Frankston Bombers football club under fire for blackface photos

VICTORIA’S Frankston Bombers football club is in hot water after posting images of teammates in blackface on social media.

Photos from the football club’s iPod Shuffle Night.

VICTORIA’S Frankston Bombers football club is in hot water after posting images of teammates in blackface on social media, with calls for an inquiry into the matter by the Mornington Peninsula Nepean Football League.

When approached for comment the club’s president Chris Sharman attempted to downplay the incident.

“There was nothing racist about Saturday’s event. We ran an iPod Shuffle Night where everyone dressed up as their favourite musicians,” he said.

However, not everyone is in agreement with Sharman.

One of whom is Australian rapper Briggs (who is also a writer and actor on the ABC’s Black Comedy), who brought the controversy to public attention on Saturday night with this tweet:

Shout out to @FrankstonBomber for their 'Racist Night' and door prize for most #Blackface pic.twitter.com/e6Lx8m69XT

— BRIGGS AKA BIG SIGH (@BriggsGE) May 14, 2016

We should just make blackface illegal, that'd settle it

— BRIGGS AKA BIG SIGH (@BriggsGE) May 14, 2016

The indigenous Australian has expressed his views against blackface before and is now at the receiving end of both applause and abuse for his efforts.

Brigg’s Facebook page includes comments such as: “It’s a bit of fun and a laugh with no racist intent at all. Everyone calm the f*** down, slow your roles and breath a little. Over sensitive and wannabe politically correct activists jumping all over this… Chill the f*** out” and “a white guy can’t go to a party dressed as Lil Wayne? Does that mean a black guy can’t go to a party as batman or superman?”

My favorite bit is when the white dude tells me I'm racists because I seen it as racist and not as a tribute #Blackface 🐨

— BRIGGS AKA BIG SIGH (@BriggsGE) May 14, 2016

On Sunday morning the rapper posted an expletive-laden voicemail recording he received from someone believed to be connected to the club. It included the warning that: “If you don’t f***en like it, then f***en blow my c*** motherf***er”.

Following the tweets, Briggs began trending in Melbourne. The @FrankstonBomber Twitter account no longer exists and the photos in question have been pulled from their Instagram page.

Basketballer Liz Cambage, who has also been vocal on the issue of blackface, vented her frustrations on Sunday morning.

here we go again 🙄 @FrankstonBomber pic.twitter.com/0k7iakzgW3

— Elizabeth Cambage (@ecambage) May 14, 2016

This is the third blackface drama to unfold in Australia this year alone, after Opals forward Alice Kunek was condemned for a similar social media post and Ballarat teens were photographed dressed as indigenous Australians in blackface.

Indigenous writer Nakkiah Lui tackled the issue of blackface on triple j earlier this year, saying:

“When it comes to blackface there isn’t a debate. If a group of people who are the marginalised group, who are still facing racism, who are still facing inequality because of their race, who have to carry the burden of history on their skin and their culture every single day, if they’re telling you that ‘hey, this is offensive to me, it has a loaded history, it’s making me feel uncomfortable, it’s making me feel like a second-class citizen’, it’s not up to the dominant culture — and in this situation that’s white people — to say ‘Why? Why is this making you feel uncomfortable? Because it doesn’t make me feel uncomfortable.’”

With Charlotte Brundrett at the Herald Sun.