British Author Accused of ‘Yellowface’ After Dressing Up as Kim Jong-un for Halloween
By Carl Samson
British actor, talent show judge and children’s book author
The “costume” Walliams shared on Twitter has received hundreds of comments, with many calling it an obvious pull on “yellowface.”
Walliams rose to fame on the U.K. sketch comedy show “Little Britain” and has been a judge on “Britain’s Got Talent” since 2012.
He has also written 12 children’s books since 2008, including “The Boy in the Dress”, “Gangsta Granny”, “Mr. Stink”, “There’s a Snake in My School” and “The World’s Worst Children”.
According to The Sun, he is referred to the “new Roald Dahl” after his first five books sold 2.2 million copies in the U.K. and 200,000 more worldwide.
Walliams’ choice to be Kim Jong-un for Halloween immediately drew flak as it is, from one perspective, racist. While the North Korean leader could easily be the world’s most hated, it is disturbing to trivialize his people’s plight by using him as a “costume.”
Netizens replied:
In addition, an obvious intention of wearing such “costume” is to become a laughingstock — a look Walliams achieved by copying Kim’s Asian eyes.
He appears to have worn yellow-tinted make-up too, literally donning a “yellowface.”
Others, however, chose to defend Walliams’ stunt and stressed that it wasn’t racist at all:
Still, some thought Walliams did nothing offensive as it was all just humor:
What do you think of Walliams as Kim Jong-un for Halloween?
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