Sports

Sergio Ramos of Real Madrid Dresses in Blackface for Parade

by Jon Azpiri | January 8, 2009 at 01:51 pm

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Spanish soccer star Sergio Ramos appeared in blackface at a parade in Madrid to celebrate Three Kings Day in his hometown of Seville. The holiday, which is popular throughout the Spanish-speaking world, celebrates the arrival of the Three Wise Men to see baby Jesus. During the parade, the Real Madrid defender dressed as Baltasar, complete with a turban and black makeup covering his face.

The incident is the latest in a wave of racially insensitive incidents involving Spanish athletes and sports fans. Last year, Spanish racing fans hurled epithets at F1 racer Lewis Hamilton and wore Afro wigs, black face paint, and t-shirts that said "Hamilton's family."

Just where did Spanish fans learn that it was OK to behave that way? Maybe it was from the Spanish basketball team, who famously players slanted their eyes during a photo shoot before heading off to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

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yuls.source

at 14:09 on January 8th, 2009

Sergio Ramos is an interesting individual to say the least. He might have gone too far on this one though. I thought what he did in Euro 2008 finals was admirable though. He had a T-shirt underneath his uniform that commemorated his friend, a Spanish football player who passed away unexpectedly.

Jon Azpiri

at 17:00 on January 8th, 2009

It seems that there are still people who didn't to get the memo that blackface is not cool. Check out this video of a Japanese performer doing an impression of Louis Armstrong. If that's not enough for you, check out this Japanese version of "We Are the World."

Peter Peterson (not verified)

at 06:31 on January 9th, 2009

err... it's hard to explain this to an anglo but I'll try:

The three wise men are the Spanish equivalent of Santa claus, bringing stuff to children and all that. One of these 3 is supposed to be black (balthasar). As Spain has never had any blacks to parade as Balthasar at the three wise men parade it's traditional to use a Spaniard painted black. Spaniards can't fathom that Blackface is offensive, for them it's just a disguise.

I'm wasting my time but at least I tried.

Aem (not verified)

at 13:33 on January 9th, 2009

Peter, you're not wasting your time. Thanks for lending in explanation. I'm black myself and in this context, Ramos wasn't being malicious or anything like that. But I am curious to why they don't use a black person in the parade.