HBO Responds To Backlash From Putting Lightskin Extra In Blackface

HBO is responding after an extra on the series “Lovecraft Country” says that her skin was darkened on the set.

Actress Kelli Amirah made a TikTok video, where she detailed her experience on the on show and how her skin was darkened to fulfill her role as a younger version of one of the characters. Amirah says that she heard the makeup artists working on the show make remarks about her skin being “a little lighter” than the actress she was hired to portray. She says that she was unaware that her skin would be darkened for the role before her arrival.

“If I knew beforehand, I would not have accepted this job. Who thought this was a good idea?” Amirah said in the video that has since gone viral.

HBO says that they are “very disappointed” to hear that Amirah was unsuspectingly put in blackface for the role. The network says that they are “taking steps to ensure this doesn’t occur again in the future.”

The hit series “Lovecraft Country” follows the tale of a young Black man named Atticus “Tic” Freeman, searching for his father in Jim Crow-era America. While in the South, he stumbles upon a town full of terrifying secrets.