Tuesday, February 4, 2014

KBS' "Gag Concert" uses blackface in skit

Wow. Such indigenous. So funny. 
The most recent episode of "Gag Concert" has used blackface much to the chagrin of its international audience.

To summarize:
 ...Comedian Yoo Insuk said he would buy coffee for Song Pilgeun’s girlfriend Ahn Somi. Song stated, “Our Somi only drinks Americano” in rebuttal and, to this, Yoo introduced a group of indigenous Africans from the coffee machine saying, “here is the highest quality coffee brought straight from the source.” Unfortunately, these “indigenous Africans” were represented by blackface.
Obviously many Koreans are unaware of the history of blackface and its connotations, still I don't think it's excusable at this point considering the number of scandals we've already seen. I know mainstream media in Korea doesn't report on this nearly to the level other media might, especially in the West. Unfortunately until there is as much domestic uproar as there is abroad these scandals will continue to flare up.

18 comments:

  1. all i know is that they upload subbed gag concert videos on youtube for the international audience. highly anticipating that.

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  2. You'd think that people would stop using blackface in this day and age... 2014, everyone!

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    1. 2014 but how many of those years have black people and their cultural history in america been a part of the average korean's range of knowledge

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    2. Blackface isn't just used in America. It's been used all over the globe. Slaves were exported all over Europe and the americas, and in 90% of those places, blackface has been used. It's a part of parades in Spain and the some Nordic countries because of old fables. Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos once did blackface in a spanish parade. It's not an "american" thing. And considering that Korea is so wired, it's not that hard to figure out blackface=bad.

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  3. I keep teying to tell myself that black-face is not funny but the reactions from holier-than-thou black rights k-pop fans is just too damn hilarious.

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  4. I usually don't see anything wrong with black face. If it's part of a costume, even if it's used for shock value, there's nothing wrong with it. I only think it's bad when it's used to mock black people. For example, Yesung dressing up as a black character is alright, but Kikwang painting his face and sloppily eating watermelon, a food black people stereotypically like, is disrespectful.

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  5. I didn't even know blackface was a thing till the Kikwang incident

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    1. There's some history of it in the US way before most of us were born.

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    2. Yeah, it's wasn't taught to me in school for some reason. Like not even during black history month either.

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  6. Koreans dont seem to have a good sense of humor if this is their prize joke. Its like, come on aren't yall tired of this. Throw a pie or something damn. I can't even get upset at this because its just too seem to desperate for a laugh.

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  7. I call bullshit on them not knowing.

    An american apparel store down in South Korea fired models for making racist comments, and actions towards women shopping there and wanting to pose with them. I believe if they can throw a fit about themselves being made fun of, they understand how shitty their actions are when they do that to other people.

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  8. "I know mainstream media in Korea doesn't report on this nearly to the level other media might, especially in the West."
    you mean america not the west, right? Because I'm from europe and I did not know what blackface was and I still wouldn't if it didn't appear on kpop. But from the comment above it seems like americans themselves might not be aware of this

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    1. having said that, even without knowing what blackface is I would still think this unfunny skit is in bad taste

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  9. I don't understand how europeans can say that they don't know what blackface is...I guess they don't know what yellow face is either even though they have used it, plenty of times in mocking. if you're from Europe, especially western Europe you know what blackface is. I say this as a European. It's not an American thing, sure, America used it longer and more degradingly, but we've used it in Europe also.

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  10. Fucking shit. You'd think Korea would learn that blackface isn't a good thing. They have the fucking Internet for shit's sake.

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