Gwyneth Paltrow can single-handedly heal America’s racial divide! Not really, and I don’t mean to make it sound like Gwyneth is claiming that either. Gwyneth appeared on the HuffPo Black Voices show The Tanning Effect to discuss race in America with host Steve Stoute, author of The Tanning of America, a book that explores how “hip-hop culture” changed the way Americans view race and the economy. So of course, he wanted to speak to Dame Gwyneth, who is America’s Foremost Racial Expert. She’s friends with Beyonce and Jay-Z, after all!

Long before captivating moviegoers across the globe with her award-winning acting skills, Gwyneth Paltrow was front and center of a pivotal cultural shift. While growing up in Santa Monica, California, her father, Bruce Paltrow, created and wrote for the late ’70s CBS drama “The White Shadow,” which examined racial stereotypes in America and exposed the actress to many seminal television “Tanning” moments. As she explains in HuffPost Black Voices latest episode of “The Tanning Effect,” Paltrow witnessed her father’s impact at the time on American society.

“I think the most ‘Tanning’ that I saw during that phase of my life was my dad, [who] created, wrote and directed a TV show called ‘The White Shadow,’ about a white basketball coach teaching basketball in an inner-city school,” she explained. “And that show that he did — I mean, obviously we were there a lot, but it was interesting to see that culturally start to permeate. And he did a lot of ‘firsts’ on that show. He had the first interracial kiss ever. It was a good show.”

“I learned a lot of it through the show, especially since they were using a lot of the stereotypes as a way to exploit them or expose them or to debunk them,” she continued. “And a lot of times obviously in a creative situation, those stereotypes are what causes tension and story lines and plots.”

Having an unbiased viewpoint on multicultural relationships is also a trait that the “Shakespeare in Love” star has shared with her two children. In fact, the 39-year-old admitted that the shift of beauty in America is “long overdue.”

“I don’t want to bemoan the fact that it should’ve happened 50 years ago, because it’s here now,” she added. “And it’s like the way I see it is that I have two little kids who are understanding the world in a time when Rihanna is on the cover of Vogue, and we have a black president. So their eyes are being as if they’re experiencing the world for the first time. All of this stuff is just root — it’s normal stuff for them. And that to me is what’s so incredible.”

“When my daughter understood what a president was, it was a black man. It’s not like me, where I grew up with all of these old white guys one after another … Their perspective on race and everything is completely open and completely different to how it was when I was a kid.”

[From Huffington Post]

I don’t really have a problem with what Gwyneth is saying – she’s just talking about her dad, who really was a ground-breaking television producer, and I don’t have a problem with her comments about Obama and the shifting standards of beauty. She’s right – it is important that all kids see that we have a black president, that African-American women are iconic, celebrated beauties, and that mommy’s BFF is Beyonce.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

*Click the image to see the enlarged cover.

After last year’s “pretty white girl” cover for Vanity Fair’s annual “Hollywood Issue”, the editors must have decided they needed some diversity. Thus, they made sure to put two actors of color on their fold-out cover. Well… one actor of color, and one mixed-race actress. It’s like VF is just placating their haters! Honestly, though, what pisses me off more than the consistent lack of diversity is the simple fact that Ryan Reynolds (ugh) and Jake Gyllenhaal (UGH) both made it to the front section of the fold-out. Seriously? Are those two considered the brightest of youngish actors? For real? Anne Hathaway and James Franco, I don’t have a problem with. Beyond those four, here are the rest of the people on the cover: Jennifer Lawrence, Anthony Mackie (yay!), Olivia Wilde, Jesse Eisenberg, Mila Kunis, Joseph Gordon Levitt, Andrew Garfield, Rashida Jones, Garrett Hedlund, and Noomi Rapace (YAY!)… with Robert Duvall in the back. I completely cosign Mila, Anthony Mackie, JGL, Andrew Garfield, Noomi, Jennifer Lawrence and Jesse Eisenberg (the last two are Oscar-nominated, after all). But Olivia Wilde? Rashida Jones? Garrett Hedlund? Ugh.

Anyway, VF hasn’t put up much of a preview, and there aren’t any good-quality photos from the portfolio hanging around, although there is this bad-quality image of Helena Bonham Carter as “The Changeling”.

