Filipino acoustic band MYMP is under fire on Twitter after its leader and guitarist Jacques “Chin ” Alcantara wore a blackface costume and dismissed the Black Lives Matters (BLM) movement during a Halloween gig.
On Friday night, the band behind the hits A Little Bit and Tell Me Where It Hurts held a virtual show with “music idols” as their theme. The now-deleted livestream, however, courted controversy as netizens called Chin out for darkening his face.
Netizens took to Twitter to denounce and share clips of Chin’s “opinion” where he described the Black Lives Matter movement as “kalokohan” or nonsense.
Black Lives Matter is a social movement formed in the United States in 2013 which aims to fight racism and violence against Black people.
“Sa akin lang, ‘wag niyong pansinin yung mga nagco-comment na ‘educate yourselves,’ ‘Black Lives Matter.’ Kalokohan ‘yung Black Lives Matter. All Lives Matter, ‘yon,” said Chin in the circulating clips online.
He added, “Kasi sini-single out ninyo lang eh. Black Lives Matter. Of course, ‘yung life din natin, ‘di naman tayo Black, wala naman kasi dapat kulay, ‘All Lives Matter.’ Opinyon ko lang ha, hindi sa buong banda, ‘pag may nagsasabi ng Black Lives Matter, kalokohan ‘yun kasi ‘All Lives Matter,’ lahat, hindi lang ‘yung Blacks.”
Chin also claimed in another clip that the BLM movement is just propaganda.
Following the online backlash, Chin stood by his act in a YouTube vlog, saying he was just “trying hard” to mimic his American music idol Jimi Hendrix.
“Halloween diba?…Sa tingin niyo ba ‘pag nag damit ako ng damit na ganito, nag-bandana ako, hindi ko kinulayan ng black na makeup ang mukha ko, makukuha niyo yung costume ko? Kung sinong iniidolo ko? Hindi di ba? Kasi ang layo ng itsura ko, kasi hindi ko ginaya pati yung color niya,” said Chin in a seven-minute vlog on Saturday.
He also said that him wearing black makeup does not mean that he is anti-Black.
“Hindi porke’t nag black makeup ako sa mukha ko at ini-iimitate ko ang color ng idol kong si Jimi Hendrix, hindi ibig sabihin na sang-ayon ako sa nangyayari at pagtrato sa mga African-American or Blacks,” he said.
Chin reiterated his claim that BLM is “propaganda” and urged the public to support “All Lives Matter” instead, saying, “Iisa lang ang race natin, ang human race.”
He ended his vlog with the message: “Don’t believe everything you hear or read. Not everything is as it seems. Don’t be swayed by what is popular opinion and cool.”
