Russian TV Station Runs Obama Blackface Skit

A Russian TV station has generated outrage over a skit it aired in which an actress donned blackface to play Barack Obama. The caveat to that statement is that most of that outrage seems to be based in America, which is to say it’s unlikely to matter in any way to the actual station. 

According to TMZ, the bit ran on a satirical show broadcast by Russia’s NTV channel. In the footage, an actress can be seen wearing gold chains, a red bandana, and black gloves.

Unless you speak Russian, it could be hard to follow the actual dialogue. The only English words in the skit are “Black Lives Matter.” 

After a chant of that aforementioned statement is made, the host, who’s name is Tigran Keosayan, says, “Can you please stop shouting? We don’t have racism… you could be taken for a gypsy.” The host also tosses to the Obama-actress by saying, “We now go live to the dark side of America’s history, Barack Obama.” And in the segment the Obama actress states that the ex-president’s newly released memoir is an achievement because “none of my relatives that came before me could write.” Also it looks like there’s some rapping.

Margarita Simonyan, who is the editor in chief of the television network RT and, according to the Washington Post, Keosayan’s partner, took to Twitter to defend the segment.