Photos courtesy of Vanity Fair.

Last week, we had a minor preview of Elle Magazine’s October issue – Elle is celebrating their 25th anniversary, and they chose to do four different newstand covers, in addition to a lovely pictorial of the 25 hottest celebrities around the age of 25. Megan Fox seemed like the most gossip-worthy of those chosen, but other celebrities like Amanda Seyfried and Lauren Conrad and Meghan McCain were also chosen for pictorials, amongst others. Gabourey Sidibe was chosen for one of the four covers – and the above image is the cover. They dramatically lightened her skin. Sigh… Jesus, Elle. The magazine even released a statement about the controversy, basically saying that everyone gets retouched, so whatever.

The 27-year-old is one of four celebrities to appear on four separate covers for its 25th anniversary issue. In the image Sidibe’s skin appears to be several shades lighter than her normal colour.

The magazine said the four celebrities – Sidibé, actresses Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried, and Lauren Conrad, the reality star – were chosen as examples of young women who were “changing the world”.

ELLE has also been criticised because each of the other three cover girls are shown in full length photographs while Sidibe’s image is cropped at chest level. In a statement the magazine said that “nothing out of the ordinary” had been done to the photograph.

“We have four separate covers this month and Gabby’s cover was not retouched any more or less than the others” it read. “We had 25 cover-worthy subjects in our portfolio and we chose Gabby because of who she is. We shot this as a story of exuberant young women changing the world. If you take a look at the portfolio, each of the women were shot in different ways and for different reasons.”

It is not the first time there has been a row over the use of skin lightening of celebrities on magazine covers or advertisements.

In 2008 beauty giant L’Oréal was accused of ‘whitewashing’ the complexion of Beyoncé Knowles in an advertisement for a haircare product.

Sidibé shot to fame after her appearance as Claireece Jones, a 16-year-old who is abused by her mother, and pregnant with her father’s child in the film Precious.

[From The Telegraph]

The criticism about the cover started almost immediately – a Salon columnist seemed to take note of Sidibe’s “token” status on Elle’s list, both as an African-American woman, and as an overweight woman. Others are simply complaining about the skin-lightening thing, which honestly, I find more offensive. The whole “Sidibe is on the cover of magazine, shock” thing is overblown, as is the breast-beating that she didn’t get enough press this past awards season. However, when editors start lightening black actresses or models skin to make a point about “beauty” and “style” – we’re treading in very dangerous waters.

Elle photos courtesy of Elle online, additional photos of Sidibe courtesy of WENN. Thanks to CB for the side-by-sides!

Will.I.Am showed up at the MTV Video Awards’ pre-show in “blackface.” Sort of. Is it weird that when I saw these photos, my first reaction wasn’t “I’m so offended” but actually “Oh, I bet he was going for a consistent fashion statement – black jacket, black makeup, it makes the glasses pop.” Do you think Will did it without really knowing he would offend people? That he was just going for a “look” rather than a political statement? Or do you think he knew what he was doing and was trying to get attention? Eh.

Will.I.am has caused controversy by attending 2010 MTV Video Music Awards in an “all black everything” ensemble. The Black Eyed Peas star wore black outfit from head to toe, literally, with his face painted dark.

Apparently learning that his choice of fashion style has offended some people, will.i.am quickly wrote on his Twitter to downplay the issue. He started his self-defense, “1st. just because I where all black including head mask as expression and emphasize my outfit, it shouldn’t be looked at as racial…”

“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 continued. “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.”

While some people slammed will.i.am, Lil Duval took it as a comedy. “I think will i am took a dip in the oil spill for that performance,” he posted on his own page, referring to the rapper’s “Check It Out” performance with Nicki Minaj. Duval later on added, “I’m a comedian people so if u get upset u look real stupid.”

Blackface first gained popularity during the 19th century and typically promotes racist stereotypes toward African Americans. Earlier this year, Estelle also came under fire for using black paint to cover her body and face in “Freak” music video. At that time, she responded to the controversy, saying “I’m black, so how do I do blackface? Missy [Elliott] did the same thing [with her video]. She’s a B***h. I refuse to defend it, I didn’t put any white ring around my mouth – never that.”

