by STEVE HAN
When we saw that Gag Concert, a popular comedy show on South Korea’s state-run TV network KBS, featured comedians wearing blackface makeup (again), we were stuck asking ourselves the same old question.
Will they ever get it?
The June 29th episode of Gag Concert showed two people wearing blackface makeup and costumes that resemble African tribal clothes.
“Your make up was done so well,” one performer says in Korean. “I almost thought it was real. Wow, look how black your elbows are.”
This is the second time this year that Gag Concert resorted to a blackface comedy in its skit. Just this past February, the show’s actors painted their faces in dark colors and wore wigs to portray black characters.
The fact that these skits continue to happen, despite backlash and subsequent apologies, is another sign that racial sensitivity is taken with a grain of salt among many South Koreans. A 2011 skit on Saturday Night Live Korea featured comedians who painted their faces black to depict the Dreamgirls.
See South Korea’s latest blackface offense here:
