CNN has long been the “Clown News Network.” But on Sunday, one segment on “digital blackface” has led even the most patient observers to conclude the network has “lost it.”
“If you’re White and you’ve posted a GIF or meme of a Black person to express a strong emotion, you may be guilty of wearing ‘digital blackface’,” CNN claimed.
Sorry white people, CNN says u can’t post GIFs of black people anymore 🤣 pic.twitter.com/qGzGQVcgo0
— Hodgetwins (@hodgetwins) March 26, 2023
“Sorry white people, CNN says u can’t post GIFs of black people anymore,” the Hodgetwins said with a laugh.
In CNN’s daft article written by Lauren Michele Jackson, it claims that digital blackface can be found when it “includes displays of emotion stereotyped as excessive: so happy, so sassy, so ghetto, so loud… our dial is on 10 all the time — rarely are black characters afforded subtle traits or feelings.”
“We are your sass, your nonchalance, your fury, your delight, your annoyance, your happy dance, your diva, your shade, your ‘yaas’ moments,” Jackson writes. “The weight of reaction GIFing, period, rests on our shoulders.”
“But while these examples are particularly noteworthy for their malicious intent, digital blackface has softer counterparts, just like offline blackface,” she claimed.
“Digital blackface does not describe intent, but an act — the act of inhabiting a black persona,” she added. “Employing digital technology to co-opt a perceived cache or black cool, too, involves playacting blackness in a minstrel-like tradition.”
“No matter how brief the performance or playful the intent, summoning black images to play types means pirouetting on over 150 years of American blackface tradition,” she argued.
💯
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 26, 2023
“jesus fu**ing chri*t shut the f**k up,” remarked Musk ally Shibetoshi Nakamoto.
“100,” Musk agreed.
CNN was ratioed. BADLY.
This is one of the finest ratios I’ve seen. pic.twitter.com/K3D9EU0IsZ
— The Redheaded libertarian (@TRHLofficial) March 26, 2023
CNN then got the ultimate troll: Hundreds of Twitter users replying with gif emojis featuring iconic Black characters.
— Sol🎬 (@Solmemes1) March 26, 2023
CNN can GFT… pic.twitter.com/arwJc0L27M
— Kimberly Morin (@Conservativeind) March 26, 2023
So, CNN supports digital segregation? pic.twitter.com/xJz7XHMZ6Z
— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) March 26, 2023
Normal Americans don’t let things like funny gifs divide us. There is no “digital segregation.” We hold all gifs to be equally funny, regardless of race, color, creed, sex, or nationality.
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OPINION: This article contains commentary which reflects the author's opinion.