YouTube star, singer and local Mandapop artist Haoren who recently got into hot soup over a 'blackface' music video advertisement for a skin whitening brand has finally said sorry.
.jpg.aspx "Haoren on YouTube")
Anyway, Haoren said sorry via a post on Instagram.
"I recently launched a new song "White Doll" MV that cooperated with client’s whitening products name “White Doll”, because the tanned skin makeup of the drama, some viewers find it uncomfortable.
"It has caused a misunderstanding. I hereby to say sorry to everyone who feels uncomfortable in the story. I am really sorry.
"The MV has been temporarily removed from my channel. I hope you all can come to discuss about this??," he posted.
(So, now you know why we said "sorry" in the headline lah. Macam quite a non-apology right?)
It seems like while he was sorry that people were pissed off, he's still labelling it as a "misunderstanding".
"I want to clarify that I definitely didn't mean to offend anyone.
"In Malaysia, a country with strong sunlight, is it really inappropriate to do a tanned makeup on actor to present a plot of sunburnt?" he questioned.
Haih..
More explanations
The singer later followed up the apology with another Instagram post - this time with a video.
In the video he is seen saying sorry many times but goes on to talk about sunburnt skin again.
Haih..
.JPG.aspx "Haoren on YouTube")
“Actually, everyone has been ignoring the idea that I have been meaning to express.
“At the beginning and end of the video, the female lead remained as the girl with sunburnt skin and the love from the male lead remained the same for her.
“I sincerely hope everyone will not misunderstand my good intentions,” he said.
Haih...
Then he finally speaks some sense.
"I wish to say that we all live in a multiracial country, Malaysia.
"I am still learning everyday and for me it is a continuous journey on racism topics.
"I accept all comments, feedback and criticisms with an open heart and strive to become a better person," he said.
He also added that the MV has been taken down and would be reedited, keeping in mind all sensitivities.
Understanding the issue
We're really not quite sure if Haoren actually understood the core issue though.
Painting that actress brown, making it seem like brown on tanned skin was something that people laugh at or discriminate against is unacceptable.
The whole plot was just dodgy from the start.
If the crush actually sincerely loved the girl, why would he give her soy, an umbrella, a cardigan (to protect her skin from the sun) and whitening products to make her white?
Stress betul lah. Haih...
Anyway, if you don't understand why 'blackface' is wrong ( and when we use the term 'blackface' here, we also mean brownface, yellowface, redface etc. Just to be clear, they're all WRONG!), check out our previous article on this topic.
We explain about the history etc at the bottom of the article.
What did you think about his apology? Be honest and let us know in the comments section.