Assemblyman Dov Hikind wore blackface to a Purim party at his New York City home this weekend, and says the costume wasn’t offensive.
The New York Observer’s Politicker reports Hikind, who represents much of Brooklyn’s Orthodox Jewish community, hired a professional makeup artist to dress him as a “basketball player” for the holiday festivities.
A photo posted to Facebook by his son, Yoni Hikind, shows the Assemblyman in costume, wearing brown face paint, standing next to his wife, who is dressed as a devil. Yoni, who according to Politicker was dressed as some kind of angel, wrote, “How cool are my folks… Lol.”
“I was just, I think, I was trying to emulate, you know, maybe some of these basketball players,” the Assemblyman told Politicker. “Someone gave me a uniform, someone gave me the hair of the actual, you know, sort of a black basketball player.”
“It was just a lot of fun,” he continued. “Everybody just had a very, very good time and every year I do something else. … The fun for me is when people come in and don’t recognize me.”
Hikind told CBS that it “never crossed his mind” that wearing blackface might be offensive.
“If I was black, on Purim I would have made my face look like I was white,” he said.
He also said it’s normal for celebrants of Purim— to look “strange, wild, crazy.”
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15 Responses
He did absolutely nothing wrong. But, in today’s hyper politically correct atmosphere, he should have known better. And, this should be a lesson about Facebook, it should not have been posted.
The context might save it from being offensive. He should emphasize he didn’t want people to confuse him with some Jewish/Israeli basketballs players who publicly violate Shabbos.
hikind always comes out on top he will do so here as well
So how funny would it be if the Brooklyn Nets play their next game wearing tzitzis? Or the Harlem Globetrotters? Or the Yeshiva University basketball team – oh, wait, they do.
SO WHAT… I’ve seen Red faces, Blue faces, Black faces, Clown faces and Rosh Yeshiva faces all in the Purim spirit.
He is insinuating that bastketball players are more likely to be black. Under the normal rules, that would be racist.
Which just goes to show how stupid the normal rules are.
what if a well known black politician, say al sharpton, dressed as a chossid for Halloween. would hikind and others feel offended?
Of course the public will respond like this. They’re right. Such poor judgement, most especially for a representative.
Ever hear of “chilul Hashem”??
Ridiculing others, or doing anything that could be perceived as so, has no place among the people of this religion.
YWN once again separating themselves from the pack and showing that they are perhaps the most “legitimate” news website
nfgo3
YU team wears titzes when playing?
Once again your point is uh pointless!
7. The difference is that unlike Al Sharpton, Hikind didn’t instigate a race riot that led to murders.
No. 10: I just checked the YU basketball web site, and it would appear that some players are wearing tzitzis (fringes inside the shorts, but 4-cornered garment under the game shirt), which is what I would expect. Once again, your facts are uh wrong.
Had Dov put on a Brooklyn Nets jersey, and said he was proud the nets came to barclay center in brooklyn- no one would have cared. In fact he could have said it with pride- I’m dressed like……I’m his biggest fan.
Hilarious!!! Politically astute, perhaps not, but hilarious all the same. I once got dressed up as Stevie Wonder, but no one in my Israeli neighborhood “got it.”
So next Purim, I’m dressing up as “Moneychanger,” with a big hooked nose and streimel. How funny is that? Who’s inviting me to their party?