Elle editor sparks online race row
Beauty editor claims black face costume was a tribute and apologises for causing offence
THE beauty editor of Elle magazine has been criticised for posting a picture of herself in blackface online.
Jeanne Deroo has since pulled the photo from Instagram, but not before provoking thousands of online condemnations and commentary, particularly from the United States.
Deroo has since apologised for causing offence.
“I was not aware of the gravity of my actions,” she said, adding that she had chosen to dress up as Solange Knowles at a private party on the theme of ‘icons’.
“Some people apparently are still confused about blackface,” wrote Amethyst Tate in the International Business Times.
Tweeter @The_Economiss offered a simple explanation: “You do blackface->you’re doing something racist->you are racist”.
Deroo sought to distance herself from Elle magazine in France, saying her actions were nothing to do with it. However, the magazine is no stranger to causing racist controversy.
In January 2012 it eventually took down an online article entitled Black Fashion Power after it was bombarded with criticism for being “patronising” and “colonial” in tone.
The timing is bad for the magazine which currently features Christiane Taubira, a black government minister who has been the subject of several racist attacks, on its front cover.
Jeanne Deroo/Instagram
