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Snapchat’s Bob Marley 4/20 Filter Is All Kinds of Wrong

Author: Yahoo Celebrity
April 20, 2016 at 17:36
So we’re guessing the folks at Snapchat were totally baked when they came up with their latest gimmick: a Bob Marley filter! Special for 420 day! Get it?

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Yeah, we don’t really either. Except in the way that most folks have, which is to say we are cringing over the instant-blackface effect of the image as well as the oddly reductive decision to use Marley — Jamaican reggae pioneer and superstar and ambassador of peace and Pan-Africanism (who did, yes, happen to believe in the legalization of ganja) — as the face of Stonerville.

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Critics are responding with a resounding thumbs-down, calling the filter “racially insensitive,” “in extremely poor taste,” “effectively reducing Marley’s impact to a stereotype,” and “cultural appropriation,” with Esquire begging, “You should not use this today! Just don’t do it!”

Related: This Vid of a Reporter Asking the Weeknd How Often He Washes His Hair Will Shock and Offend You

Twitter, predictably, has been flooded with outrage:


There has been at least one hugely notable (if also predictable) exception, of course: Kylie Jenner, who hopped to it and slapped that blackface-and-dreadlocks right over her face. “420. Yaaas, bitch,” she exclaimed in her filter-enhanced video. “Yaaas.”

Snapchat, meanwhile, responded to the negative buzz by releasing the following statement to a couple of outlets: “The lens we launched today was cre-ated in partnership with the Bob Marley Estate and gives people a new way to share their appreciation for Bob Marley and his music. Millions of Snapchatters have enjoyed Bob Marley’s music, and we respect his life and achievements.”

Um, clearly.


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