[From Ace Showbiz]

Yes, I can see how some people would be offended, and I understand that point of view. But I can totally see how Will would do it just thinking about the fashion and styling aspect of it, and how he’s not making a comment about race whatsoever. Eh. Also, does blackface always equal racism? Even when it’s done to make political or fashion statements? Weird.

Here’s Will.I.am performing with Nicki Minaj on the pre-show:

This story comes via Gawker, and it’s slightly complicated because there’s some back-and-forth and some history to it. Basically, British singer and former Smiths front-man Morrissey is a racist douche. What’s interesting is that he has no plans to apologize for being a racist douche, or for his sketchy history of racist comments, and that his fans probably still love him.

So, in an interview with this weekend’s Guardian Magazine (UK), Morrissey began talking about animal rights (he’s a big animal rights guy), and how pissed he was that China still has a pretty terrible animal rights record. This is part of what he said:

Morrissey, a vegetarian and animal rights advocate who last year abandoned the stage at the Coachella festival in California because of the smell of cooking meat, described the treatment of animals in China as “absolutely horrific”, referring to recent news stories about animals in Chinese circuses and zoos. He told interviewer Simon Armitage: “Did you see the thing on the news about their treatment of animals and animal welfare? Absolutely horrific. You can’t help but feel that the Chinese are a subspecies.”

[From The Guardian]

That’s right, a “subspecies.” This is not Morrissey’s first brush with race-tingled comments:

In 1992 NME Magazine accused Morrissey of “flirting with disaster” and racist imagery after wrapping himself in the union flag while on stage in Finsbury Park, north London.

In the same year, the singer, now 51, was quoted in Q Magazine stating that he did not want to be “horrible or pessimistic” but he didn’t “really think, for instance, black people and white people will ever really get on or like each other. I don’t really think they ever will.” While in 1994 he told Select magazine that the National Front should be given a clear voice or platform in order for them to be “less of a threat”.

The war of words with NME continued in 2007 after Morrissey, who lived in Rome at the time, was quoted in an interview with the magazine apparently criticising levels of immigration after being asked if he would ever consider moving back to England. “With the issue of immigration, it’s very difficult because, although I don’t have anything against people from other countries, the higher the influx into England the more the British identity disappears,” he said. “If you walk through Knightsbridge on any bland day of the week you won’t hear an English accent. You’ll hear every accent under the sun apart from the British accent.”

At another point in the interview he stated: “England is a memory now. The gates are flooded and anybody can have access to England and join in.”

[From The Guardian]

During those past incidents, Morrissey apologized or revamped his comments, claiming he was misunderstood or misquoted, or that he didn’t really mean anything. In 2008, he even donated about $40,000 to Love Music Hate Racism as a way to apologize for the comments about England. That organization, LMHR, is now bashing Morrissey for the “subspecies” comment.

A spokesman for Love Music Hate Racism, which received a donation of £28,000 from the singer in 2008 after his apparently anti-immigration comments made in music magazine NME convulsed the media, said it would be unable to accept support from Morrissey again if he did not rescind or dispute today’s comments.

“It really is just crude racism,” said Martin Smith. “When you start using language like ‘subspecies’, you are entering into dark and murky water. I don’t think we would, or could, ask him to come back after that.”

[From The Guardian]

And Morrissey doesn’t seem to be in a mood to retract the “subspecies” comment either. The interviewer notes that “I thought at the time it was a dangerous thing to say into a tape recorder. He must have known it would make waves, he’s not daft. But he’s provocative and theatrical, and it was one of dozens of dramatic pronouncements. I’m not an apologist for that kind of remark, and couldn’t ignore it. But clearly, when it comes to animal rights and animal welfare, he’s absolutely unshakable in his beliefs. In his view, if you treat an animal badly, you are less than human. I think that was his point.”

And Morrissey offered this statement in the wake of The Guardian’s interview: “If anyone has seen the horrific and unwatchable footage of the Chinese cat and dog trade – animals skinned alive – then they could not possibly argue in favour of China as a caring nation. There are no animal protection laws in China and this results in the worst animal abuse and cruelty on the planet. It is indefensible.”

