Shane Dawson Called Out By Jada Pinkett And Jaden Smith
The Black Lives Matter protests sparked by the killing of George Floyd continues to have ripple effects as entertainers who have done questionable and racist things in the past are now being held accountable. The latest celebrity to be brought under the microscope is YouTube Shane Dawson, who was called out even by Hollywood A-listers Jada Pinkett Smith and Jaden Smith.
The Hollywood Reporter says the two members of the influential Hollywood family called out the YouTuber for putting up a video where it is made to appear that Dawson is masturbating to a poster of Willow Smith, who was 11 years old at the time. Willow Smith is Jada Pinkett Smith’s daughter and Jaden Smith’s younger sister.
Both Smiths expressed their condemnation of Dawson on Twitter, with Jaden tweeting that he was disgusted by Dawson and that sexualizing an 11-year-old girl is the furthest thing fro funny. Jada, for her part, simply tweeted that she was done with Dawson’s excuses.
Jaden also followed up with a tweet pointing out that Dawson had done blackface multiple times in the past. Blackface is a racist practice where white performers mocked Black people in their minstrel shows by darkening their skin.
In fact, the condemnation from the Smiths came after Dawson apologized for doing blackface and using the n-word the day before. NBC News reports that Dawson made his apology in a 20-minute video, where he admitted to doing blackface and said that there was no excuse for what he did.
Dawson also said he regrets contributing to the normalization of using the n-word and blackface because of his frequent use of them in the comedy skits that propelled him to fame in the early 2010s.
While Dawson did not directly mention the Willow Smith video, he did apologize for creating a “child molester character.” Dawson explains his controversial videos were a result of childhood traumas and personal issues that he had not dealt with 10 years ago.
Dawson is just the latest to be called out by Black people for previously unchecked problematic behavior. Recently Sugababes member Keisha Buchanan said she was the victim of systemic racism in the media, citing examples of her and bandmate Mutya Buena being labeled as “bad girls” while Siobhan Donaghy was the media darling. Donaghy is white while Buchanan is Black. Buena is half-Filipino.
Former X Factor contestant Misha B also claimed the television show made her look like the “angry Black girl” throughout her tenure on it.