*Did you see will.i.am’s er, outfit at the VMAs? Well if you didn’t, millions of others did and a lot of ‘em, as well as pundits, certainly have had their two cents to say about it.
As you can from the photo above, the Black Eyed Peas group founder, known for his futuristic eccentricity, was clad in an all-black leather outfit and his face painted black.
Some folks in Tweet land were highly offended about it and of course blabbed about it online, saying his make-up reflects the oppressive 19th century blackface minstrel shows.
The musicman tweeted back:
“1st. just because I where all black including head mask as expression and emphasize my outfit, it shouldn’t be looked at as racial…,” he tweeted. “Let go of the past. there are far more important things 2 bark about. (Jobs, health, education) not a black man wearing all black everything,” he followed. Then after noticing that people were still attacking him, he asked, “Are you guys serious? my outfit set “black people back 100 yrs” choose your twits wisely. no education sets people back, no jobs, bad health.”
Maybe its because I didn’t see the VMAs and only have this photo to go by, but it doesn’t look like black face to me. Looks like some weird futuristic black get up.
nigga black as tar any-who, all he needed (if at all) was some dark matte finish to fight the sheen. why is he surprised that folks got assed-up?
He looks like a scuba diver and she well dont take this the wrong way BUT do you remember the ad for Sea Monkeys back in the day in comics books? LOL I dont know why but I get a scuba diver and sea monkey vibe from Will and Niki in those outfits
It’s a costume. Jeez.
I think sometimes some of us black folk LOOK to find things racist and if they can’t find anything they make some sh*t up. Ridiculous. Everything people do ain’t racist or even related to race.
Was he trying to make a point?
What if a white artist had worn the same outfit? Would it still be seen as only a futuristic get up?
In any case, he looked like a damn fool!