If you thought, with the passing of Halloween, that we were safely out of blackface season, you thought wrong.
One white makeup artist is making waves on social media this week after posting an ignorant—and chalky as fuck—makeup transformation that shows him morphing from a pasty white boy to a pasty white boy wearing blackface makeup.
The Instagram user @notcatart, who goes by the name “Serega Lyubimov” on the site, posted the transformation Sunday.
“White to dark” Lyubimov wrote, adding, “I love skin of all colors and this look is inspired from it.. That we all are beautiful... And I wanna show you how it’s beautiful.”
Lyubimov then cakes himself with dark makeup, from his hairline down to his chest, literally to the tune of “Rake It Up” by Yo Gotti. The trash makeup artist finished his look with a grill, which he flashes for the camera in what I assume is a sexy pose, but really just looks like flutters of constipation.
It’s unclear if “Serega Lyubimov” is the makeup artist’s real name, but he frequently types in both Russian and English and occasionally sets the location for some of his photos as Russia. What is clear is that he doesn’t give a fuck about displaying casual or overt racism. When one Instagram user called him out on his bullshit, Lyubimov responded by saying she looked like “a burnt nigger picking cotton.”
Love of all skin colors, indeed.
A good 2,604 comments later, Lyubimov must have grown weary of the backlash, because he turned his comments off.
Weary but, like a racist cockroach, undeterred.
His most recent photo is a repost of his blackface makeup with the caption, “I will posted it again and again... love u guys ❤️.”
Lyubimov’s display—and the outrage that has met it—even prompted NYX makeup company, whose products Lyubimov touts in his Instagram videos, to condemn his “look.”
Whatever Lyubimov’s motivations are—a thirst for views and controversy; plain, blinding white ignorance; or a mix of all or both—many social media users were upset with his performance and tried to report his behavior to Instagram. But if Instagram users found the photos offensive, apparently, Instagram has not. The photos and videos are still up.