2012: The Year in Blackface
The disrespectful imagery refuses to go away.
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A Sad and Unfortunate Fixture - Here's to hoping that in 2013, the world will agree that donning blackface is trend worth leaving behind. Keep reading for a look back at some of 2012's most infamous incidents. – Britt Middleton
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The Big Opening Number - In the opening skit for the 84th Academy Awards in February, host Billy Crystal went whole hog in his impersonation of legendary entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. (Photo: AP)
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BYU Student Goes Blackface for Black History Month - In a video uploaded to YouTube, Dave Ackerman, a white Brigham Young University student, donned blackface make-up and asked fellow students questions about Black History Month. (Photo: YouTube.com/Scratchmybackerman)
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Grossly Inappropriate - In April, photos of Sweden’s culture minister Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth indulging in a cake decorated to look like a blackface caricature of an African woman, meant to highlight the horrors of female genital mutilation, drew outrage and turned stomachs. The head of the cake was of a live actor, who moaned with pain as Liljeroth cut into the cake's "clitoris." (Photo: Courtesy The Root)
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A Lesson in History - Sean King, a second grader from Colorado Springs, was reprimanded by his elementary school principal in May for showing up to school with dark make-up on his face to resemble Martin Luther King Jr. for a school project. The NAACP would stand with the principal's decision to tell the boy to wash the make-up off. (Photo: CBS News)
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Rap Group's Artistic Liberty Is Questioned - In their music video for "Fatty Boom Boom," South African rap-rave group Die Antwoord take aim at western perceptions of African culture, but a scene where vocalist Ninja dons black body paint and a bright dress to resemble an African caricature was bashed by critics. (Photo: Polydor Records)
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Chris Brown and Rihanna's Domestic Violence Incident Revisited - Art sadly imitated real life in October when three white students from a high school in Waverly, New York, painted themselves brown at a pep rally and re-enacted 2009's domestic violence incident involving Chris Brown and Rihanna. (Photo: CNN)
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Obama Style? - For many years, people have smoothed the nutrient-rich mud from Israel's Dead Sea on their bodies for its reported healing properties. Perhaps taking that tradition too far, Israeli military spokesman Lt. Sacha Dratwa posted a picture of his face smeared with mud on his Facebook page in late September. He captioned the photo "Obama style." (Photo: Facebook via Lieutenant Sasha Dratwa)
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Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' - Toronto Maple Leafs player Tyler Bozak started an all-out Twitter war when he posted a photo of himself dressed as Michael Jackson for Halloween. "That’s a tribute to one of my fave artists. For anyone saying its racist is crazy!" he said to detractors before deleting the photo. (Photo: Instagram via Tyler Bozak)
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The Little Rascals Gone Wrong - A photo of six Duke University lacrosse players dressed as characters from The Little Rascals at a Halloween party, with one member painting her face for her Buckwheat costume, was posted to the school's official athletics website in November but was removed days later amid outcry. (Photo Courtesy The Grio)
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Not a Good Look - Two members of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity at the University of Florida played to sterotypes of African-American rappers at an off-campus Halloween party in October, wearing thick chains, baseball caps and slathering themselves in dark body paint. (Photo: Huffington Post)