TORONTO — Nick Cannon has sparked controversy by posting a photo showing him disguised as a white person.
“It’s official… I’m White!!!,” he tweeted, along with photos and videos showing him done up as alter ego Connor Smallnut.
The stunt is to promote Cannon’s new album White People Party Music, which is out April 1.
Appearing on Global’s The Morning Show on Monday, Cannon explained the title came from the name of a playlist he uses when doing DJ gigs.
Cannon is African-American and he’s married to singer Mariah Carey, who is half-white.
To defend his race reversal, Cannon posted a photo of Robert Downey Jr. disguised as a black man in the comedy film Tropic Thunder.
“There is a big difference between Humor and Hatred,” he wrote.
Late Monday he addressed the controversy on Twitter.
“Damn I didn’t know it was going to be this hard being White! … I’m exhausted with all this ‘privilege’ LOL #WhitePeopleProblems,” he wrote.
Reaction of social media is divided between supporters (“Stop claiming that @NickCannon’s use of ‘White Face’ is the same thing as ‘Black Face.’ Your ignorance of history and power is showing,” tweeted one) and critics (“What @NickCannon is being aloud (sic) to do makes me sick! It is complete reverse-racism and I hope he gets hammered for this ‘white face’ stunt!,” tweeted one.)
Cannon seems unfazed. “I love this conversation though,” he tweeted. “It’s showing a lot of people’s true colors…”
In the 2004 comedy White Chicks, actors Shawn Wayans and Marlon Wayans donned white face to play undercover agents posing as wealthy young white women.
BELOW: Watch Nick Cannon on Global’s The Morning Show.
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