Oct 27, 2017
13,464
A Japanese TV programme has sparked accusations of racism and cultural insensitivity after a comedian painted his face to impersonate Eddie Murphy.

The New Year's Eve show featured celebrity comic Hamada appearing in a Beverly Hills Cop skit with his face blacked up.

Using makeup to lampoon black people - a practice known as blackface - is seen by many to be deeply offensive.

Protest over the show have grown over the past days.

More at http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-42561815
 

HardRojo

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
26,483
Peru
Blackface threads used to be a graveyard back in NeoGAF, I hope that isn't the case here. Several people in several countries ignore what Blackface really entails, it seems to be more prominent in the US and I too used to overlook it and ignore its background, which is why I believe that only criticizing people for doing Blackface and asking them to stop it isn't enough, educate them as to what its background is and why it is really offensive, I'm sure more people will be willing to understand if you explain it to them.
 

Sou Da

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
16,738
You know the fucked up part is that this seems to have a lot more effort put into it than contemporary western blackface.
 

D65

Member
Oct 26, 2017
6,862
The OP doesn't say, but is there a protest within Japan itself?
 

Gustaf

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
14,926
Blackface threads used to be a graveyard back in NeoGAF, I hope that isn't the case here. Several people in several countries ignore what Blackface really entails, it seems to be more prominent in the US and I too used to overlook it and ignore its background, which is why I believe that only criticizing people for doing Blackface and asking them to stop it isn't enough, educate them as to what its background is and why it is really offensive, I'm sure more people will be willing to understand if you explain it to them.

yeah i really hope that...

Everyone involved with this can fuck off.

nevermind
 

Slayven

Never read a comic in his life
Moderator
Oct 25, 2017
94,455
People that do this and the people that cosign it should ask themselves, what makes it ok to paint your skin a shade of colors no human has ever been to represent one race?
 

super-famicom

Avenger
Oct 26, 2017
25,598
The OP doesn't say, but is there a protest within Japan itself?

A lot of Japanese citizens don't know about the history of blackface and don't find it offensive. That said, it would be good if there was more education/public awareness on this, especially as Japan continues to participate in global politics.

Looking at the rest of the article posted, it looks like some expatriates are protesting this, and not Japanese nationals.
 

BR2049

Member
Oct 28, 2017
936
Japanese are protesting blackface?
Or is this just people who are not Japanese?
 

PSqueak

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,464
You know the fucked up part is that this seems to have a lot more effort put into it than contemporary western blackface.

Probably because the blackface was to express the idea that he was playing eddy murphy rather than just going "lol, black people", mind you not that it makes it any less worse, just more about it being born out of horrifying ignorance.

It's kinda what happens when you live in a largely mono-race country, you absolutely have no tact regarding other races.
 
OP
OP
Oct 27, 2017
13,464
Blackface threads used to be a graveyard back in NeoGAF, I hope that isn't the case here. Several people in several countries ignore what Blackface really entails, it seems to be more prominent in the US and I too used to overlook it and ignore its background, which is why I believe that only criticizing people for doing Blackface and asking them to stop it isn't enough, educate them as to what its background is and why it is really offensive, I'm sure more people will be willing to understand if you explain it to them.
But the article says :
the first minstrel shows were brought to the country from the US in the 19th Century.

Throughout the 20th Century, Japanese singers imitating African-American musicians have often used the same technique.
This is nothing new
 

Enzom21

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,989
Blackface threads used to be a graveyard back in NeoGAF, I hope that isn't the case here. Several people in several countries ignore what Blackface really entails, it seems to be more prominent in the US and I too used to overlook it and ignore its background, which is why I believe that only criticizing people for doing Blackface and asking them to stop it isn't enough, educate them as to what its background is and why it is really offensive, I'm sure more people will be willing to understand if you explain it to them.
No they're not. Regardless of what you tell some people, they will always think slapping on some shoe polish is perfectly acceptable.
This shit has been explained ad nauseam and to be perfectly honest, "ignorance" is not a valid excuse in the age of the internet. So... fuck these people.
 

Tagyhag

Member
Oct 27, 2017
12,904
Yeah it's crazy that this is ok over there while at the same time they have black comedians.

Unfortunately those comedians can't say shit because you know they'd be blacklisted in an instant.
 

Prophaniti

Member
Oct 28, 2017
2,028
I don't know how much the rest of you know about Japanese culture, but honor and blackface are huge parts of it
 
Oct 26, 2017
35,806
Deplorable and sadly, not even surprising.

His name escapes me, but isn't there a popular black comedian who regularly appears on a well-known Japanese tv program who speaks fluent Japanese?
Why didn't they get him to impersonate Eddie Murphy instead?
 

GNTsquid

Member
Oct 30, 2017
228
Chicago
Japanese being politically incorrect and insensitive and ignorant to people outside their own culture? You don't say.

Imperial Bishop said:
His name escapes me, but isn't there a popular black comedian who regularly appears on a well-known Japanese tv program who speaks fluent Japanese?
Why didn't they get him to impersonate Eddie Murphy instead?
I dont remember his name but he's part of the Downtown comedy group best known for Silent Library
 
Oct 25, 2017
13,871
No they're not. Regardless of what you tell some people, they will always think slapping on some shoe polish is perfectly acceptable.
This shit has been explained ad nauseam and to be perfectly honest, "ignorance" is not a valid excuse in the age of the internet. So... fuck these people.

Is using masks the same as painting your face or is that ok?