Of course, Morrissey also had some other lovely things to say. On “people” he says, “They are problems.” On being a lonely prig, he says, “We’re all lonely, but I’d rather be lonely by myself than with a long list of duties and obligations. I think that’s why people kill themselves, really. Or at least that’s why they think, ‘Thank heaven for death.’” And on the subject of cats, he says, “Yes. Cats. I’ve had lots of cats. But also many bereavements.”

Just to be clear, and offer my own opinion: I think Morrissey’s comments are reprehensible, and the fact that he’s sticking by them is even worse. If his point was to raise awareness about the lack of animal rights in China, he failed. Morrissey and his racism are now the topic. While I understand the anger he feels as an animal rights activist, referring to one billion Chinese people as a “subspecies” is f-cking horrible, and reminiscent of ye olde racist arguments that there is a genetic/evolutionary argument to be made to defend one’s racism. Now, I prefer animals to people as well, but I don’t care enough to break up my dislike of people based into “subspecies” and “not that deplorable, also: white.”

Morrissey performing in Ireland and California in 2009. Credit: WENN.

As many of you know, I love Dev Patel. Before I even saw Slumdog Millionaire, I loved him. I love his big ears. I love his sweet smile. And most of all, I love that he’s a British Indian actor who became acceptable as a leading man in a film that went on to become the Best Picture Oscar-winner. His career should have been rosy, right? After the success of Slumdog and the acclaim for Dev as an actor, he should be swimming in scripts. Not so much, as it turns out. Dev gave an interview to The Telegraph about the stereotypes of Asians, and how those are the only roles out there for an Asian actor:

Hollywood is institutionally racist, according to the Slumdog Millionaire star Dev Patel, who claims Asian actors are limited to roles as terrorists, taxi drivers or geeks. When the story of a boy from the Mumbai slums became the surprise hit of 2009, winning eight Oscars, it was expected that Patel’s career would take off.

However, the 20-year-old from Harrow, north-west London, has been frustrated by the lack of decent roles on offer and is currently jobless.

“Because Slumdog was such a big hit there was a lot of pressure in terms of what I did next. For my second film I wanted a role that would stretch me, but all I was getting offered were stereotypical parts like the goofy Indian sidekick,” he said.

“Asian actors tend not to be sent Hollywood scripts that are substantial or challenging. I’m likely to be offered the roles of a terrorist, cab driver and smart geek… I want to show that I have versatility. You have to remember that, before Slumdog, the last film about India that went big at the Oscars was Gandhi, as played by Ben Kingsley. The fact that me and Freida have any kind of platform in Hollywood is a big step forward.”

Freida Pinto played Patel’s love interest in Slumdog Millionaire and is now his real-life girlfriend. The Indian-born former model has had more success than Patel, winning a role in Woody Allen’s latest film.

Patel said he was hoping to overcome prejudice. “I’m buzzing with adrenaline and raring to go, but I have to be realistic. Being an Asian actor, it’s never going to be easy. Hopefully the industry is changing and the casting directors will be less focused on colour so that people like myself can get through the door.”

He was plucked from the relative obscurity of Channel 4′s teen drama, Skins, to make his film debut in Slumdog Millionaire. Directed by Danny Boyle, it became a box office phenomenon and won the best picture Oscar.

Unfortunately, the film Patel chose for his second role has been mired in accusations of racism. The Last Airbender is based on a children’s television cartoon in which the main characters are Asian. The £100 million Hollywood adaptation, released in the UK this week, has white actors playing the roles and the Asian actors – including Patel – are limited to playing baddies.

When the film premiered in the US last month, protesters demonstrated outside the cinema in Los Angeles.

The young actor still lives at home with his parents and travels on public transport. He said: “One time I was on the Tube and I picked up a free newspaper. Inside was a big article with the headlines, ‘Dev Patel, the new rising star’ along with a picture of me. This woman got on and started reading the piece. She looked up at me and did a classic double take.”

