A UCLA fraternity that hosted a Kanye West- and Kim Kardashian-themed party is being accused of racism after some guests dressed in costumes allegedly resembling “blackface.”
The Daily Bruin, the UCLA student newspaper, reported that some guests “dressed in baggy clothes, plumped lips and padded bottoms,” and that some photos of the event allegedly showed some of the guests with faces smeared in charcoal to look like the famous hip-hop star.
Social media has exploded in protest since the Bruin article went online Wednesday evening.
The “Kanye Western” party was allegedly hosted by Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity and Alpha Phi sorority. It does not appear to be explicitly racist–unlike a party last year on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. day hosted by a fraternity at Arizona State University.
West and Kardashian, who are expecting their second child together, are familiar figures on the West side of Los Angeles. West’s lyrics occasionally mention race: “Heard they’d do anything for a Klondike/Well, I’d do anything for a blonde dyke,” he rapped in “Stronger,” a cover version of Daft Punk’s “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger.”