A Kuwaiti Makeup Artist Says Blackface Is Not Racist Despite Heavy Backlash
The weekend was many things, from the endless WW3 memes trending on Twitter, to real-life boggling situations and another case of blackface in 2020 to take place in the region.
Kuwaiti make-up artist, Ghadeer Sultan, who boasts a staggering 2 million follower count on social media app Instagram received intense backlash after posting a series of photos of her in evident blackface. Now in case you don’t know, blackface was a form of ‘theatrical’ make-up used by non-black performers to portray a racist parody of a black person.
It is considered very offensive and disrespectful, a comment often inscribed under Sultan’s series of three pictures (and a video), to which she responded by stating she isn’t ‘racist’ and it is simply an extension to showcase her skills.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B6v6HnuJ_Nc/
Known for usually posting OOTDs and make-up looks, social media had to take a breather after seeing the artist’s seeming use of blackface
To start the new year, Ghadeer Sultan started the posts with a video of her lip-syncing to the song ‘Heal The World’ but many responded to the video to inform the professional make-up artist on how she may have missed the point of the song, and its message.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B6v8HYvJ6yk/
Three photos were shared after that, showing Sultan in different wigs and a much darker skin tone
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3XMPV4Dpmq/
Social media users explained the reason blackface is disrespectful
https://twitter.com/kdog1O1fm/status/1212291537960230913?s=20
Errrr…
Ghadeer Sultan thinks she ended racism by doing blackface…..
— Maha (@mahastic) December 31, 2019
“She needs to apologize and delete that photoshoot”
what ghadeer al sultan did is absolutely wrong, and she needs to apologize and delete that horrible photoshoot
— cutzie 🍄💙🍄 (@MashrouSana) January 1, 2020
Her response to all the backlash was a justification of the posts…
“I am not racist, I hate racism. What I’ve done is only to show what I am capable of… I love you all…”
https://www.instagram.com/p/B6wSE1Dp6q7/
She then followed it up with a repost of the story making regional news on BBC Arabic
https://www.instagram.com/p/B63eAlyjuTl/
