Jam Hsiao and Jay Chou take down 'blackface' photos at Halloween party from Instagram

Imitation is the best form of flattery, but what would Will Smith say about Jam Hsiao's 'blackface'?

Well, we'll never know because the photos have been removed from the Taiwanese singer's Instagram account.

Yesterday (Oct 31), Jam posted photos of his cosplay of the African-American actor at Jay Chou's Halloween party. His getup consists of an outfit that is reminiscent of Will's iconic character in the '90s sitcom, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, along with a flat top hairstyle and 'blackface' make-up.

The 32-year-old can also be seen posing with various prop firearms such as a rifle and a pistol.

Jay, along with his wife Hannah Quinlivan, even posted photos with Jam on their Instagram page. Jam even shared Jay's post of his costume on Instagram Stories and tagged Will Smith.

However, the relevant posts and Instagram Stories have since been deleted from their accounts for unknown reasons.

Hannah later reposted a photo from the party but conspicuously left out Jam's cosplay.

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Unsurprisingly, netizens on Weibo had much to say, but it's not about the fact that 'blackface' is known to be racially offensive.

In fact, netizens found Jam's 'blackface' amusing and had no idea who he was cosplaying. Other commenters also felt that Jam's costume stole the spotlight from Jay — who was dressed up as Woody from Toy Story — and it became a hashtag on Weibo.

One Weibo user wrote: "Why does he look so black as if he just returned from Africa? Did he get blown up or struck by lightning?"

Another fan asked: "Brother Jam, how are you going to repair your hair?"

Chinese media who have reported on the party didn't find anything wrong with it either as Sohu described Jam's look as "innovative", Sina said he was "unrecognisable" and QQ.com said it was "interesting" that he "went all out" for a Halloween party.

DEJA VU MUCH?

Doesn't it feel like we've been here before? Oh wait, we have.

Remember the controversial E-pay 'brownface' ad that divided netizens and had people of colour needing to explain the concepts of casual racism and micro-aggression and why it's racially offensive?

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The term 'blackface' has over 200 years of history in the US and was used as a way to spread racist stereotypes. In the past, white performers would put on 'blackface' and act out caricatures portraying African-Americans as lazy or foolish.

Sure, Singapore doesn't have the same racially charged history but we have been guilty of using it as means to portray racial caricatures as well.

In 2017, Mediacorp was fined $5,500 by the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) for a 'blackface' bit in the web series I Want To Be A Star.

The web series had a scene with a Chinese actor who was wearing an afro wig and black face paint.

Doesn't seem that dissimilar to a certain Taiwanese singer, does it?

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While the culprit isn't from Singapore this time (because we think Singaporeans definitely know better by now), it does beg the question of whether we have adopted these concepts from the West where they have a deeper and longer history of racial divisiveness.

This same question was once explored in an opinion piece by Singapore Kindness Movement (SKM), but it was met with severe public backlash. A follow-up article was then published that revealed that the initial article was actually a social experiment and the opinions expressed "belonged to a majority who must begin to realise that their views are racist" and that the "silent majority has a lot to apologise for".

However, the clarification did little to quell the rage of netizens leading to an "unreserved apology" from Dr William Wan, the General Secretary of SKM, and the removal of both articles.

Suffice to say, it seems that the public is of the opinion that 'blackface' (or 'brownface') is inexcusable, regardless of intent, and the fact that Jam, Jay and Hannah removed the photos speaks volumes.

bryanlim@asiaone.com