File under: "They must have been high when they thought of this."
The spunky social media outfit Snapchat has designed a lens specifically for 4/20, the day designated as a celebration of all things marijuana. See, the lens lets you turn yourself into Bob Marley. Skin tone included.
Yes, the filter is a chance for everyone to try on blackface.
Oddly enough, the Marley lens is barely the most egregious example of neo-minstrelsy this week. For Nina, the Nina Simone biopic opening Friday, Zoe Saldana donned dark makeup to make herself look a little more like the great soul singer. As I wrote in my review, "At best, it's a distraction: Even if Saldana was blue in Avatar, we know she doesn't look like this. More pertinent, the High Priestess of Soul, who died in 2003, wore her blackness like a cloak of honor, especially in the years she spent fighting for civil rights. She didn't get it out of a makeup kit."
Or, presumably, from Snapchat.
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Twitter users sound off about the Snapchat filter:
Very disappointed in you, @Snapchat. The Bob Marley filter is not only an insult to the memory of this man, but to people of color as well.
— Ingrid Nilsen (@ingridnilsen) April 20, 2016
I have a serious issue with the 4/20 filter on @Snapchat It's racist and the commercialization of Bob Marley is sickening.
— #BlackGirlsMatter🌐 (@BlckGirlsMatter) April 20, 2016
