SMDH:South Korean Pop Star G-Dragon Dons Blackface in Cringeworthy Trayvon Martin Homage...

stringer bell
stringer bell Members Posts: 26,212 ✭✭✭✭✭
edited July 2013 in For The Grown & Sexy
spin.com/articles/k-pop-g-dragon-blackface-trayvon-martin-hoodie-instagram-photo/
K-Pop Star G-Dragon Dons Blackface in Cringeworthy Trayvon Martin Homage

Big Bang member draws criticism ahead of L.A. appearance next month

G-Dragon, the leader of South Korean pop fivesome Big Bang, has a history of pushing boundaries (see K-Pop's New Style: G-Dragon Blazes a Cray Path). Born Kwon Ji Yong, the rapper, singer, producer, songwriter, and model caused a scandal in the K-pop community when he tested positive for marijuana use two years ago. And he has followed the lead of obvious inspiration Kanye West in carving out his own space where pop, rap, and R&B overlap.

But this time G-Dragon might have gone too far. In a recent Instagram photo (below), G-Dragon appears in a photo resembling the iconic image of slain Florida youth Trayvon Martin. As with Frank Ocean, Diddy, the-Dream, and others after news of Martin's shooting death broke last year, the K-pop idol wears a hoodie, in apparent tribute to Martin. But he's also wearing blackface.

The image has already come under fire online. One Asian World called the photo an "epic fail." Oh No They Didn't! calls for an apology and points out that G-Dragon has darkened his skin to mimic African-Americans before, posing as André 3000 in a video a few years ago. The image has roughly 100,000 "likes" on Instagram as of this writing, and G-Dragon hasn't addressed any backlash in the comments or via his Twitter.

G-Dragon will be visiting the United States next month, and, other than this latest controversy, he has reason to expect big things. As Billboard reports, G-Dragon has signed on for KCON 2013, a K-pop convention in Los Angeles on August 24 and 25. His 2012 "Crayon" was SPIN's No. 1 K-pop song of the year. Other recent photos from G-Dragon's Instagram account show "Everything Is Embarrassing" pop phenom Sky Ferreira and dubstep giant Skrillex.

Meanwhile, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the oldest U.S. civil-rights organization, has issued a call for "Trayvon's Law." In a July 30 release, the NAACP asks for an end to racial profiling, the repeal of "stand your ground" laws, more law-enforcement accountability, better training for community wach groups, and mandatory police data collection on murders involving people of color. That comes after Stevie Wonder pledged to boycott Florida in the aftermath of a not-guilty verdict in Martin's death. Beyoncé and Bruce Springsteen are among other artists to honor Martin.

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Comments

  • Meta_Conscious
    Meta_Conscious Members Posts: 26,227 ✭✭✭✭✭
  • Melanin_Enriched
    Melanin_Enriched Members Posts: 22,868 ✭✭✭✭✭
    No ? @ that pic
  • The Lonious Monk
    The Lonious Monk Members Posts: 26,258 ✭✭✭✭✭
    lol Come on man, I could almost give him a pass if he actually tried to make it look realistic, but it looks like this dude put black shoe polish on his face.
  • So ILL
    So ILL Members Posts: 16,507 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited July 2013
    Going to Los Angeles next month? I hope he wears Blackface then, and the L.A.P.D. sees him and gives him ? just like they do to a lot of other ? out there.

  • Ghostdenithegawd
    Ghostdenithegawd Members Posts: 16,231 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Ahahahaha ? outa here
  • black caesar
    black caesar Members Posts: 12,036 ✭✭✭✭✭
    People really don't think before they act. SMDH.
  • T. Sanford
    T. Sanford Guests, Members, Writer, Content Producer Posts: 25,291 ✭✭✭✭✭
    In Before Zimmerman stalks him or saves him from a car
  • Chi Snow
    Chi Snow Guests, Members, Writer, Content Producer Posts: 28,111 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Good intentions, horrible execution
    He racks disciprine ?
    lmao
  • tha bause
    tha bause Members Posts: 1,586 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited July 2013
  • can'tyoutell
    can'tyoutell Members Posts: 1,370 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Though this is foolish, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt that he wasn't being racist intentionally. Some people just don't know when they are being offensive.
  • usmarin3
    usmarin3 Members Posts: 38,013 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Why he look like Charlamagne the ? though! smh
  • Meta_Conscious
    Meta_Conscious Members Posts: 26,227 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Though this is foolish, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt that he wasn't being racist intentionally. Some people just don't know when they are being offensive.

    at this point u have to know... ? all that...
  • Serious Juice Mayne
    Serious Juice Mayne Guests, Members, Writer, Content Producer Posts: 5,926 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Lmao way funnier than kevin hart
  • Lou Cypher
    Lou Cypher Members Posts: 52,521 ✭✭✭✭✭
  • playmaker88
    playmaker88 Members Posts: 67,905 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Stopitfive wrote: »
    Though this is foolish, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt that he wasn't being racist intentionally. Some people just don't know when they are being offensive.

    at this point u have to know... ? all that...

    cosign.. thats a cop out.. if someone made ? eyes in a picture theyd know...


    foh with that ignorance
  • VIBE
    VIBE Members Posts: 54,384 ✭✭✭✭✭
    What happened to "we are all Trayvon Martain" ???
  • playmaker88
    playmaker88 Members Posts: 67,905 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited July 2013
    VIBE wrote: »
    What happened to "we are all Trayvon Martain" ???

