(Ezekiel Loseke, Headline USA) CNN ran an article describing ‘digital blackface,’ and was relentlessly mocked for the article’s idiocy.
The article is entitled “What’s ‘digital blackface?’ And why is it wrong when White people use it?”
The article begins asking the reader if they have ever sent a gif depicting a black person animatedly expressing emotion such as the “ain’t nobody got time for that,” meme.
“If you’re Black and you’ve shared such images online, you get a pass,” the article asserts. “But if you’re White, you may have inadvertently perpetuated one of the most insidious forms of contemporary racism.”
“You may be wearing ‘digital blackface.’”
The mainstream media outlet then cites a Teen Vogue article to define digital blackface.
“‘Digital blackface’ is used to describe various types of minstrel performance that become available in cyberspace,” the article reads. “Blackface minstrelsy is a theatrical tradition dating back to the early 19th century, in which performers ‘blacken’ themselves up with costume and behaviors to act as black caricatures.”
“[These caricatures] include displays of emotion stereotyped as excessive: so happy, so sassy, so ghetto, so loud… our dial is on 10 all the time — rarely are black characters afforded subtle traits or feelings.”
Thus, if one uses the image of a black person to express an emotion, one is the equivalent of a minstrel performer donning blackface and emoting for a packed audience.
The article was not received well on twitter. It garnered 5,111 hearts but received over 29,800 comments.
Matt Walsh, a Catholic conservative commentator, commented on the stories poor performance.
“Is this the worst ratio of all time?” he asked in a tweet.
Walsh also tweeted the story with a gif of a black man rolling his eyes attached.
Emmanuel Rincón, a journalist and editor, also commented on the article on twitter.
“This is CNN, if you read this, your brain will be empty,” he tweeted.
Siraj Hashmi, a pod-caster, also roasted the article.
“CNN is more concerned about digital blackface than they are biological men wearing womanface IRL,” he tweeted.
