WTF? This Scottish LGBT Awards Show Featured White Models in Blackface

An LGBT awards event featured models in blackface.

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Complex Original

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Organizers of a Scottish LGBT awards show are catching major heat after they featured a group of white models decked out in blackface. Yup, blackface … in 2015.

Dubbed the Icon Awards, the annual event took place earlier this month to celebrate excellence within the LGBT community; however, that noble cause was overshadowed by the stupid idea to cover the promo models with black face paint. And, of course, a lot of people were pissed off, including members of the Edinburgh University Students’ Association.

“We were recently made aware that the Icon Awards – a Glasgow-based awards ceremony for the LGBT+ community* – have been using models in blackface to promote the event, including at last month’s Edinburgh Pride,” the EUSA said in a statement. “The use of this despicable practice is incredibly damaging and actively perpetuates the oppression of Black communities. In this context, it is particularly harmful to those who identify as both Black and LGBT+, for whom this incident is a reminder that they are not fully accepted, even within the LGBT+ community.”

Underwear designer Andrew Christian announced he is leaving his partnership with the Icon Awards after seeing the highly offensive makeup the models were wearing.

“When we saw the pictures, we realised that was not something we would like to support and we are not going to contribute in the future,” he said.

Officials of the Icon Awards have since released a couple apologies. The first of which was pretty whack—basically saying “sorry if we offended anyone.” But the second apology was a bit more acceptable, as the organizers actually addressed the issue of why so many people were upset with the makeup.

“This situation and the response from Icon Awards and their supporters has only highlighted the despicable level of racial ignorance in our community which affects people of color on an everyday basis,” the EUSA said in an update. “It has also made it clear that there is a widespread misunderstanding of what racism is and how it manifests in our society.”

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