Why is it so hard for celebrity humans (nevermind non-celebrity humans) to steer away from Halloween costumes that appropriate from other cultures—or are just straight-up racist? (May we remind you of 2016’s biggest fail: Hilary Duff’s pilgrim-native combo, with then-BF Jason Walsh.)
This weekend, Riverdale’s Lili Reinhart pissed off A LOT of people when she tweeted a photo of a potential Halloween lewk that involved blackface:
Needless to say, Twitter users immediately (and rightfully) flagged the issue:
It was really shortsighted of Lili Reinhart to not even think about the racist implications of her Halloween costume tweet
— Paris (@parisvelvet) October 22, 2017
Also, even if it wasn’t black face (it is), you’re still using the skin color to describe your soul, which is offensive :/
— Camilla (@camells55) October 22, 2017
The Halloween-obsessed star has since deleted the tweet, and says she’s sorry:
I did not mean for my tweet to come off that way. I can see how it was interpreted as being insensitive, completely. I saw the pic on a Halloween Instagram and didn’t think it would be interpreted as being racially insensitive.
— Lili Reinhart (@lilireinhart) October 22, 2017
I apologize. Never meant any harm. I can see how it could’ve been misinterpreted.
— Lili Reinhart (@lilireinhart) October 22, 2017
It’s great that Lili made a swift and sincere-sounding apology for promoting a costume that involved blackface—and for more on why that look is insanely offensive, watch this vid—but what would have been even better is if she realized that she was being “racially insensitive” BEFORE posting the pic. Witnessing some of our favourite celebs make politically-incorrect costume gaffes has legit become one of the scariest parts of Halloween, and while we wish it would never happen again, we’re afraid to say it’s likely only a matter of time.
