Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader Facing Costume Controversy
 

News story link here

it's sad that a lot of people still don't know/understand the history surrounding painting your face and/or body to appear to be black. my sisters and i have actually been discussing this because even tyra did this on antm where she had the models be these random mix of ethnicities. some people are trying to do it to represent art...but its not very well received.

Hi Max!

Anyway back on topic, but I fail to see the big deal. It's freaking Halloween for goodness sake. At least she wasn't stereotyping black people like the old blackface minstrels did.

I understand why it could be perceived as disrespectful, especially 20-30-40 years ago- but I would hope we've moved past that by now. It's that tricky area where being PC is sometimes the opposite of respect, sometimes we overcorrect.

On another DCC note, I was pleasantly surprised to hear (in a recent DCC episode) that most of the DCCs are size 4 or size 6. It's refreshing not to hear size 0 or size 2... Sizes 4-6 are much more likely to be a healthy weight for a wider variety of people.

Yea, right!:rolleyes::rolleyes:

How do you know she wasn't?

These stories don't move me either way. I have come to expect them around Halloween time. Yay.

I saw some really great costumes this past weekend. One white guy was dressed as Flava Flav. He skipped the black face and let folks figure it out based on the actual costume (big clock and "horn hat"). If nonBlacks think their costume can't be figured out without the black face then they need another costume.

Yep, this sums it up. I mean if someone's walking around with a bald cap on her forehead and yelling "kiss my fat ass! Smile with your eyes!" even if she's borderline albino, I know she's supposed to be Tyra. :p

lol I wasn't saying everyone should be that, and I'm certainly not anywhere close... but it's more realistic than model sizes 0-2.

ya dig? :p

Tyra was Whoopi Goldberg on her show. She said she was going to try the voice but couldn't get it right. The costume was awesome enough without it. Plus, imitation and mockery are close relatives.

yup. this thought flashed through my mind while responding earlier but i forgot to actually type it. :o

Welp, being a JerrysWorld Stripper/Dancer, er I mean Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader who dresses in heinous color brown make up as a funky high paid rapper whose shelf life will be spent soon, does NOT rank high on my relevancy radar.

I mean, who cares about a homegirl on Halloween? That doesn't mean blackface is a copacetic goal one needs to be happy to reach for any costumed event. Personally, I think it is in poor taste and low self-esteem. But hey, it is something to discuss with a professionally licensed mental health provider!

Agreed.

Quite interesting, too, how some have decided to "blow off" the topic of this thread and focus on dress sizes of cheerleaders. :rolleyes:

I really hope this comes across the right way...
If someone's a vampire for Halloween, they'd paint their face white, and if they're going as Elphaba, they'd paint themselves green. Why not?

^Well, first, those are fictional characters you are talking about. Two, painting oneself as a vampire or green character simply does not have the historical connotation that painting one's face to look African American does.

^^^ Yes, but blackface was not a realistic portrayal of African Americans, even of the time. It was without exception, even when used by Black minstrels, used to potray negative stereotypes. What she was doing was applying makeup to appear to be somebody else. What about all the actors who used makeup to make themselves look Black or Arab in order to portray Othello? Same concept I think.

LoL!

Ever see "Birth of Nation" and how Blacks were portrayed? Then to have President Woodrow Wilson say that this movie is one of the most relevant and concerning movies in the nation?

In fact the Klan would dress themselves in Blackface, just before they burned down places like Rosewood in Florida. My own grandmother remembers this event accurately...

So when a dingbat stripper cheerleaders decides to think it is funny to go as Lil Wayne in dark brown make up to make herself black, I am sorry, but I take offense.

Are you seriously comparing a 15th century play as written to what dingbat stripper does in the 21st century?

Alas, reality dictates that this dumbshit does not matter in the end and nothing will change for ignorant asshats who convince others that nothing is wrong with this dysfunction.

That wouldn't fly today, either.

The scariest mf'ing thing about Birth of a Nation is that it's really well made and involving, and I found myself rooting for the KKK. :eek: It's not like one of those cheesy end times movies or school hygiene films.

You draw this comparison...

Then you say that this comparison is unreasonable.

I find your distinction to be somewhat arbitrary.

I mean.. because dressing up like Lil' Wayne is so much more like the KKK wearing blackface while burning down Rosewood than actors wearing blackface to perform in plays written in the 15th century... eh?

The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders are not strippers.

But it's not like they've got a ton of room to be promoted within the organization.... is it a coincidence that Dallas is known for premier strip clubs? SHATTER THAT GLASS CEILING, LADIES!

Wow. People will clearly find any reason to be offended. :rolleyes:

For the record: Lil Wayne, Flava Flav, Soulja Boy and the like present themselves to be more minstrel show-ish than anyone who could imitate them.

Flava Flav started that and nobody can do it like him.

Personally, I think calling someone you don't know a "dumbshit" "asshat" with "low self-esteem" that "doesn't matter", is far worse than dressing yourself up like a famous rapper on Halloween. She is a stripper now too...apparently because she is a cheerleader.

