14 DAY TRIAL // On April 1, 2014, Nick Cannon will be releasing “White People Party Music,” his first music album in 11 years and, by the looks of it, the album and the accompanying promo trail are going to be entirely different from anything else we’ve seen from him so far.
For starters, Nick is now white and he’s not Nick anymore. For the new album, he crafted a new persona for himself, a guy named Connor Smallnut, who is shown in the picture above.
Cannon posted it on his social media over the weekend and, because it depicts him in whiteface, it’s already generated a very heated debate on how reverse racism is still racism and, as such, still reprehensible.
From the caption of the photo, Nick didn’t even think of the implications of his “dressing up” as white.
“#WHITEPEOPLEPARTYMUSIC #Wppm in stores April 1st!!!!!!Dude Go Get It!!!Join The Party!!!! #GoodCredit #DogKissing #BeerPong #FarmersMarkets #FistPumping #CreamCheeseEating #RacialDraft Bro I got drafted!!” he wrote.
The post sparked an immediate reaction from both his fans and people who have heard of Cannon but would never describe themselves with the term “fans.” Many assumed that he was just joking, while others accused him of being a hypocrite.
Whereas the uproar whenever a white person does blackface is huge, Cannon should not expect to get off with a congratulatory handshake for doing the same, but in reverse, they say.
If you look at what happened to dancer, singer, and actress Julianne Hough when she stepped out for Halloween as her favorite “Orange Is the New Black” character Suzanne “Crazy Eyes” Warren, who is black, you understand why people are calling Cannon a hypocrite.
At the time, Julianne was so harshly criticized for going out in blackface that she was forced to issue an apology. She then refrained from making public appearances for weeks, admittedly at her management’s advice to wait until the PR storm blew over.
Cannon is trying to explain his Connor Smallnut persona by comparing it to Robert Downey Jr.’s character in the hilarious film “Tropic Thunder.” After his initial post, he uploaded a photo of the actor in blackface, in character, saying this was one his favorite performances of all times.
“There is a big difference between Humor and Hatred,” he added.
One could argue that there was no hatred behind Hough’s gesture of going as Crazy Eyes for Halloween, which is why she did blackface in the first place. It wasn’t for laughs either, but it was definitely not meant as a sign of disrespect.