Beyoncé is in the spotlight for the premiere of her concert film Renaissance. However, not all was praise and congratulations, as a photo sparked criticism from millions of people who accused her of ‘whitewashing’ her skin tone.
Through social networks, the photo of the singer wearing a fitted metallic Versace dress and a platinum hair color went viral, but not exactly for the amazing look of the interpreter. But because in the image the singer seems to have a much lighter skin tone than usual, which caused many users to accuse Beyoncé of ‘whitewashing’ herself and not being proud of her skin color.
Some people even compared the artist to Michael Jackson, who went through a long process to lighten his skin to the point of becoming white. “Is no one going to say anything about Beyoncé that she looks whiter with each passing day?” and “Today I finally understood those who say Beyoncé is white privileged,” were some of the most repeated comments on the Internet.
However, not everything was negative, because, among the controversy that was unleashed, a user took the opportunity to defend Beyoncé, explaining that, in reality, she did not whiten her skin, but that the color of her hair and clothes gave the optical effect that her skin was lighter than it actually is.
This comment was joined by others, who claimed that it was the lighting in the photo that had caused the noticeable change, which was also criticized by many people. “Beyoncé can wear her hair platinum, and still never stop being perceived as a BLACK woman. Society scans her as such, because of her physique, her face, her hair, her culture, and even her family. It’s bold for white people to try to measure the blackness of black people,” one of the users stated.
This story was written in Spanish by Mariana Martell in Cultura Colectiva