Twarz Brzmi Znajomo, their version of the reality competition show franchise, Your Face Sounds Familiar, revealed two of their competitors donning blackface. On the Sept. 9 show, singer Kuba Szmajkowski took the stage dressed like Kendrick Lamar to perform “Humble,” Lamar’s hit song from the Grammy Award-winning DAMN album.
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Szmajkowski also rapped the N-word during his performance. He had given fans of the show a preview of the look on his Instagram account, right down to a meager attempt to recreate Lamar’s signature cornrows.
Pola Gonciarz, an actress, also made the choice to don blackface to perform Beyoncé’s “If I Were A Boy” in the same episode. She also shared a look at her darkening her skin for the performance on Instagram, which received sharp condemnation in the comments. “Skin colour is NOT a costume! FFS!” one commenter wrote.
Numerous people online blasted Szmajkowski and Gonciarz online. “Oh no Kuba, this isn’t okay,” one comment stated. “Producers of this show, what were you thinking? Kuba is an amazing talent who could have had a massive career internationally. But now this performance is out there.”
Unfortunately, it’s not the show’s first ill-advised brush with blackface. Past guests have done so to perform as Tina Turner, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, and Stevie Wonder. In 2021, Tomasz Ciachorowski donned blackface while performing as Kanye West. At the time, the program released a statement defending the action: “The intention of each star performing on the show, as well as of the whole production team, is to recreate the original performance in the most precise manner, while honoring the original artist.”
This time, however, the show’s parent company Endemol Shine struck a different tone. “Banijay condemns Endemol Shine Poland’s local execution of ‘Your Face Sounds Familiar,’ which contradicts our group’s global values,” a Banijay spokesperson said in a statement. “A subsequent internal investigation is underway and the appropriate measures will be taken.”
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In a move we’re sure no one asked for, veteran actor Richard Dreyfuss defended the use of blackface and revealed his true feelings on diversity and the Oscars.
While appearing as a guest on PBS’ The Firing Line, the new criteria by the Academy Awards for eligibility for Best Picture come 2024 came up for discussion by the host, Margaret Hoover. Nominated films are required to meet four benchmarks: 30% of the cast and 30% of the crew must be from an under-represented group are two of the criteria needed. Dreyfuss stated, “They make me vomit.”
When asked why, the Jaws actor replied: “This is an art form. It’s also a form of commerce, and it makes money, but it’s an art. No one should be telling me as an artist that I have to give in to the latest, most current idea of what morality is.” He then went on to add: “And what are we risking? Are we really risking hurting people’s feelings? You can’t legislate that. And you have to let life be life.”
Dreyfuss then praised Sir Laurence Olivier’s portrayal of the tragic Shakespearean hero Othello – while in blackface – in the 1965 film adaptation of the play. “He played a Black man brilliantly,” the 75-year-old told Hoover. “Am I being told that I will never have a chance to play a Black man? Is someone else being told that if they’re not Jewish, they shouldn’t play the Merchant of Venice?”
Hoover responded with a query: “Do you think there’s a difference between the question of…who is allowed to represent other groups…and the case of blackface explicitly in this country given the history of slavery and the sensitivities around Black racism?” To that, Dreyfuss replied, “There shouldn’t be…. Because it’s patronizing. Because it says we’re so fragile that we can’t have our feelings hurt. We have to anticipate having our feelings hurt, our children’s feelings hurt. We don’t know how to stand up and bop the bully in the face.”
Dreyfuss’ defense of blackface seems on-brand given his previous role in the 1986 film Moon over Parador. The interview follows another moment of questionable thinking for the Close Encounters of the Third Kind actor where he slipped off a chair while being interviewed in April by late-night host Bill Maher for his Club Random podcast. Watch the full interview below.
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Ben Stiller publicly defended his Tropic Thunder movie recently, which garnered controversy over Robert Downey Jr. appearing in blackface in the film among other issues.
The actor and writer was mentioned in a tweet about the film last Tuesday by a Trump supporter who goes by “Benny Sings.” The individual wrote: “Please stop apologizing for doing this movie. It was and still is funny AF… Even funnier now with cancel culture the way it is. It’s a MOVIE. Ya’ll can just get over it. I was DYING laughing when I first saw it back in the day and so was everyone else.”
In an included text statement, the user noted that the Wayans Bros didn’t apologize for White Chicks in which they appeared as two white women. Stiller would respond afterward, writing: “I make no apologies for ‘Tropic Thunder.’ Don’t know who told you that. It’s always been a controversial movie since when we opened. Proud of it and the work everyone did on it.”
The 2008 comedy movie, which features Stiller and Downey Jr. along with Jack Black, drew a swarm of backlash on its release mainly for Stiller’s role as Tugg Speedman, who played a character in the fictional film-within-the-film Simple Jack that disability advocates felt mocked them. They pointed to the usage of the R-slur in particular in their criticisms.
Downey Jr. would also face some backlash for his role as Australian method actor Kirk Lazarus, who opts to darken his skin to play a Black soldier. The Iron Man actor did express his reservations about taking the role while appearing on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast in 2019, which would wind up earning him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor the following year. “Sometimes, you just have to go, ‘Yeah I effed up,’” he said.
Stiller appeared to apologize for that or claimed to in another tweet in 2018 prompted by Olympic medalist Shaun White appearing as Simple Jack for a Halloween costume. “Actually Tropic Thunder was boycotted 10 years ago when it came out, and I apologized then. It was always meant to make fun of actors trying to do anything to win awards. I stand by my apology, the movie, Shaun White, And the great people and work of the @SpecialOlympics,” he wrote.
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Photo: Stephane Cardinale – Corbis / Getty
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A contestant on The Bachelor has taken to social media to apologize for her past defense of a white teen in Blackface.
According to reports, Season 27 contestant Greer Blitzer issued a statement on Tuesday (Jan. 24th) through the Stories feature on her Instagram account after being called out for defending someone’s use of Blackface years earlier. “The journey to love is filled with lessons and these lessons are also made on our journey of growth. In my past, I have made some uneducated, ignorant, and frankly, wrong comments on my social media accounts,” she wrote. “I am deeply sorry to those I have hurt, especially those within the Black community, not because these screenshots have resurfaced, but because I ever shared these harmful opinions at all, she continued. “Time and age do not excuse my actions, but this is not a reflection of who I am today.”
The actions of the 24-year-old medical sales rep from Texas first came to light last September after someone posted tweets from her account on a Reddit forum defending a fellow teenager who opted to dress as Tupac Shakur for Halloween – complete with Blackface. “The students involved didn’t even know what blackface was so my point exactly. It wasn’t an intentional racist act,” she allegedly wrote back in 2016. In another tweet, she allegedly said: “Putting white powder on your face isn’t okay either. That didn’t make the news did it?”
The controversy flared up again on social media as Blitzer received a “First Impression” rose on the premiere episode of the latest season of the ABC reality show from Bachelor Zach Shallcross. There has been no comment from him after Blitzer’s apology statement. It’s not the first time that the show has been tainted by racism allegations. Previous winner Rachel Kirkconnell came under fire after photos of her at an antebellum-South-themed party were brought to light. The host at the time, Chris Harrison, publicly defended her which led to his dismissal from the show.
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