[From The Telegraph]

Aw, poor kid. I would like to tell young Dev a story. It’s a story about a wonderful actress by the name of Sarita Choudhury. Sarita is a half-Indian actress who made a big splash in her film debut, Mississippi Masala. She was the first English-speaking Indian actress to really go mainstream Hollywood as a lead role (not to mention as an interracial love interest to Denzel Washington) in a mainstream film. Sarita faced the same kind of bullsh-t Dev is discussing right here – that she would only get hired for the stereotypical “ethnic” roles. But she found a home doing diverse work in films and television, mostly in supporting and character work. Whenever she pops up on one of my shows or takes a turn in a film, I’m always happily surprised because I love her so much. But I’m also sad because I think she’s a better actress than most of the Hollywood A-list women, and she should have been a major lead actress.

So, my advice to Dev: keep plugging away, kid. I know it seems difficult, but it’s also about the work, right? Maybe you don’t have to be a lead actor right now, maybe you should spend a few years doing supporting work and yes, sometimes playing into stereotypes. I know it sucks. But lots of minorities have to do it, as do most of the working actresses out there. Look at Kal Penn! Or Ken Leung! They’ve turned in some “stereotype” roles, but they’ve also done some really interesting stuff with their careers (The Namesake, and Lost, respectively). Holy sh-t, Ken Leung is 40 years old?!? See, that’s another stereotype, but one you should be thankful for, Dev: you’ll never have to Botox. You’ll be 40 years old and still be getting offers to play 20-something stereotypes. Silver lining!

Header: Dev Patel on July 14, 2010. Credit: WENN.

Zoe Saldana is the April cover girl for Nylon Magazine, and I really don’t care for this photo shoot. The shoot itself looks cheap, and they made Zoe look like she was just being photographed by a friend (who doesn’t know anything about photography). Ridiculous. However, this is the first time in seven years that a woman of color has graced the cover of Nylon. Bossip criticizes: “NYLON hasn’t had a brown face on a cover since Lil’ Kim was hot (sorta hot anyway…it was 2003). We also found it ironic that the caption they put to put under their token Dominicana reads: “Stunningly Smart” which kinda strikes you the same way as all those well meaning folks who say things like ‘Obama speaks so well.’” Here’s more from Zoe’s interview:

Zoe Saldana’s leading role in the most successful film of all time may have been along time coming, but she’s just getting started. Here, the actress speaks candidly about Avatar, racism in Hollywood, and doing her homework in a mango tree. Here’s a peek at what’s inside – read the whole story in our April issue!

On moving from New York City to the Dominican Republic at age 9:“We went from this urban life to running around barefoot in the countryside and being taught how to gut fish. We were learning how to climb coconut trees – let me tell you, they are f-cking dangerous!… I would do my homework in guava and mango trees.”

On learning dance as a child:“That was the beginning of a beautiful f-cking romance. That was my Xanax, let me tell you… it put all my demons in order.”

On Hollywood casting:“When they say ‘We want to go white,’ they have a very smooth way of saying it, and the recent one is the word traditional. [I’ve heard] ‘Oh, you know, you’re just not what we were looking for, your skin is a little darker.’ Compared to what?! My skin is just my skin. It’s dark if you compare it to someone who’s lighter.”

On meeting James Cameron:“I’m thinking he probably imagined some Amazonian girl [for Neytiri] – I had really long hair at the time – wearing really little shit with like, a bow and arrow. I had no idea she was blue and nine feet tall. But for some reason, he was like, ‘You look so much like her!’”

[From Nylon]

Zoe said a bunch of similar stuff in her recent Glamour Magazine profile, talking to the magazine about why she “bristled at the mention of race,” saying: “Because ethnic is a word that doesn’t exist in my vocabulary. In Hollywood, you hear things like, ‘Oh, they loved you but they want to go more traditional.’ That’s the new N word. So when [someone says] I look ‘dark,’ I say, ‘Dark compared to whom? This is just my skin.’ She also told Glamour, “I want to have more sex, travel more, drink more wine and love life.”

Eh. I mean, I get it. Zoe Saldana is the new hot girl and she’s out there hustling for more jobs now that the Avatar whirlwind is done. Good luck with that! P.S. Hey, Zoe, do me a favor and fire Rachel Zoe! She’s doing you no favors!

Nylon cover courtesy of CoverAwards. Additional pics courtesy of Nylon’s slideshow.

