Blackface Aboriginal costume dress up: Adam Briggs slams ‘redneck scumbags’

TWO partygoers have been labelled “redneck scumbags” after a photo shared on social media showed them dressed as Aborigines with painted faces.

TWO partygoers have been labelled “redneck scumbags” after a controversial photo shared on social media showed them dressed as Aborigines with painted black faces.

Victorian woman and indigenous education worker Sis Austin shared images taken from a party at the weekend after confronting the person who uploaded them to social media.

In one picture two men are dressed as Aborigines with their faces painted black.

Another picture taken from the same party shows a woman with a painted black face, dressed like 2000 Olympic gold medallist Cathy Freeman.

But Daylesford woman Ms Austin ended up on the receiving end and was called a bully and horrible person who should be ashamed of herself for sharing the images.

Sis Austin’s Facebook post has received both positive and negative responses.

The two as yet unidentified men had attended an Aussie icon party near Learmonth Football Club in Victoria on Saturday.

The photos were taken by what she calls “people who were her high school friends” and “a few close ones at that”.

That changed once she raised the point it was disrespectful to indigenous Australians.

Ms Austin’s post soon went viral and was picked up by high-profile indigenous rapper and Yorta Yorta man Adam Briggs who went on to share the post, and said anyone defending the men can go and “**** themselves”.

Briggs described the pair as “redneck scumbags” on Facebook.

But while the hip hop artist ended up getting a lot of support, many jumped to the defence of the men and Briggs ended up on the receiving end himself before shutting them down.

Some of the comments the Aussie entertainer received. Picture: Screengrab.

While some supported Briggs, others were quite vocal in their opposition to his views. Picture: Screengrab.

This is just a taste of the comments Briggs received on his Facebook page. Picture: Screengrab.

Others also came to Briggs’ defence including hip hop chart toppers The Hilltop Hoods, and indigenous Australian singer/songwriter Thelma Plum who shared the controversial black face image on her social media feeds.

Plum, who called the partygoers “disgusting little boys” also shared their image on her Twitter and Instagram feed, encouraging people to name and shame them.

Aussie hip hop sensations the Hilltop Hoods also weighed into the controversy.

Reading some reckless internet today. It's making me sick.

— Hilltop Hoods (@hilltophoods) January 31, 2016

In an interview with Sky News, the host of the party said the backlash was “political correctness gone wrong” and the men in the photos were his best mates who are “decent Australian blokes”.

However, it wouldn’t be the first time an Australian party has held a similar party and created a storm of controversy.

In October 2013, a young Australian woman named Olivia, threw a 21st birthday party with an African theme where guests were asked to dress up.

Some of the pictures which later surfaced showed some party goers with black painted faces, attracting a storm of controversy from international news outlets.

Olivia defended the theme in a now delated Tumblr post saying she made it an African theme as it was somewhere she had always wanted to go but had not meant to cause offence.

“I am 100% sure that parties would be held that would be ‘Australian themed’ or American themed or even countries of the world, and in that instance I don’t believe anyone would be offended,” she wrote.

“People wear Oktoberfest costumes to parties and no one cracks it that they are not German? So what I am saying is I do understand the people who have painted themselves have offended people, although none of them intended that …. but how can people be annoyed that the majority of the people at the party were celebrating another countries culture.”