Music

Snoop Dogg doesn't care if you're mad that he dressed up in whiteface

by Mark Teo

If there’s anything we’ve know about Snoop Dogg, it’s that we should expect the unexpected. In his musical career, he’s swerved off the rap train to attempt funk and reggae albums—both of which, we must add, we totally loved. Somehow, he’s also incredible at Reddit. Inexplicably, he crashes Hindu weddings to the delight of fucking everyone. But last week, he surprised everyone by dressing up in—wait for it—whiteface.

Presented with minimal comment, he posted this photo on Instagram, with a simple caption: “Todd.” We can only assume that it’s he meant it to be his white alter-ego.

Then, he posted up a video of himself as Todd, touting a dating service service called White Guys Connect, saying that his pasty alter-ego was “looking for any single ladies.” Here’s Snoop in all his Todd-ly glory.

On Twitter, people were bracing for a wave of stupidity, claiming that Snoop was embracing a double standard. Much hilarity ensued. Because, after all, the internet’s going to internet.

But then, the real outrage trickled in. Yahoo!, like clockwork, argued that Snoop was benefitting off a double standard. “Real progress in equality can’t happen when people are held to different standards,” writer Denette Wilford wrote yesterday. “We’re not about to delve into the whole blackface vs. whiteface debate because that’s an entirely different thing. There is a clear difference between blackface and whiteface in terms of the history behind it but that doesn’t make Snoop’s posts inoffensive.”

Right-wing blogs, meanwhile, panned the media for being silent on the issue. Predictably, they asked a question that most certainly doesn’t need to be asked: “But the question needs to be asked: If a white artist donned a ‘black face’ and promoted a website called ‘Black Guys Connect,’ would the media explode with calls of racism?,” wrote conservative pundit Ben Shapiro.

But the most scathing of critiques came from Star, radio host of WWPR-FM’s The Star & Buc Wild Morning Show. “Now, there are many people who say, ‘Black people cannot be racist,’” he said, according to HipHopDX. “I think black people are some of the most racist people on the planet. I’m a bi-racial racist, race-baiter. That’s me goddamnit. Nick Cannon just did some whiteface dumb shit and people were like, ‘N***a, kill yourself, we don’t give a fuck how much money you got.’ I wanna go in today on this n***a Snoop.”

Then: “I encourage white people to call in today. Don’t just assume because I’m a man of colour that I’m gonna take the side of people of colour. I think the mainstream press should come down on this nigga like a ton of bricks.”

Predictably, Snoop didn’t give a fuck. His message to his detractors? “Suck dick or die trying,” as he mentions in this video response to Star.

So, what do you think? Is Snoop’s gag funny or distasteful?