The breakout series “Lovecraft Country” is facing criticism over new allegations of colorism following the release of a now-viral TikTok video. Now, HBO has released a brief statement in response to the backlash.
On Monday, March 8, as the details of the video continued to make headlines, HBO acknowledged the situation and noted its commitment to ensuring it never happens again. The statement read, “This should not have happened, and we are taking steps to ensure this doesn’t occur again in the future.”
According to Yahoo! News, the controversy stems from a TikTok video posted by Kelli Amirah, who worked as an extra on the set of the hit sci-fi series. In the video, Amirah alleged that she was made to wear darker makeup for the series which opened the door for the debate about colorism.
“I notice my foundation is getting darker and darker,” Amirah said in the video. “I was so uncomfortable. I had no idea they were going to do this to me, and if I had known beforehand I would not have accepted the job. Who thought this was a good idea?”
“As soon as we wrapped I went right back to hair and makeup to ask for some makeup wipes because I refused to go out in the world like that,” she added.
Over the weekend, Amirah also shared a series of tweets about the incident. “Here I am, in the makeup trailer of a major network production with the lead stars of the show, and they’re putting me in blackface,” Amirah wrote. “Now as this was happening I had so many conflicting thoughts in my head. This is wrong. Why did they hire me? I should say something. What would I say? What would happen? If I hold up this production how much money goes down the drain. What will be my repercussions?”
Continue reading and watch the trailer on the next page.
