What Is Making Me Question Whether This Political Activist Is In BlackFace, Or Merely Using Acne Medication?

Metro-  A Ukip activist pictured with his face ‘blacked up’ was using a treatment for acne, one of the party’s candidates in Scotland has claimed.

Photos of Jack Neill, who stood in Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath last may, surfaced hours after Ukip launched its Scottish election manifesto last week, and – surprise, surprise – caused a storm.

Now Jack Jardine, who is standing for the party in the Mid Scotland and Fife region, has claimed Neill is a victim of ‘false accusations’ of racism.

‘Although I don’t condone any kind of “blacking up” it was evidently not what was going on in Mr Neill’s facebook posts,’ he said, according to the Herald Scotland.

‘Mr Neill suffers from acne frequently and as a result often wears facial masks to treat his skin.’Mr Jardine added that Neill had worn ‘white and pink facial masks’ in the past.

The University of the West of Scotland, where Mr Neill is a criminal justice student, launched an inquiry into his behaviour.




First of all, I tip my cap to the UK on finding a less offensive way to say 'blackface'. You add the word 'up' to anything and it immediately sounds positive. Dressing up, getting dolled up, blacking up. All ways in which a person can make themselves look better aesthetically. Appearance wise it's still not what I would consider complimentary to African Americans, but - semantically speaking- t's definitely more praiseworthy.

On to this political activist, I just can't put my finger on what makes me question this excuse. I guess I have never seen jet black acne cream before, but I know that science is coming up with new topical treatments every single day. I also don't know why he would choose to post a picture of him in the shower while using a skin clearing substance, but who am I to question when and where someone prefers to take their bathroom selfies? Hmm, what can it be that makes these pictures seem so disingenuous. Oh, I see it now. IT'S THE TOOTHBRUSH! It's gotta be the abnormally large toothbrush. That's what's making him seem so full of shit. There is NOTHING ELSE present in either of these pictures that would make me think that Jack Neill is poking fun at black people. It's not the color of cream he totally only applied to face to get rid of all his pimples. That was a mere coincidence. He has white and pink facial cleanser too ya know, he just caught himself on the wrong day. It's not the fact that he intentionally made his lips super big either. I mean, can you even say you took a selfie if you didn't do a duck face? For lack of more obvious options, it has to be the clown-sized tooth cleaning instrument. I don't know why people would find that offensive, but I can't think of one other completely unnecessary thing that catches my eye in these photos, so toothbrush it is...