Are you seriously comparing a 20 something year old girl's costume to the Klan putting on blackface in 1923 before burning a cemetery? That makes just shitloads of sense. Figured I'd ask since you so casually dismissed the other poster's thoughts/comparison. Bringing up Birth of a Nation isn't relevant either.

There isn't a shred of evidence to suggest any malicious intent with her costume.

Just so that everyone is clear, Anthony Hopkins did play Othello in the BBC production and here are the pictures to prove it. He wasn't all that dark with his makeup though, if I remember correctly.

(That's Bob Hoskins behind him)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/435000...436448_bob.jpghttp://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA280_.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3339/...98c150dc45.jpg

I think he was trying to go with the Arab look which requires less make up. And Laurence Olivier did Othello in 1965 with black face on. This was in the UK, so it probably isn't quite the same.

Clearly she showed poor judgment, because she should have known that dressing in blackface, no matter the intention, is going to be perceived a certain way and she is going to get attacked. It is a stupid choice of costume, because even if it is not malicious there are literally millions of choices that are more clever and would not offend anybody.

That said, she dressed up as Lil' Wayne, who is a very popular entertainer. At the least I'd say it is impossible to judge if she was being racist in her intentions. Now, if she had dressed up as a "ghetto hoe" in blackface, or was carrying around a box of KFC and a Kool-Aid, it would be 100% clear that she was being maliciously racist. But as it stands, dressing up as a famous entertainer, even with blackface, can only prove that she is an idiot and not that she has anything against black people. Although I cannot fault anybody for feeling offended by it, I can see why you would be offended especially if you knew the history behind blackface. But if I had to guess, this chick has no idea about the history and simply wanted to dress like a rapper and did not realize the implications it would hold, which makes her an idiot, true, but you can't claim she is racist with any certainty.

agreed ^^^

She just thought, I want to be a black guy for Halloween. I am not a black guy. I need to make myself look like a black guy. I will paint myself to look like a black person.

Me? If I want to be something, I just be the character without the paint. I have an aversion to smearing crap all over my body. You could still tell I was baby spice the 3 years i went out as a Spice Girl without a full body makeover. Or Glinda the Good Witch this year, or whatever else. But that's just me.

ETA:Just looked at the pic. She definitely looks stupid, but not racist. I mean, anyone who wants to emulate little Wayne (a man who is hideous and still has at least 4 kids, 3 of which are born within a one year period) are just stupid. Why. Because Little Wayne's pretty stupid, rich, but stupid.

The fact that he reproduced four times is scary enough for me.

Yes.

I still don't see the big deal with it. Poor judgement, but not "OMFG! THAT RACIST BITCH"-worthy by any means.

I didn't know anyone in this thread was talking about racism in the first place.


We were talking about insensitivity and stupidity.

As an aside, determinations of discrimination and any -ism are usually based on outcome rather than intent. We usually won't know the intent but can "see" or "measure" the outcome.

Or people choose to discuss the stupidity of delving into something that is potentially offensive to ANYONE.

:rolleyes: Those people are neither minstrel show-ish (neither are they coonish). They are expressing themselves, which is what people of all races have the right to do--good or bad--agree or disagree.

The issue is when negative portrayals are most prevalent in the media and the community. And that is honestly not the entertainers' faults.

I'm so tired of Black people equating everything that THEY deem as foolish with minstrel (black face or coons).

How do you know Tyra wasn't stereotyping? Should she be fired?

Because I watched it.

Dang Lil Wayne must have been a popular costume this year, I've seen several pics on facebook from people who have dressed up as him, blackface and all (none are my friends, they are just random people that were in the picture w/ my friends).

Did you know what she was thinking or her intent?

Don't you know the historical significance of blackface?

Yes - she stated that her intent was to portray Hoppa. Unless Hoppa-face (most of them were more olive than black) has historical significance, than it's not the same. My children would be classified as Hoppa if we lived in Hawaii` (half Caucasian, half Hispanic), and I thought it was cool.

Coming from you: Shitloads! Way to go with the condemnation. I like that... LOL! And yeah, I'm comparing the 2, and IMO, the comparison with the movie Birth of a Nation is relevant ONLY IN REFERENCE to the poster's cause to dismiss the ignorance and insensitivity--but that's my opinion.

How can you tell any kind of intent based on a news story and a picture, then? Sanctimoniously?

Plays written by Shakespeare in our society are called art...

This dingbat dressing like Lil Wayne as a Halloween costume is not art. IMO, I'm offended because it was DUMB! We can think all we want about our own private actions, but when we represent a larger organization, like the Dallas Cowboy Strippers, errr Cheerleaders, and we dress in questionable attire for a holiday that can be construed as insensitive to some, then there will be flack!

Why did she choose to do Lil Wayne (who I'm not a huge fan of) and buy brown make up to make that costume? The best I can come up with is yes, she's that ignorant and insensitive? C'mon, how many brain cells did it take her to come up with that logic?

Why you dance at JerrysWorld on the pole?