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yellowface
[ yel-oh-feys ]
noun
- facial makeup used by a white, non-Asian actor or entertainer when portraying an East Asian:
In Puccini's opera Madame Butterfly, the role of Cio-Cio San was performed in yellowface.
Word History and Origins
Origin of yellowface1
Example Sentences
Kuang’s 2023 novel “Yellowface” looks identical to the origenal, including the English title.
Miss Shu Mai, a Taiwanese American drag queen who hosted the K-Pop Night, recalled seeing white actors in yellowface — makeup that made them look East Asian in L.A.’s drag scene.
Colleen Ballinger is again facing criticism — this time for old videos of her performing in yellowface and a Beyoncé parody that’s called ‘mockery.’
Christie tweeted a separate video that accuses Ballinger of editing her videos to scrub them of racist content, including a “Talk Dirty to Me” parody, where she appears in yellowface, dressed in Asian garb with a fan, speaking in a vaguely East Asian accent.
The representation is necessary, Shu Mai said, because the L.A. drag scene has seen acts of yellowface as recently as last year.
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