Taiwan Night Club Stops Viral ‘Coffin Dance’ After Dancers Add Blackface, ‘Unaware’ It is Racist
By Bryan Ke
A Taipei nightclub that went viral for imitating a Ghanaian pallbearers meme took down all videos and pictures of its dance troupe, Luxy Boyz, and
In a statement to Taiwan News on May 4, OMNI Nightclub, located on Zhongxiao East Road, Section 4 in Da’an District, said they were not aware that “blackface” was a form of racial discrimination.
“The sole intention of the ‘blackface routine’ in question was to faithfully recreate the popular Coffin Dance Meme and nothing else,” the statement reads. “Our dancers were not aware of the so-called ‘blackface’ as a means of racial discrimination because it had never been a thing in Taiwan.”
“Our management had refined the Coffin Dance Meme show right after its debut ever since. We apologize for the lack of supervision and the inappropriate cultural clash resulted from it.”
The group attracted much attention for their dance over the weekend. They were seen serving drinks while doing the same routine as the viral Ghanaian pallbearers funeral service.
However, a foreign Ph.D. student of African descent at National Chung Hsing University (NCHU) noticed that one of the videos posted online shows Asian dancers wearing brown makeup on their faces.
“Being unaware of history and race-related matters, even if they happened in the West, can only be an excuse for so long,” the student said in his Facebook post on Sunday. “It’s 2020, dunno how much longer they think they can play the ignorance card.”
Taiwanese users flocked to the student’s Facebook post to apologize and urge its Taiwanese society to be more educated on racial discrimination.
Images via Taiwan News
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