Between Kanye's uncensored A-bombs and Taylor Swift's awkward moment reflecting on her lost innocence at last year's show, everyone is taking about the VMAs. But there's one performance you may have missed: will.i.am's adventures in "blackface."

Yes, will.i.am joined ubiquitous up-and-coming rap star Nicki Minaj for a pre-show performance of their new single, 'Check It Out,' and the Internet just about exploded with heated criticism against the Black Eyed Peas frontman, who happened to have his face painted black. He was also wearing a ridiculous plastic hair cap, but we're gonna let that one slide. So, he was technically blackfaced, but not really, right? Still, plenty of people seem to think otherwise.

Much ado about nothing? Will.i.am thinks so.



"Just because I wear all black including head mask as expression and emphasize my outfit, it shouldn't be looked at as racial..." will.i.am tweeted after the incident became a surging Twitter topic during the telecast. "Are you guys serious? My outfit set 'black people back 100 yrs' -- choose your twits wisely. No education sets people back, no jobs, bad health."

Originally posted by ririgagalover Whats blackface? how could painting his face black be racist?

Originally posted by Edi_Shak nowadays everything is racist -.-'

Originally posted by ririgagalover Whats blackface? how could painting his face black be racist?

The stock characters of blackface minstrelsy have played a significant role in disseminating racist images, attitudes and perceptions worldwide. Every immigrant group was stereotyped on the music hall stage during the 19th Century, but the history of prejudice, hostility, and ignorance towards black people has insured a unique longevity to the stereotypes. White America's conceptions of Black entertainers were shaped by minstrelsy's mocking caricatures and for over one hundred years the belief that Blacks were racially and socially inferior was fostered by legions of both white and black performers in blackface. Blackface makeup was either a layer of burnt cork on a layer of coca butter or black grease paint. In the early years exaggerated red lips were painted around their mouths, like those of today's circus clowns. In later years the lips were usually painted white or unpainted. Costumes were usually gaudy combinations of formal wear; swallowtail coats, striped trousers, large hats. White audiences in the 19th Century wouldn't accept real black entertainers on stage unless they performed in blackface makeup. One of the first Blacks to perform in blackface for White audiences was the man who invented tap dancing, William Henry Lane, aka Master Juba. Lane's talent and skill were extraordinary and eventually he became famous enough that he was able to perform in his own skin. In the late 1800s one of the most popular of the blackface entertainments was the adaptation of Uncle Tom's Cabin; an antislavery tale, it met with few objections even from anti-theater religious leaders. A mixture of minstrel show, circus, and zoo, with trained dogs, ponies, and even a crocodile, it remained the most popular play in America for over a century. The American minstrel show was effectively dead by WW1, yet some old-timers continued to peddle blackface stereotypes. It's one of the interesting twists of history that in the early years of the twentieth century, the main purveyors of the old-fashioned blackface minstrel tradition were Black performers, who'd began in show business wearing the blackface mask and were reluctant to give it up. But they also had little choice in the roles they were offered. Until well into the 1950s, Black male actors were limited to stereotypical roles: Coons, for example, Stepin Fetchit, Mantan Moreland, and Willie Best; and Toms, the most famous were Bill "Bojangles" Robinson and Eddie "Rochester" Anderson. Likewise, the only film roles for Black women were maids and mammys and the most famous mammy was Hattie McDaniel.

Originally posted by ririgagalover Whats blackface? how could painting his face black be racist?

Originally posted by Edi_Shak nowadays everything is racist -.-'

Originally posted by Satellites You don't live in America do you? No so get educated on the subject so you can understand why it might offend people before you make outlandish assumptions or dont comment on the subject at all.

Originally posted by RatedGaga And what's that supposed to mean? Hold on, lemme cool it before I lose my mind in this place

Originally posted by Edi_Shak that people call racist to a person for little things that are not racist... and this is an example

Originally posted by rihannar0x8 Hes just trying to create art, not be racist.