Scottish LGBT awards criticised for using models covered in black paint
By Micah Sulit
An awards show honouring excellent contributions to Scotland’s LGBT community has been criticised after using “blacked up” models to promote the event, Edinburgh newspaper The Scotsman reported.
Anti-racism groups have pulled the race card on the Icon Awards, organised by Glasgow-based events company Paramount Creative. In a statement, the Edinburgh University Student Association’s Black and Minority Ethnic Liberation Group condemned the use of “blackface” and said “intent is irrelevant”.
The student group has been tweeting all the event sponsors; California-based underwear brand Andrew Christian has reportedly ended their involvement with the Icon Awards.
Michael Macfarlane, Icon Awards event manager, addressed the criticism earlier this week. “We had no derogatory or negative intention with the models in question, and the gold and black body art was solely used to symbolise luxury not colour or creed,” he said.
This led to another exchange of statements between EULA Liberation and the event organisers over the weekend. Macfarlane eventually announced that they will “remove the gold and black painted models from [their] website and Facebook”.
Meanwhile, here’s what Patrick Harvie, Green MSP for Glasgow, had to say:
https://twitter.com/patrickharvie/status/620986228230475776