    I was waiting for you to say something stupid.
    =D>
  • caddo man
    caddo man Members Posts: 22,476 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Chicity wrote: »
    Good intentions, horrible execution

    Yeah man! It is hard for foreigners to understand the racial dynamics of the United States. Just like I still have a hard time understanding all of the Muslim sects. That ? is real confusing but will get you in some deep ? over there.
  • lamontbdc
    lamontbdc Members Posts: 18,824 ✭✭✭✭✭
  • powerman 5000
    powerman 5000 Members Posts: 3,084 ✭✭✭✭✭
    caddo man wrote: »
    Chicity wrote: »
    Good intentions, horrible execution

    Yeah man! It is hard for foreigners to understand the racial dynamics of the United States. Just like I still have a hard time understanding all of the Muslim sects. That ? is real confusing but will get you in some deep ? over there.

    agreed, because this happened and the Chinese people didn't even know it, till some american chinese people pointed it out.

    spain_womens_basketball.jpg

    BEIJING, China (CNN) -- A photo of the Spanish men's Olympics basketball team, using their index fingers as if to slant their eyes, has sparked controversy with Asian rights groups.
    The photo, taken for a sponsor of the Spanish basketball team, shows the players making an eye gesture.


    The image, showing the players pushing up the outside corners of their eyes, was taken before the team left Spain for Beijing.

    News reports on the photo have stirred controversy, particularly outside China. Some have criticized the team for making a racist gesture, an assertion the team denies.

    A group that represents Asians in the United States described the photo as "disturbing" and "divisive." The photo has not been widely circulated in China.

    A few people in China have criticized the photo in blogs and online bulletin boards. One wrote "Shame on you!" while another said "Silly Spanish basketball team -- look at what they are doing." Others dismissed it as much ado about nothing. One argued that "they are just trying to be cute."

    One Spanish baketball player, Jose Manuel Calderon, said in a blog on his Web site -- www.josemanuelcalderon.com -- that the picture has been "interpreted incorrectly." Calderon is a native of Spain who also plays in the NBA for the Toronto Raptors.

    Calderon said a sponsor asked the team "to pose with a 'wink' to our participation in Beijing" and that "we made an Oriental expression with our eye." The photo reportedly appeared in an ad for a Spanish courier company that sponsors the Spanish Basketball Federation.

    "We thought it was something appropriate and that it would always be interpreted as somewhat loving," he wrote. "Nevertheless, some of the European media did not see it this way."

    Neither did George C. Wu, deputy director in Washington of OCA, a group that was formerly known as the Organization of Chinese Americans. It describes itself as a social-justice organization that advocates for Asian Pacific Americans in the United States.

    "It is unfortunate that this type of imagery would rear its head during something that is supposed to be a time of world unity," Wu said in a statement.

    "As Asian Pacific Americans support U.S. Olympic athletes, some of whom are Asian-American, it is disturbing to OCA that Spain's basketball team would introduce such divisive imagery into the Olympics," he said.

    Two members of the Spanish Olympic team who play in the NBA -- Calderon and Pau Gasol of the Los Angeles Lakers -- may hear from Asian fans after the Olympics, Wu said.

    "If they haven't realized their mistake yet, they probably will hear about it when the NBA season comes back around," he said.

    The controversy unfolds at a delicate time for Spain: Madrid is among the finalist to host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, and Spanish athletes and fans have been criticized and sanctioned for actions deemed racially insensitive.

    In 2004, the governing body of international football fined the Spanish Football Federation 100,000 Swiss francs -- about $87,000 -- after some fans directed racist chants at black players on the England team during a friendly match in Madrid

    And in February racing fans in Barcelona blackened their faces and taunted Lewis Hamilton, Formula One's first black driver.

    Yet Jose Luis Saez, president of the Spanish Basketball Federation, told CNN on Thursday that people are wrong to suggest the photograph has racist overtones.

    "It's simply ridiculous," he said. "It was a gesture of affection ... and identification with the Chinese people."

    He pointed to a Wednesday article in El Pais, a Spanish newspaper, that quoted a Chinese Embassy spokesman in Spain as saying "we don't interpret this gesture as offensive" or racist.

    "Ultimately there is a very good relationship between the Chinese and Spanish governments and there is no kind of conflict at all between the two peoples," El Pais quoted the spokesman as saying.

    Calderon sought to to quell any controversy.

    "From here I would like to declare that we have a huge respect for the East and their people," Calderon wrote in his blog. "Anyone who would like to interpret this differently is absolutely confused."


  • Purr
    Purr Members Posts: 32,382 ✭✭✭✭✭
    wtf.

    And I love Big Bang! jesus crust!
  • VIBE
    VIBE Members Posts: 54,384 ✭✭✭✭✭
    VIBE wrote: »
    What happened to "we are all Trayvon Martain" ???

    I was waiting for you to say something stupid.
    =D>

    LOL

  • playmaker88
    playmaker88 Members Posts: 67,905 ✭✭✭✭✭
    That picture was precisely what i was referring too
  • CashmoneyDux
    CashmoneyDux Members Posts: 11,217 ✭✭✭✭✭
    G Dragon my dude, but that ? looks horrible.