Singaporean TV Channel forced to apologise twice for racist ‘blackface’ scene
Singaporean TV Channel Toggle has had to apologise twice after a TV show depicted a Chinese actor putting on blackface in order to play an Afro-American character.
Toggle is forced to apologise for racist 'blackface' episode
The channel aired the episode of its show ‘I Want To Be A Star’ this month and instantly faced a social media backlash as viewers were offended by the scene.
It issued its first apology this week on Twitter, claiming that it was sorry for what people “perceived” as being a racist scene, which wasn’t what it had intended. For most people with any sensitivity to race issues, it’d be quite obvious that blackface is without question a racist move. People were quick to point out that the use of “perceived” was therefore little in the way of an apology.
— Toggle (@ToggleSG) October 25, 2016
The TV channel has since apologised again to Marketing magazine, claiming that the initial apology came out wrong and that it took “race-related issues very seriously”.
There has been a few instances of Asian media organisations treading thin water over racist content. An Air China in-flight magazine was criticised for its racist guide to London and Chinese laundry detergent Qiaobi was slammed for its racist ad depicting a black man being turned lighter in the wash.