Online Dating Pro Tip: Don't Wear Blackface on OkCupid

An Ontarian was perusing her matches on OkCupid when she came across a 45-year-old “small business owner/failed comedian” who enjoys off-roading, “exploring,” karaoke, and, it appears, sporting blackface on special occasions.

“I was completely shocked,” she wrote. “It was doubly horrifying because this guy was supposed to be a ‘match’ for me! As an African-American woman, I am currently running the gambit of emotions ranging from being hurt, feeling disgusted and also rage. There is some point where algorithms should be damned! How can someone who is so racially insensitive (I refrain from using ‘racist’ because I have experienced true racism) be a 70% match for me!!!”

Although there are a number of additional warning signs on this dude’s profile — he lists The Shawshank Redemption, Dances with Wolves, and He’s Just Not That Into You as movies he can “personally identify with” — we’re still curious as to how he concluded that 1) blackface makes for an awesome Halloween costume (that’s when the photo was taken, according to his caption) and 2) blackface makes for an attractive profile photo on a dating website.

A quick Google search shows that our “failed comedian” friend does not stand alone. “OKC photo tip of the day: don’t wear blackface,” a Redditor posted earlier this year. Replies include: “I once came across a profile of a guy who had a pic of himself at a Halloween party dressed as a ‘Chinaman’ (his word).” Last year, Hennamodel found a white dude on OkCupid who dressed in black face as “Flava Flav” for Halloween:

I messaged him and asked him if that was really him in black face.

His response was:

“That’s actually how I look normally, the pictures of me as a white guy I have makeup on. “

He thinks he’s being funny.

Ugh.

Algorithms can help you hook up with someone who enjoys The Wire, but they can’t weed out casual racism!