Qantas Blackface Scandal at Bledisloe Cup

Qantas Apologizes for Photo Blackface Contest Winners

Qantas Airlines is facing a storm of bad PR after a blackface scandal at the Bledisloe Cup rugby match (Australia vs New Zealand, Rugby Union).

Qantas held a Twitter contest to send two fans to support the Wallabies, and contestants tweeted their plans in hopes of scoring tickets. Straightforward enough so far.

Charles Butler tweeted, "@QantasAirways We will dress as Radike Samo. Complete with Afro Wig, Aus rugby kit and facepaint #GoWallabies."

Photos

Qantas Blackface Photo

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uploaded by NowPublic Staff

Butler actually won the competition and, true to his word, he and his friend showed up to the match in blackface. Qantas posted a photo of the two on its Twitter feed, but removed the pic as the inevitable yet wholly predictable backlash began. Butler and his friend posed for a photo with Radike Samo as well.

Apparently Radike Samo himself wasn't offended, but plenty of other people were. Qantas was forced to publicly apologize for the stunt, and Charles Butler apologized as well.

However, the photo is not really the issue.

The issue is that Butler said up front what he was going to do, and whoever manages Qantas' social media gave him the ticket package anyway. I'm left scratching my head as to what sort of reaction the Qantas social media team anticipated.

Clearly not everyone remembers the Hey Hey It's Saturday reunion, but, for those who missed out on the scandal, the gist is that blackface is not considered funny anymore. Andrew Bolt at the Herald Sun doesn't see the big deal, clinging to Radike Samo's non-reaction while ignoring (or simply not comprehending) the anger of many who saw the photos.