Ghadeer Sultan, a renowned makeup artist from Kuwait, needs no introduction. She is an ace makeup artist and an Instagram influencer with a huge fan following for her makeup looks. But things got sour when she posted something that was not taken well by her Instagram followers.
Ghadeer Sultan shocked her followers with a video wearing dark makeup covering all of her skin and lip-syncing to "We Are the World 25 for Haiti".
Her first post was with a caption: "No matter where you are from or what you believe in, we are all children of this world, and we all share it together equally,'
The makeup artist made a video inspired by the charity to support the victims of the earthquake in Haiti in 2010. But, her action was considered racist and her social media handle was flooded with negative and hateful comments.
One of the commenters straightforwardly remarked, "This is the most offensive thing I’ve seen. You can portray togetherness without disrespecting an entire culture. So uneducated, this is beyond unnecessary and unacceptable,"
It did not stop here, the video went viral, and the hate comments increased. One of the followers said, "This is just a straight up black face, which is very offensive and as an educated makeup artist you should know better about that, you want to show your abilities or talent on black skin USE A BLACK MODEL!!! Period,"
One of the commenters demanded to delete the post saying, "PLEASE DELETE THIS. Darkening your face, regardless of the context or the circumstances, is always unacceptable because of the racist history of blackface,”
When things got out of hand and it felt that the storm is not going to rest. Ghadeer approached her followers with a post on the social media handle saying, "I am not racist... I hate racism. What I’ve done is only to show what I am capable of… I love you all.
She wished every one New Year with a heartwarming message, "Life is meant for living… living with love and passion for everyone without thinking of what they are could really change your life… Think 2020 and live with a passion for all peoples. Happy New Year."
Let’s hope the controversy ends for the makeup artists, and people try to understand her intent behind the actions. But, it shows that when it comes to racism, creativity will take a back seat.