Turkish Anchor Reports On Obama In Blackface (VIDEO)

A Turkish news anchor wore dark face paint while he reported on President Obama's trip to the country.

Watch:

A rough translation: "Welcome, Mr. Obama. You took our hearts with your hospitality. We appreciate your kindness. We will do whatever America asks of us, as friends. Now, we ask the same of you."

It's not clear if the broadcast is a spoof or not. BuzzFeed says that the face darkening is meant to be "a metaphor for the way the Bush administration "darkened" the face of the Turkish public, and how the anchor hopes Obama will turn things around."

Comments

[eaeleven]

It is amazing to see all these comment trying to justify what was done...

What happened to Occam's razor- the simplest explanation tends to be the right one?

What more needs to be debated??

[ottoman35]

quote:

As to what motivated the anchor to don blackface to make his comment on Mr. Obama’s address to Turkey’s Parliament, Sebnem explains that he was playing off a Turkish proverb that says, roughly, that a person who asks for a favor darkens his face, but a person who then refuses to grant that person a favor has an even darker face. The idea seems to be something like what English-speakers mean when they say that they are “red-faced” with embarrassment.

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/10/turkish-tv-anchor-dons-blackface-to-address-obama/?hp

[Eriq]

wtf???

[sahabe]

Hi,

l read this news from our web sites and decided to do somthing about this misunderstanding.

First, if we hurt the feelings of black skinned people, we appologise from them. ln our gorgeous history nobody can find racism. Second point is about our great literature. We use lots of time methafors to explain what we want to say, because it brings people to think more seriously.

About the video. First question is why did not the web sites translate this video? Second question is how can people who did not watch it with understanding what there are spoken comment and judge Turkey and turkish people. American media have to learn to present everything correctly when they want to build relationships between americans and other nations.

With the presidency of Mr.Obama a warm portrait comes to the picture. Everyone expect a lot from President Obama. On this video the guy talked about the subjects which President Obama could do to change the image of US in Turkey. While he was doing this he used a very popular methafor. Of course we don’t expect from people to understand this methafor.

We liked President Obama. We think that he is a chance for America. l hope you, the american citizens and the american media, can help him to fix the image of America. lf you don’t want to lead the world anymore, don’t worry, we are coming to do this for the people in the world who are innocent. Wait us…

[bryansmith]

Weird....I'm not sure what to think....also weird

[edpell]

Maybe they are trying to make the point that except for his skin color he is just like George Bush.

[InfosolutionWiz]

I Have Some Good Turkis Friend From Collage they all travel to Turkey to see the President on home soil. IT WAS A BIG Success, the country was buzzing with excitement from the video tapes they brought back. This bacjk face reporting I will not comment on because one thing in one country mean something totally different in another country!!

[RJII]

thank you for welcoming our prez. we need your support.

[SisterMary]

I never laughed so hard in my life ! Striking resemblance and a talented reporter

[NoelGreco]

It is apparent that the Turks don't think much of Obama. I thought we were going to be loved by foreigners once he got rid of the evil Bush and Cheney.

[morefromLA]

Ignorance is bliss but the heart was true. Let's move on.

[edsommers]

Wow. Where are the Turkish experts when you need them? What was this news anchor's INTENT when he put on this black-face makeup? Was it an expression of respect? Was it supposed to be funny? Was it an expression of solidarity? Was it a promo for Amos n' Andy reruns? Did he throw a shoe when he stepped away from the anchor desk? What's it about, Alphie?

[joycehelene]

We don't know what this means in the Turkish culture, if it is a compliment or otherwise. I guess there are foolish people all over the world who have no idea what good behavior is all about.

[frantaylor]

My wife is Armenian. Now I see why she gets so upset.

[gul]

Turks have their share of racism like any other society, they do not like what is different.
On top of that, they have a "learned racism" which comes from high education strongly influenced by European white culture. Still, as a Turk who has lived in the USA for two decades, I can attest that the
magnitude of Turkish racisim is no where near that of racism many Europeans and European-decent Americans have. Turkish racism is more like unsophisticated and idiotic
remarks on different physical features or accents, such as the stupid news anchor displays in the video; but, not about person's capacity or worth as a human being.

The comment on the video is based on a Turkish old saying "you have one dark face for asking (for something), he has got two for not giving". As you can easily guess, dark face is associated with shame in the culture. Here, in my opinion, "dark face" does not mean the skin color but association of darkness, as an amount of light, with shame. Independent of the skin color, one has light shine on his/her face if she/he has no shame. However, the achor's use of "dark face" as a skin color is nothing but a racist comment. Unfortunately, there are so many people like him in Turkey. I hope as
the world becomes more global, Turks will become more informed and change.