ONE of Hong Kong’s top broadcasters has aired a TV show with some characters in blackface, just months after it was accused of racism for putting an actor in brownface.

Blackface is considered highly offensive and racist in many parts of the world – especially in North America – but several skin-darkening controversies have popped up across Asian entertainment in recent years.

In an episode of the sitcom “Come Home Love” aired on Monday, one scene showed a funeral service that mimicked the dancing Ghanaian pallbearers that went viral on social media a few years ago.

Except, the actors in the show on TVB ­– Hong Kong’s largest free TV broadcaster ­– had their faces painted black.

TVB said today that the characters “wore special make-up” for a “dramatic story plot”, and that their “faces were made dirty by the exhaust gas of a vehicle”.

“It was never our intention to show disrespect or to discriminate (against) any persons,” it said.

The channel did not offer an apology in its statement. 

It also did not explain why that storyline was linked to the dancing Ghanaian pallbearers, who are black, and why blackface was needed for a play on the meme.

There was no widespread social media response or criticism in Hong Kong over the episode.

In April, TVB broadcast a series in which actors darkened their skin to portray people from the Philippines.

That caused outrage, particularly in the city’s large Filipino community, and TVB apologised.

Then, too, there was no wave of criticism locally, and the series got favourable reviews with no discussion of race.

The Hong Kong government’s Equal Opportunities Commission told AFP that “imitation or disguise cannot, and should not, be automatically equated with sarcasm, ridicule or discrimination”.

“Having said that, producers and artists ought to take heed of sensitive social issues so as not to be seen as irresponsible,” it added. – AFP, October 26, 2022.