Often when an instance of “blackface on social media” makes the news, it involves a college student or a Snapchat filter. Today, however, it’s over the British Army.
Around 10am UTC today, the army tweeted a photo of a soldier in blackface with the caption, “Being a #soldier in the jungle requires a robust sense of humour.”
Screengrab via Twitter
Since there’s nothing else really happening in the photo aside from blackface, we’re not sure what’s so funny about the long legacy of mocking black people and perpetuating harmful, centuries-old stereotypes. But I guess the Ministry of Defense had a change of heart too and quickly deleted the tweet after people said they were offended.
“The content of the Tweet shows a picture of a soldier wearing camouflage and concealment measures, standard for jungle training in Belize,” an army spokesperson said, according to the Daily Mail. “We can see how the tweet may have been misinterpreted, have immediately removed it and apologise for any offence it may have caused.”
Of course, there are those calling the whole thing uptight, social justice rubbish.
The British Army beat Adolf Hitler but caved into SJWs over a single innocuous Tweet #PeakStupid >> https://t.co/A07ReL4Vpk
— Martin Daubney 🇬🇧 (@MartinDaubney) October 19, 2016
https://twitter.com/Fitzaaaaaay/status/788758306483568640
Then there are others who have shattered the “it’s camouflage, calm down” theory.
https://twitter.com/rtjpoet/status/788678669304725505
H/T Daily Mail