Something like this

RFby6t0.jpg
 
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Hypron

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,059
NZ
Even if you were to assume blackface in general is okay because of cultural relativism (it's not), dressing up as someone in a way that would be offensive in their home country is hugely disrespectful.
 
Nov 2, 2017
704
I see someone threw out that "Accurate as possible" BS in that article. If you can't get your point across with just the clothes, mannerisms, and catch phrases of the character you're trying to portray then you need to find a new line of work.
 

Birdie

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
26,289
From what I've seen of black actors in live-action Japanese shows, quite often they play them up as well---like they have them purposefully misuse Japanese or talk in an immediately odd way.

Although to be fair they seem to love to do that with non-Japanese actors in general. Though it seems like they take things a bit too further with black actors like having them basically grunt or just not talk.
 

KonradLaw

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
1,960
Is it really a case of blackface? I mean, in this BBC article it says "Using makeup to lampoon black people - a practice known as blackface". Did he made fun of black people? Played on stereotypes etc? Or just played Eddie Murphy playing Axel Foley.

There's this popular tv format (existing in countless countries around the world) called "Your Face Sounds Familiar". Bassicaly a tv show where celebirities pretend to be famous singers, not just with voices, but they actually try to get as close as possible visually, pretending to be woman or using make up to appear black, so you got thing like this:
daea9de7-045d-4122-96bb-abd0b1ec19b9.jpg

There's no comedy or carricature there. Is that still blackface?
 

Vas

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
4,016
I knew this would blow up on GAF when I saw it.

Basically, they were doing a theme of 'American Cops' with their rather stale annual new years special and as a joke one of the two guys from Downtown (Hamada) came out as Eddie Murphy from Beverly Hills Cop. Wasn't really handled in a mean way, but if they are going to borrow American culture they should at least have some respect for our people and history, I think. That's what we would expect from any other 1st world nation, after all.

They were supposed to end this special a few years ago, but they keep doing it. Everybody kinda going through the motions. The biggest problem is that the original premise is kinda lost now. So, it's just like a chore that rewards people who are heavily invested in the comedian's professional and personal lives... think like those youtubers who focus on 'drama.'
 

Deleted member 2109

User-requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
3,927
Is this a "cultural thing" where people pretend they don't know any better?

Would this dude be ok with someone painting his skin yellow and putting tape on his eyes? I doubt it.
 

Deleted member 3815

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
6,633
There's this popular tv format (existing in countless countries around the world) called "Your Face Sounds Familiar". Bassicaly a tv show where celebirities pretend to be famous singers, not just with voices, but they actually try to get as close as possible visually, pretending to be woman or using make up to appear black, so you got thing like this:
daea9de7-045d-4122-96bb-abd0b1ec19b9.jpg

Is that blackface?

Not black myself, but I would say yes as painting your face black isn't necessary at all.
 

Enzom21

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,989
So before some idiot pulls the "It's not blackface because they don't have the exaggerated lips and eyes." nonsense.
Blackface+Minstrel+Show+1907+Metate.jpg
lil-mac2.jpg
img_5125.jpg
Minstrel_Performers.jpg
o-BLACKFACE-COSTUMES-facebook.jpg

All of this shit is blackface and so is the shit in the OP.
Fuck you in advance.
Edit:
Too late, some genius pulled this shit already.
 
Last edited:

The Grizz

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,464
Not another Black face post! This didn't end well on the last site.

BF is wrong, period.
 

TRN

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
272
The Moon
Fuck all Japanese people who support this. My wish is to put them racist people in a UFC fight against Francis Ngannou.
 

spam musubi

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,421
The OP only has a tweet in english so who knows

This is a silly false equivalence. You can critique fucked up things other cultures do both in context of your own and their values. The options for discourse aren't limited to imperialism or cultural relativist chaos. It's a spectrum. Your argument just tries to sidestep the issue.
 
Oct 25, 2017
3,703
Is it really a case of blackface? I mean, in this BBC article it says "Using makeup to lampoon black people - a practice known as blackface". Did he made fun of black people? Played on stereotypes etc? Or just played Eddie Murphy playing Axel Foley.

There's this popular tv format (existing in countless countries around the world) called "Your Face Sounds Familiar". Bassicaly a tv show where celebirities pretend to be famous singers, not just with voices, but they actually try to get as close as possible visually, pretending to be woman or using make up to appear black, so you got thing like this:
daea9de7-045d-4122-96bb-abd0b1ec19b9.jpg

There's no comedy or carricature there. Is that still blackface?
images

If you can't pull off axel folly without blackface it's bad period
 

snail_maze

Member
Oct 27, 2017
974
I remember getting time off school so I could wear blackface and give candy to schoolmates. I wonder if they still have "zwarte piet" like that in schools nowadays
 

Vas

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
4,016
Is this a "cultural thing" where people pretend they don't know any better?

Would this dude be ok with someone painting his skin yellow and putting tape on his eyes? I doubt it.

I think they would be okay with it more than you'd think. In my experiences, Japanese people feel about being Japanese the same way white people feel about being white. Like when Dave Chappele does his white-person impression in white makeup. It *IS* offensive, and it probably *IS* harmful to everyone, but there wasn't much of a public outcry from white people.

Not to generalize, though. But, if we are going to generalize, I think that might be part of it. A lot of white people don't understand why blackface hurts one group more than another. "I didn't get mad when Chappelle made fun of us! Why can't they get over it!?" To me, it's like the same way that Boston people laugh off when people make fun of them but it cuts real deep when people make fun of us in KY/WV, because the stereotypes are far more harmful to us than to a lesser privileged group.