Academy Award nominee Fernanda Torres is apologizing after a 17-year-old clip of her in blackface just lately resurfaced.
The star of “I’m Still Here” issued a prolonged apology to Deadline on Sunday, following backlash over a 2008 sketch she appeared in on the long-running Brazilian tv present “Fantastico.”
Torres, who’s up for the lead actress Oscar at this 12 months’s ceremony, wrote, “Almost twenty years ago, I appeared in blackface in a comedy sketch from a Brazilian TV show.”
“I am very sorry for this. I’m making this statement as it is important for me to address this swiftly to avoid further pain and confusion,” her assertion stated.
Torres performs two characters within the just lately resurfaced “Fantastico” episode, showing as each a white working mom and in blackface because the household’s maid, Dalva. The sketch, titled “The Opposite Sex: The Family (Father vs. Mother),” was meant to be a humorous examination of gender roles.
In her apology, the Golden Globe winner claimed that Brazilian tradition had but to reckon with the racist historical past of blackface on the time the sketch aired.
Axelle/Bauer-Griffin by way of Getty Photos
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“At that time, despite the efforts of Black movements and organizations, the awareness of the racist history and symbolism of blackface hadn’t yet entered the mainstream public consciousness in Brazil. Thanks to better cultural understanding and important but incomplete achievements in this century, it’s very clear now in our country and everywhere that blackface is never acceptable.
“This is an important conversation we must continue to have with one another in order to prevent the normalization of racist practices then and now,” Torres’ assertion says. “As an artist and global citizen, and from my open heart, I remain attentive and committed to the pursuit of vital changes needed to live in a world free from inequality and racism.”
Final week, Torres made Academy Awards historical past because the second Brazilian girl to ever earn a lead actress nomination. The primary Brazilian nominated for the lead actress Oscar was her mom, Fernanda Montenegro, for her function in 1988′s “Central Station.”
