The mayor’s office in the Spanish capital Madrid has apologized for videos in which a white actor portrayed as black wearing heavy makeup played Balthasar for Epiphany. The city administration said it was a “regrettable mistake” by the video production company, as Spanish media reported. The opposition in the city parliament criticized the videos as racist.
“Blackfacing” – the portrayal of black people by white people wearing makeup – is considered racist because there is almost always something caricaturing about a white person dressing up as a black person. Secondly, this masquerade follows an unpleasant tradition: In the USA, so-called “minstrel shows” used to be popular, in which white people imitated black people for the amusement of a white audience.
Parents were able to order the videos from the city for their young children for Epiphany on Saturday, the day on which children in Spain receive their Christmas presents. In the videos, “King Balthasar”, who was wearing thick dark brown make-up, addressed the children by their name with a deliberately foreign accent and artificial-looking grammatical errors, expressed praise and admonitions and promised them many gifts. On Friday, actors traditionally dressed as the Three Wise Men paraded through many Spanish cities and threw sweets into the crowd.
The city asked the video production company for an explanation as to how the error could have occurred, Vice Mayor Inma Sanz was quoted as saying by the state TV broadcaster RTVE. 20 to 30 such videos with Balthasars in make-up were sent to parents. The video company apologized if it had offended anyone. The aim was not to ridicule anyone, but rather to portray Balthasar, who is known to be from the Orient, as “believable” for the children.
