Rosario Monachino
A woman has been accused of blackface after she recreated herself as Kobe Bryant.
The NBA legend tragically died aged 41 after he was involved in a fatal helicopter crash alongside his daughter Gianna, 13, and six family friends on January 26, 2020.
Bryant won 5 NBA championships and was regarded as one of the greatest players to play in the league.
A TikToker decided to pay ‘tribute’ to the former Lakers star by doing a makeup transformation of herself turning into him.
However, it’s gone viral for all the wrong reasons.
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@easy_baobo uploaded two posts in which she used makeup to turn herself into Byrant and combined, the clips have accumulated over 200,000 views.
Although the posts have gone viral, they’ve been met with a significant backlash, as the influencer has been accused of blackface.
@easy_baobo Kobe is forever in my heart #fyp #foryou #foryoupage #kobebryant24 limitation makeup not imitating people just respect
Blackface is a theatrical form of makeup which is predominantly used by non-Black people who portray a Black person in the production they are working on.
It was historically used in entertainment to promote negative stereotypes – as well as stir racial prejudices.
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Despite paying homage to Bryant – who also won an Oscar for his short film Dear Basketball – many people think the influencer has gone too far.
One person comments: “You have a great talent but you know this is ‘blackface’ right?”
Someone else says: “Arrest her at once.”
Another person adds: “What made you think it was OK to do this.”
A fourth viewer says: “This is disrespectful. Where’s Vanessa [Bryant] so she can sue”.
“I don’t know how to feel about this,” someone else admits.
However, others are defending the influencer and are claiming that her work is a piece of art and she didn’t mean any harm.
One person comments: “She doesn’t have any I’ll intentions with this, just like any of her other videos, she creates realistic makeup for other celebrities.”
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Another user adds: “Don’t let these haters get you down. Your makeup looks amazing and I know that’s why you posted it. Everyone needs to chill.”
“The talent is actually incredible,” insists a third.
Someone else pens: “I could see if she was purposefully doing this to be harmful to people and put off a bad image but it’s only art. There is no hate about it.”
A fifth comments: “This is honestly pure talent too many snowflakes cut your crying out! Good job.”
The creator has also defended her work in a second post, stating: “Kobe is forever in my heart limitation makeup not imitating people just respect.”
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