Mummers parade courts controversy — again
Image via screenshot. The parade was broadcast on PHL17.com.
It wouldn’t be a Mummers Parade without controversy.
On New Year’s Day the annual parade took over Broad Street, but one skit stood out: A man with “Jay-Z†written on his clothes was using a leash to lead another man portraying Mayor Jim Kenney, who was crawling on all fours and wearing a Pinocchio-sized nose.
Many took to social media to condemn the skit, apparently thinking that the man holding the leash was wearing blackface.
However, the man depicted as Jay-Z was Black, Kenney said in a statement Wednesday.
Kenney said the concept submitted to the city and Mummers organization by the Finnegan group in advance of the parade said an African-American man would portray Jay-Z, not someone dressed in blackface.
“The Finnegan group says that it complied with its theme application,†Kenney said. “The city condemns the use of blackface in any form and will continue to work with the Mummers to ensure future performances are nondiscriminatory."
The skit apparently referred to a July kerfuffle when Kenney called for moving Jay-Z’s annual Made in America music festival from the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art starting in 2019, citing logistical issues related to the two-day festival.
But after Jay-Z published an op-ed online and held meetings with the administration, Kenney reversed course.
NAACP Philadelphia Chapter President Rodney Muhammad said he is investigating the incident and intends to meet with Mummers organizers about the skit.
“I’m still in the early stages of this,†Muhammad said.
Calls to Mummers organizers were not immediately returned.
City Council President Darrell L. Clarke condemned the skit as a display of bigotry and intolerance when he initially believed it used blackface. He added that blackface is regularly used during the Mummers parade and "people of color in our majority non-white city, including myself, do not participate in an event that we believe does not welcome us.â€
Asa khalif @AsaKhalif
Now the MUMMERS are telling us this is a black man in Blackface..if that is true..You are still guilty. With the history of blackface in mummers parades..your racisim is even more obvious. #NoBlackface
More pics and tweets at link
- Michael D'Onofrio Tribune Staff Writer
- Jan 2, 2019 Updated 6 hrs ago
Image via screenshot. The parade was broadcast on PHL17.com.
It wouldn’t be a Mummers Parade without controversy.
On New Year’s Day the annual parade took over Broad Street, but one skit stood out: A man with “Jay-Z†written on his clothes was using a leash to lead another man portraying Mayor Jim Kenney, who was crawling on all fours and wearing a Pinocchio-sized nose.
Many took to social media to condemn the skit, apparently thinking that the man holding the leash was wearing blackface.
However, the man depicted as Jay-Z was Black, Kenney said in a statement Wednesday.
Kenney said the concept submitted to the city and Mummers organization by the Finnegan group in advance of the parade said an African-American man would portray Jay-Z, not someone dressed in blackface.
“The Finnegan group says that it complied with its theme application,†Kenney said. “The city condemns the use of blackface in any form and will continue to work with the Mummers to ensure future performances are nondiscriminatory."
The skit apparently referred to a July kerfuffle when Kenney called for moving Jay-Z’s annual Made in America music festival from the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art starting in 2019, citing logistical issues related to the two-day festival.
But after Jay-Z published an op-ed online and held meetings with the administration, Kenney reversed course.
NAACP Philadelphia Chapter President Rodney Muhammad said he is investigating the incident and intends to meet with Mummers organizers about the skit.
“I’m still in the early stages of this,†Muhammad said.
Calls to Mummers organizers were not immediately returned.
City Council President Darrell L. Clarke condemned the skit as a display of bigotry and intolerance when he initially believed it used blackface. He added that blackface is regularly used during the Mummers parade and "people of color in our majority non-white city, including myself, do not participate in an event that we believe does not welcome us.â€
Asa khalif @AsaKhalif Now the MUMMERS are telling us this is a black man in Blackface..if that is true..You are still guilty. With the history of blackface in mummers parades..your racisim is even more obvious. #NoBlackface
More pics and tweets at link
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