A couple of weeks ago, Robert Pattinson’s epic Details cover profile came out, and the world learned that Sparkles is a vagina-H8TER. That one quote – “I really hate vaginas. I’m allergic to vagina” – will likely follow Sparkles to his grave, and that was the quote most people picked up on. At first. Then they noticed that Sparkles has something of an elephant fetish (cute) and likes to joke about the English dressing up like horses for sex play. Once again, just funny. But upon closer inspection, some people (Twihards and Sparkle-H8TERS) re-read the Details article, and they’ve come across a strange passage that, if you take out of context, makes Sparkles seem vaguely racist. There are some “Sparkles is a racist” articles here and here. I’m going to put the passage up from Details, in it’s entire context:

Some people can have the ocean in front of them and just put their big toe in. Rob wants to swim until he drowns, and he’s going to try to drink it all up before he goes under. His striving is a source of worry because he can’t really tell anybody he wants more: “Please don’t make this about me complaining. Please. I’m the luckiest bastard on the planet.”

He worries he might be selfish. He worries maybe he’s a nonhumanist-separatist-weirdo because his most profound moments have been with his dog. And he worries about whether he can be an actor who can reach the masses and still ask for anything.

“If it exists out there—this invisible-creative-spirit-idea thing—then you’re the medium through which it travels so everybody can touch it. But . . . what gives you the right to be the medium? What gives you the right to claim it? And then get an agent and say I want $20 million and a fruit basket to be the medium, thank you very much.”

“As an actor, you can elevate the human condition or cheapen it. I would assume it’s the same with anything you do—you try to elevate and maybe someday you will.” An actor may indeed have the ability to raise us, but Rob unconsciously starts speaking sotto voce each time he utters the word actor or any variation of it.

Rob, did you know that every time you say actor or acting you lower your voice to a whisper?

He’s genuinely startled. “I do?”

Yes, so quietly it’s like you’re saying Negro.

He laughs, lightens up. “What if we were ‘acting’ like ‘Negroes’? Then we’d be f-cked—we couldn’t hear anything. . . .”

[From Details]

First point: I want to mention: the interview was conducted by Jenny Lumet, who is mixed race. And she was the first one to say “Negro”. Second point: Sparkles was responding to her observation that he said “acting” and “actor” very quietly, like he was talking about something very sensitive, like race. Third point: What Sparkles was trying to say is that if every actor used such hushed tones when talking about acting, no one could hear anything. That’s it. That’s the basic gist of this controversy. I think I have a pretty good radar for racial insensitivity, and this didn’t beep on my radar at all.

Images courtesy of Details slideshow online.

Since I don’t follow sports whatsoever, my only reference point for this story – a story that is getting a ton of coverage on cable news – is the before and after pictures of Sammy Sosa. It seems like nearly everyone was taken aback by Sosa’s appearance last week at the Latin Recording Academy Person Of The Year ceremony. His skin is dramatically, almost painfully lightened. According to random sources all over the place, Sosa is not suffering from Vitiligo, the skin condition that Michael Jackson may have had, which left his skin very pale and extremely sensitive to light.

The next theory being rolled around is that Sosa is bleaching his skin. This too was denied by random sources, mostly in Chicago. The Chicago Tribune quoted Rebecca Polihronis, a former Cubs employee, claiming that Sosa “is not trying to be Michael Jackson. He is going through a rejuvenation process for his skin.” She goes on to say that Sosa “had the procedure because of playing in the sun for years.” Er… did he not hear of sun block, perchance?

Dominican Republic-born former baseball star Sammy Sosa has been forced to deny bleaching his skin, after he was snapped at the Latin Grammys last week sporting a startlingly white face.

The transformation was so astonishing, many people didn’t recognise the one-time Chicago Cubs pitcher in the audience at the Las Vegas ceremony.

And the furor has prompted a close friend of Sosa’s to come forward and explain the story behind his new look.

Former Cubs employee Rebecca Polihronis tells the Chicago Tribune, “He’s not trying to be Michael Jackson. He is going through a rejuvenation process for his skin. Women have it all of the time. He was surprised he came out looking so white. I thought it was a body double.”

