Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader Facing Costume Controversy

[APhiAnna]

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.

[BabyPiNK_FL]

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.

[Psi U MC Vito]

Originally Posted by BabyPiNK_FL

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.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by APhiAnna

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.

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.

[epchick]

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).