Screenshot from 'Your Face Sounds Familiar.'
Polish Game Show Uses Blackface to Mimic Kendrick Lamar, Kanye West & Beyoncé
Polish game show Your Face Sounds Familiar is center of controversy after blackface performances of contestants mimicking Kendrick Lamar, Kanye West and Beyoncé has gone viral.
We’re guessing that some Black artists won’t be taking the wok to Poland anytime soon. Over the weekend, clips from Polish game show Your Face Sounds Familiar went viral, showing contestants wearing blackface to perform songs by Kendrick Lamar, Kanye West and Beyoncé. For the latter two, contestants Tomasz Ciachorowski and Pola Gonciarz were seen performing West’s 2007 hit “Stronger” and Bey’s 2008 single “If I Were A Boy.”
Kuba Szmajkowski jako Kendrick Lamar - Hip-hopowe brzmienie w „Twoja Twarz Brzmi Znajomo”!youtu.be
pola gonciarz jsko Beyonceyoutu.be
The premise of the game is for participants to replicate artists as closely as possible to win cash for the charity of their choice, albeit some using offensive tactics to get the point across. In the show’s latest episode, Polish singer Kuba Szmajkowski wore blackface, a prosthetic nose and braids to mimic Lamar in a performance of “HUMBLE” from the rapper’s fourth studio album, DAMN. At one point during the performance, Szmajkowski is heard saying the n-word.
Szmajkowski even shared behind-the-scenes footage of him getting his makeup done to resemble Lamar, however failed it was.
Szmajkowski took home the top prize after the show, donating the proceeds to children’s cancer assistance organization Przystań Nadziei Foundation, but not without Americans expressing their qualms towards YFSF.
Your Face Sounds Familiar debuted in Spain in 2011 under the name Tu cara me suena. The international television franchise has since popped up in Lithuania, Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria, although some countries have canceled the series. There also appears to be a kids version of the show in the Philippines, which lasted from 2017 to 2018.
Your Face Sounds Familiar Kids: Elha Nympha as Beyoncéwww.youtube.com