Julianne Hough: That Blackface Halloween Costume Was A Bad Idea
Don’t wear blackface. Ever. Even if you’re the nicest person in the world and have no racial issues whatsoever, it’s just not worth it. History is filled with way too many horror stories of people using makeup and shoe polish to demean and reinforce bullshit stereotypes. So, even if you have great intentions or in this case, want to be part of a coordinated group costume, you’re better off saying no. If not, you will be forced to issue a formal apology almost immediately, as former Dancing With The Stars pro and former Ryan Seacrest girlfriend Julianne Hough discovered this week.
The starlet was attending a costume party alongside a bunch of her friends dressed as the characters from Netflix’s runaway hit Orange Is The New Black. She was selected to go as Crazy Eyes, who is played by black actress Uzo Aduba, and well, it wasn’t the best look on her, as seen in this People photograph. The outrage followed almost immediately, and this afternoon, she took to her trust Twitter account to issue a “my bad”.
You can check out the full text below…
Let me tell you why I think this is a good apology note. It came very very quickly after people got pissed off, and it doesn’t use any “ifs” like, “if you were offended” or “if it hurt people”. Judging by the reaction, it clearly had that effect on some fans; so, better to simply cut the issue off at the pass rather than let it fester at all.
Besides, in her defense, while the costume wasn’t really appropriate, she did go with a large group of people, and it’s very clear she was trying to celebrate how much she loves the program in her own misguided way.
Here’s to hoping this is the last time we hear about this drama drama.
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Mack Rawden is the Editor-In-Chief of CinemaBlend. He first started working at the publication as a writer back in 2007 and has held various jobs at the site in the time since including Managing Editor, Pop Culture Editor and Staff Writer. He now splits his time between working on CinemaBlend’s user experience, helping to plan the site’s editorial direction and writing passionate articles about niche entertainment topics he’s into. He graduated from Indiana University with a degree in English (go Hoosiers!) and has been interviewed and quoted in a variety of publications including Digiday. Enthusiastic about Clue, case-of-the-week mysteries, a great wrestling promo and cookies at Disney World. Less enthusiastic about the pricing structure of cable, loud noises and Tuesdays.
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