“He is in the middle of doing a cleansing process to his skin. The picture is deceiving. He said, ‘If you saw me in person, you would be surprised. When you see me in person, it is not going to seem like the picture.’”

“People who saw him in person did not react the same way. He can’t believe it is such a big deal.”

[From WENN]

Yeah… this is one of those times where I really don’t have anything worthwhile to say. I mean, I think Sosa didn’t realize how dramatic his skin lightening was, and that’s why we’ve got this web of theories and explanations, everybody trying to figure this out. As far as the “skin rejuvenation” explanation… yeah, sure. Whatever. I don’t really buy that, but I also feel like it’s not my place to judge. Obviously, something serious is going on with him, and it might be more serious than “Dude, whiteface.”

Sammy Sosa is seen on left on November 4, 2009 at the Latin Recording Academy Person Of The Year in Las Vegas. On the right (where his skin is darker), Sosa is testifying before Congress about alleged steroid abuse. He is pictured with Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro and Curt Schilling on March 17, 2009

It’s amazing what some people will do for attention. Or in this case, what some magazines will do. French Vogue is known for its daring, cutting-edge spreads, and often starts trends that are frantically duplicated. As such they have a responsibility to balance the daringness with responsibility, which is exactly what they didn’t do for their latest shoot. American photographer Steven Klein did a series with Dutch model Lara Stone in blackface. Actually not just blackface – because it’s Vogue, Stone’s obviously got to be showing a lot more skin than just her face. So the makeup artist painted her entire body black. Then for some shots, she painted over the black makeup with pure white makeup.

Seeking ever edgier territory, having dispensed with motherhood and cannibalism as sources of controversy, Vogue Paris took pictures of Dutch supermodel Lara Stone in blackface. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before!

In the October issue of the magazine is a 14-page editorial featuring the Dutch beauty. Shot by Steven Klein and styled by editor-in-chief Carine Roitfeld, the piece starts off by praising Stone’s “sensual” body, her “uninhibited gappy teeth” and the “radical break with the wave of anorexic models” that she supposedly represents. Too bad they changed everything they claim to love about her for the shoot.

What Klein and Roitfeld should know — as the producers of the Australian program Hey, Hey, It’s Saturday also should have known — is that painting white people black for the entertainment of other white people is offensive in ways that stand entirely apart from cultural context. France and Australia may not have the United States’ particular history of minstrel shows as a form of popular entertainment going back to the 19th century, but something about the act of portraying a white woman as black ought to sound an alarm, somewhere.

The fact that the issue, dedicated to “Supermodels,” contains no black models, should also have been noticed, and corrected.

Given Klein is American, it would be nearly impossible to even argue that the magazine didn’t know what buttons it was pushing. It’s kind of sickening to think that minstrelsy has become just another “reference” for po-mo fashion editorials to “appropriate” to show how “edgy” they are, “conceptually.”

After painting Stone’s body brown, the makeup artist then apparently painted parts of her white again. Inexplicably, the editorial moves from the studio to a location. The token Lady Gaga picture at least clears up one troubling question: why it is that Stone spends the editorial wearing only a black thong on her lower half. I looked at this editorial, and I just thought, pathetic, pathetic, pathetic. When I got to this shot, I thought lame. Since when does Carine Roitfeld seem so out-of-date?

[From Jezebel]

Jezebel does a great job of summing up the issue with blackface when they note,
“…painting white people black for the entertainment of other white people is offensive in ways that stand entirely apart from cultural context.” And the photographer being American means there’s absolutely no way they could argue they weren’t aware of the implications of what they were doing. It’s ignorant and offensive. I’m all for edgy, but as I said above, it needs to be balance with some basic level of responsibility.

Last week we talked about the “Hey Hey Hey” blackface controversy with Harry Connick Jr. I’m surprised that there’s another one so quickly. Blackface is such an obvious – and rightful – taboo that the issue doesn’t come up all that often. The Vogue shoot was obviously completed before the “Hey Hey Hey” scandal – and that’s all the more reason to pull it. It never should have been done in the first place, but to think that it got past all these editors and is now actually out in print? It’s mind-boggling.

Scans thanks to Laetitia at The Fashion Spot.