Your face looks familiar is a popular format of celebrity singing shows, which currently has versions in different countries around the world, including some in Europe.
Each series of the show features a number of celebrities – some established singers, others from other fields of entertainment – who pose as pop artists. Some series feature singers who have also been or will be Eurovision stars.
Some series of Your face looks familiar feature blackface performances – where a white performer wears dark makeup as part of their impersonation of a black performer. This kind of performance is problematic at best, racist at worst. While in some countries the performances are presented as heartfelt tributes to the stars, in other countries the sight of a white person dressed in black is played for laughs.
In the past, wiwibloggs has covered former Eurovision stars who have competed on Your face looks familiar. Until 2017, this included a few blackface performances, which we covered as basic entertainment news without review. We regret this and recognize the harm that the normalization of such performances could cause. We are sorry.
We have now removed these posts as we see no positive reason to keep them online.
Since 2018, we have chosen not to cover blackface performances on Your face looks familiar. During this period, however, we have covered former Eurovision stars who performed on editions of the show that included blackface performances from other competitors.
But that’s enough. We are not comfortable avoiding the issue of blackface on Your face looks familiar. From now on, wiwibloggs will no longer cover performances by Eurovision stars or Eurovision tributes featured in future series of Your face looks familiar and we have no reason to cover the show otherwise.
We also invite all productions of Your face looks familiar to end blackface performances. If a broadcaster wants to include songs by popular black artists, they can do so without blackface or other offensive racist caricatures. Indeed, they could simply invite black artists to participate in the show.
Why are blackface performances problematic?
Blackface has its origins in American minstrel shows of the mid-to-late 19th century. White artists used black grease makeup to parody African Americans. As Voice explain, “Set against the backdrop of a society that systematically mistreated and dehumanized black people, they mocked depictions that reinforced the idea that African Americans were inferior in every way. »
American academic David Leonard told Vox that contemporary blackface “reinforces the idea that black people are appropriate targets of ridicule and mockery and reminds us of stereotypes about black criminality and danger.”
The website also notes that “Not feeling racist when wearing blackface doesn’t change how it affects those who see it”. They also say that thanks to the Internet, blackface photos and videos can spread much further than their intended audience.
Outside of the United States, there is a history of blackface in countries like the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, and Portugal.
Featured image created by user5812043 – www.freepik.com.
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