Antoine Dodson, who went viral after an emotional interview with a news reporter in 2010, says he’s fine with white people using “digital blackface” memes, because they pay for it, literally.
Antoine, 38, became an overnight sensation for his memorable quotes such as, “hide your kids, hide your wife, they’re raping everybody out here!” The quotes were even turned into a catchy song, for which Antoine earned royalties.
Antoine tells TMZ he’s not bothered by whites using his memes. He said he’s only encountered reverence from Caucasians who pay him cold hard cash when they hire him as talent.
Antoine says he doesn’t accept Black-sponsored engagements because they don’t pay as well as the cash he gets from whites. As he puts it, if white people are only out to make him a punchline for their amusement, they’re going to pay very well to do so.
Antoine’s memes and GIFs are among the most popular on the Internet. He went viral following an interview with a news crew after a man climbed through an apartment window and tried to rape his sister in a housing project in Huntsville, Alabama.
The news crew was accused of targeting the openly gay man for laughs and news ratings. However, Antoine cashed in on his Internet fame. The money enabled him to move out of the projects to a home in the suburbs.
A year later, Antoine announced he was no longer homosexual. He married a woman and they welcomed a daughter together.
Last year Antoine got into an adult beverage business partnering with an Alabama brewery to distribute “Run N Tell That” lager and just recently he launched his own hot sauce.
Even though memes brought Antoine riches and fame, CNN writer John Blake suggested that white people are committing “digital blackface” by using Black memes to express their opinions.
“If you’re White and you’ve posted a GIF or meme of a Black person to express a strong emotion, you may be guilty of wearing ‘digital blackface,'” Blake tweeted on Sunday.
To illustrate his point, Blake, who is white, used a popular Internet meme of Kimberly “Sweet Brown” Wilkins, a Black woman who escaped an apartment fire, then told a reporter “Ain’t nobody got time for that!”
"If you're White and you've posted a GIF or meme of a Black person to express a strong emotion, you may be guilty of wearing 'digital blackface,'" writes John Blake | Analysis https://t.co/KlHkWWHq6x
— CNN (@CNN) March 26, 2023
In his CNN article, Blake also noted that the use of Black memes to make a point is equivalent to a “modern-day repackaging of minstrel shows.”
“Perhaps you posted that meme of supermodel Tyra Banks exploding in anger on “America’s Next Top Model” (“I was rooting for you! We were all rooting for you!”). Or maybe you’ve simply posted popular GIFs, such as the one of NBA great Michael Jordan crying, or of drag queen RuPaul declaring, “Guuuurl…”
If you’re Black and you’ve shared such images online, you get a pass. But if you’re White, you may have inadvertently perpetuated one of the most insidious forms of contemporary racism.
You may be wearing “digital blackface.”
The response to Blake’s tweet and article was overwhelmingly negative.
Conservative commentator Lavern Spicer wrote: “I’m Black and I been Black my whole life. I have never read something stupider than this ever.”
I’m Black and I been Black my whole life. I have never read something stupider than this ever.
— Lavern Spicer ?? (@lavern_spicer) March 26, 2023
What if you are mixed race like me? I live for NeNe Leaks. She has the best one liners, smart AF. Why can’t I admire and use her image?
And what if I use a female GIF. Am I sexiest? Stop with the labels. We all know if someone is truly being offensive.— Damon Gonzalez (@TheyCallMeDaymz) March 26, 2023
How can anyone take @CNN serious at this point?
— Zeus Vela (@xXMediaSuxAssXx) March 26, 2023
It’s @cnn. What do you expect. Total clown show.
— The Frige (@MarcoSPQR1) March 26, 2023
