Entertainment
Blackface sitcom scene airs on major Hong Kong broadcaster months after racism controversy-Ruth Lawes-Entertainment – Metro
The offensive scene was in Come Home Love.
Come Home Love featured characters using blackface (Picture: Getty Images)
A scene with actors using blackface was aired on one of Hong Kong’s top broadcasters, TVB, just months after it was accused of racism in a previous show.
An episode of sitcom Come Home Love, which originally premiered in 2012 and follows an extended Chinese family living in modern Hong Kong, featured the offensive segment on Monday.
The scene shows Come Home Love characters mimicking the Ghanaian dancing pallbearers, who became a viral meme during the pandemic, by using blackface.
In a statement shared with AFP via the Daily Mail, TVB said the actors ‘wore special makeup’ for a ‘dramatic story plot’, and that their ‘faces were made dirty by the exhaust gas of a vehicle’.
The fresh controversy comes just months after TVB was accused of racism for the portrayal of people from the Philippines in a horror show.
In the April episode, titled Barrack O’Karma 1968, the actors used brownface.
At the time, the broadcaster said, according to the Daily Mail: ‘It was never our intention to show disrespect or to discriminate (against) any persons.’
In the UK, multiple celebrities, including Ant and Dec, have apologised for using blackface in the past.
The I’m A Celeb hosts previously portrayed black characters on a 2003 episode of Saturday Night Takeaway and have admitted it was ‘wrong’ to do so.
In a joint statement, they said: ‘We realise that this was wrong and want to say that we are sincerely sorry to everyone that was offended.’
Over in the US, Jimmy Fallon apologised after footage of the American TV presenter impersonating Chris Rock in blackface resurfaced late last month.
He tweeted: ‘In 2000, while on SNL, I made a terrible decision to do an impersonation of Chris Rock while in blackface.
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‘There is no excuse for this. I am very sorry for making this unquestionably offensive decision and thank all of you for holding me accountable.’
Metro.co.uk has contacted TVB for comment.
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