Exclusive: Cardiff student blacked up for a house party and says it wasn’t racist

People at the party made him wash his face


Last Saturday night a Cardiff University student attended a house party in Cathays dressed as ‘blackface’.

In a video from the night out, he defended blacking up saying “it’s called blackface, it’s dressing up.”

The ‘costume’ caused a stir, and people at the party were not amused with the apparent ‘joke’.

Eventually the student was forced to wash the ‘blackface’ off, and subsequently kicked out of the party.

Understandably, the man wasn’t greeted with open arms when he walked into the house party.

After being repeatedly asked to leave by the hosts and their friends, he made his way to next door’s house party through their adjoining back gardens, only to be have a lukewarm reception there too.

One of the neighbours, second year Joe Dennis, studying Law, told The Tab Cardiff: “I first heard about the guy when someone from the first house came over and said some dude was blackface and that it was all kicking off.

“Everyone here was just like ‘the fuck is going on?’ So we went over to find out. We saw him by the fire in the back garden trying to argue that dressing as blackface wasn’t racist. This pissed us off, so we took him in to wash his face off to stop it going further.

“None of us could understand how he thought it was an alright thing to do and were just shocked by the whole thing”.

He posed for pictures beforehand

The Cardiff student defended his costume whilst being branded a racist by multiple guests. One party-goer reportedly heard the man claim the ‘blackface’ was “just a joke”, and that if a black person painted their face white, he wouldn’t be offended.

After many failed attempts to get him to leave, it was reported the guests united in chanting him out the house. One of the party hosts, who wishes to remain anonymous, told The Tab Cardiff: “After washing his face off he asked if he could stay at the party, to which I obviously replied to with no. Everyone was having a bit of a yell at him to be honest, but he deserved it.”

Mahad Mohammed, a second year studying Economics and Finance and of African descent was at the party. Offended by the costume, he commented: “I thought it was disrespectful and frustrating to see somebody think its still acceptable to do this in this day and age.”

The student in question has since apologised for his ‘costume’, telling The Tab Cardiff: “I sincerely apologise for my actions on Saturday night, I can assure you that I did not have racist intentions, nor am I a racist, however completely understand the offence taken and the naivety of my actions. The decision was made late on in the evening, heavily under the influence of alcohol as a last resort for a costume however this does not excuse my actions.

“I was vilified, understandably, almost immediately at the party and soon went upstairs to remove the makeup. Since the situation I have looked into the racist origins of ‘blackface’ and understand the offence taken. A mistake has been made and a lesson has been learnt and I am truly sorry for those who I have offended.”