John Blake, a reporter for CNN, said that white individuals who uploaded memes or gifs with black people and expressions to “make people laugh or show how they feel” were “wearing digital blackface.”
Blake called the most popular memes and gifs “radicalized reactions” and said that black people “get a pass” for using them, but when white people did the same, they “inadvertently perpetuated one of the most insidious forms of modern racism.”
Blake then quoted a 2017 article from Teen Vogue by Lauren Michele Jackson. In the piece, Jackson said that individuals typically used images of black people to show how they felt strongly.
“While reaction GIFs can and do show every emotion under the sun, white and non-black users seem to prefer GIFs with black people when they want to show their most extreme emotions,” Jackson said. “Images of black people, especially black women, are drawn to extreme happiness, irritation, anger, drama, and gossip.”
Blake went on to say that “digital blackface” is a “modern repackaging of minstrel shows” later in the piece.
But when Blake’s piece went viral on Twitter on Sunday, detractors had a great time making fun of the notion.
Clay Travis, a radio personality, linked the idea to the transgender movement by tweeting, “I’d love to hear an explanation of how uploading a gif or meme of a black person online is digital blackface, but a male dressing up as a woman in real life is heroic. @cnn, please clarify.”
Nicholas Fondacaro of the Media Research Center stated, “CNN chief Chris Licht: I want to make CNN a place where people can fairly talk about things again. CNN: Segregate memes!!!”
“CNN cares more about digital blackface than about real-life men dressing up as women,” Siraj Hashmi said.
“Modern segregationists do everything they can to keep people separated by race, to keep them from interacting naturally and happily, to keep them from enjoying the culture and humor of others, and in general to make sure they have as little in common as possible,” said Glenn Greenwald, an independent journalist.
Ben Shapiro, the former editor of the Daily Wire, said, “When the demand for racism is far greater than the supply.”
Matt Walsh also said something, and he pointed out how many reviewers had written on the story.
He said, “Is this the worst ratio ever?”