Ex-Little Mix star Jesy Nelson has recently come under fire for blackfishing in the music video for her new single “Boyz”. “Blackfishing” is when white people use artificial tanning, filters or makeup in order to appear racially ambiguous or black, a controversial practice first brought to light by Canadian journalist Wanna Thompson in 2018.
Jesy is a white woman, with no black heritage whatsoever, yet in some images her skin appears darker than her former bandmate Leigh-Anne Pinnock, who is mixed-race. As Thompson said in an interview with CNN, “instead of appreciating black culture from the side-lines, there’s this need to own it, to participate in it without wanting the full experience of Blackness and the systematic discrimination that comes with it.” Celebrities such as Jesy, as well as Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian, who have both been similarly criticised for blackfishing, are being called out for attempting to appear “exotic” or “racially ambiguous” as it is on trend, not only appropriating black culture but appropriating blackness itself, celebrating black beauty through white women.
Leslie Bow, a professor of Asian American studies at the University of Wisconsin, describes blackfishing as “a racial masquerade that operates as a form of racial fetishism.” This has become a trend for privileged white celebrities, who are commodifying black style in order to appear “exotic” without facing the prejudice and discrimination of black people. As Bow says “it has the effect of reducing a people with a specific history to a series of appropriable traits or objects.” She even describes it as a form of “racist love”.
The song “Boyz” is heavily influenced by black culture, sampling P-Diddy’s “Bad Boy 4 Life”, a stark contrast to the radio-friendly pop of Little Mix, as Nelson effectively hops on the trend of “black music”, pushing her music into more of a hip-hop direction. Although this itself is by no means particularly problematic, Nelson has been accused of using a “blaccent” by Vulture, changing her voice in order to “sound black”, playing into the racial ambiguity which she creates through her appearance. Furthermore, the choreography and outfits of the “Boyz” music video are reminiscent of many famous hip-hop music videos of 90s and early 2000s, as the ex-Little Mix star treads a fine line between paying homage and appropriation, despite the singer declaring “I love black culture. I love black music… I’m very aware that I’m a white British woman; I never said that I wasn’t.”
Another controversial element of black-fishing is the resemblance it bears to “blackface”, a deeply offensive practice which dates back hundreds of years. Blackface can be traced back to the “minstrels” of the 19th and early 20th century in America, a form of entertainment founded on comedy based on racist stereotypes of black people, a practice intrinsically linked to slavery and segregation. People such as Justin Trudeau have faced widespread backlash for blackface; it is accepted in modern society as deeply wrong and deeply offensive. On the other hand, black-fishing inhabits more of a grey area, it is in danger of becoming normalised, as racial ambiguity remains on trend, popular figures continue to culturally appropriate in this way.
The difficulty of solving this problematic trend is made very clear when Jesy Nelson says “I’m a white British woman; I never said that I wasn’t,” she isn’t claiming to be black or mixed-race, she is instead presenting herself as simply appreciating black culture. She also said “I would never intentionally do anything to make myself look racially ambiguous”, which is in stark contrast to the excessively dark tan and curly hair which she sports in “Boyz”, showing a lack of understanding on Nelson’s part for the harmful nature of blackfishing, a lack of recognition of the problem.
Ayanna Thompson, the author of Blackface, says that blackfishing “makes beauty standards adhere to whiteness even more closely, because it’s like ‘she’s so beautiful, because she’s white. Even when she puts on the blackface.’ It leaves black women at the lowest rung of desirability. What’s the most desirable thing: a beautiful white woman who can look beautiful even when she’s trying to look black?” This therefore glorifies the image of the “exotic” white woman, exemplified by celebrities such as Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner, as the most desirable, casting aside black women.
“Influencers” such as the Kardashians and Jenners have incredible power and influence, with a combined social media audience of 771 million, and a collective net worth of $2 billion, giving them the power to influence global beauty standards. Kim and Kylie are especially renowned for their use of plastic surgery and lip fillers, paired with dark tan and makeup, creating and popularising this idea of the “exotic” white woman, who is able to appear racially ambiguous, borrowing from black beauty standards, without facing the inherent prejudice and discrimination of a black person.
Blackfishing is starting to become a harmful trend, potentially influencing young white girls to darken their skin in such a way, as it becomes more normalised in popular culture and social media, appropriating black aesthetics whilst simultaneously casting aside black women.
