MYMP band member’s blackface costume sparks outrage online

MANILA, Philippines — Acoustic band MYMP drew flak on social media after one of its members wore blackface as a Halloween costume and derided the Black Lives Matter movement.

In a now-deleted virtual gig, MYMP vocalist and guitarist Chin Alcantara donned black makeup and called the Black Lives Matter movement “nonsense.”

“Don’t pay attention to those commenting, ‘Educate yourself,’ ‘Black lives matter.’ Black Lives Matter is nonsense. All lives matter,” Alcantara said during the gig in Filipino.

Social media users were not amused by Alcantara’s antics.

MYMP now stands for “MAKE YOUR MISTAKES PILE UP” https://t.co/rqhXOSvgy1

— Juan Sergio ???????? (@jownuss) October 30, 2020

punyeta paano hindi maauna yung galit dito? it’s so fucking awful, the way that band member of MYMP was so convinced saying “BLM is just a propaganda”, “wag pansinin ang nag-eeducate”

fuck, i hope this surge of public dissent gets to him

— pau ???? | ia; rachel coates called me li’l ditty (@PNDUSTISYA) October 31, 2020

I can't believe MYMP did blackface and talked shit about the BLM??? WTF??? YOUR MUSIC WAS BIRTHED BY THE CULTURE OF THE MOVEMENT YOU'RE MOCKING. YOU'RE SO EMBARRASSING. pic.twitter.com/Kne3NOacfG

— patty / brb (@patzipat_) October 31, 2020

Alcantara, however, was undeterred by the wave of criticism crashing down on him and even defended his actions, saying that he was only mimicking his “idol” American musician Jimi Hendrix.

He said no one would have gotten the idea that he was imitating Hendrix for Halloween had he not painted his face black.

He also said that by painting his face black, he is agreeing with racist attacks aimed at Black people.

“Just because I put on black makeup on my face and I imitated the color of my idol Jimi Hendrix, it does not mean that I agree with how African Americans or Blacks are being treated,” Alcantara said in Filipino.

Still, he dismissed Black Lives Matter — a movement in the United States aimed at countering police brutality against Black people — as a “propaganda” to sow discord in the country.

Why is blackface bad, anyway?

Blackface traces its roots in racist and stereotypical performances dating back to the 1830s, where white performers blackened their faces using burnt cork or shoe polish, donned tattered clothing and imitated enslaved Africans.

“These performances characterized blacks as lazy, ignorant, superstitious, hypersexual, and prone to thievery and cowardice,” the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture said.

Performances like these, the Smithsonian said, were able to reinforce the idea of white superiority over Black people.