Social media “influencers” are now wearing blackface in an attempt to “show solidarity” with the Black Lives Matter movement in the wake of the death of George Floyd, as nationwide protests and riots continue across the country.
What typically gets people “canceled” — unless you’re the governor of Virginia — no longer seems to matter in the eyes of social media influencers, who are now posting photos of themselves wearing blackface in what they say is support for Black Lives Matter, according to a report by Dazed.
“I wish I was black, today more than ever,” said one influencer, Tania Saleh, in a recent Instagram post — which included a “photo montage” of a black woman with her own face photoshopped over it.
“Sending my love and full support to the people who demand equality and justice for all races anywhere in the world,” added Saleh.
After being called out by her followers for her usage of blackface in the comments section, the social media influencer responded, “I have posted this with love and I will not remove it despite all your offensive comments.”
But that explanation did not sit well with her followers, as one Instagram user commented by maintaining that Saleh’s photo “is purely unacceptable and very racist and offensive.”
“And your comment about not removing the post because it’s out of love is nonsense with all my respect,” added the user, whose comment is the top “liked” comment on Saleh’s post. “You’re doing the exact opposite of living the community. You’re offending them. That’s unacceptable.”
In another Instagram post from a second influencer, Souhila Ben Lachhab, the Algerian woman can be seen wearing half blackface, holding hands with herself.
“We’re one. Just because we are black on the outside, doesn’t mean we are black on the inside,” wrote Ben Lachhab. “Racist people are the true black heart ones. They are black on the inside, though they do not know it.”
In another post shared by Instagram user @fantasticfhd, a photo can be seen of the influencer wearing blackface, with his lighter-colored hands (without makeup) seen resting on his face and chest, reports Dazed.
“Humanity should be our race — love should be our religion,” wrote the influencer as his caption.
A fourth influencer, Rashmi Zurail Mann, posted a blackface makeup tutorial to her Instagram, account, which she has since deleted after being called out by a popular satirist and socio-political account known as Saint Hoax.
“Many ‘influencers’ have been sharing photos of themselves wearing blackface as an act of solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement,” wrote Saint Hoax. “Even after receiving backlash, some are still refusing to take down their posts.”
“How can you ‘spread awareness’ about a subject you know so little about?” continued Saint Hoax. “If you genuinely care about a cause, the least you can do is educate yourself about it.”
“It’s infuriating that we still need to educate people about the racist and painful history of blackface,” the account added. “We shouldn’t be having this conversation in 2020.”
The Instagram post included several additional photos of screenshots of the influencers’ blackface social media posts, one of which, included the aforementioned @fantasticfhd, who has since made his account “private” after being called out by Saint Hoax.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.