Vine star Matthew Espinoza entertains 5.7 million loyal followers, but he was apparently starting to feel stuck in his own skin. So like comedians since there’s been comedy, Espinoza got himself up in a costume to hit VidCon — he invented an uncle named Papa Squat. And Papa Squat was hot, roaming VidCon with bodyguards and generally causing a stir. But was Papa Squat cool?
That’s the question some sensitive people had on Twitter, because the skin Espinoza inhabited as Papa Squat was a shade or two darker than his own. And he kind of has an afro, too, or is that just curly hair? So people on Twitter cried out: blackface! (That’s not cool, they said.) Espinoza must be slightly mystified by the hubbub — he spends most of his time online telling people that he loves them. And he certainly seems to mean it.
Making your face 10 x darker to resemble the skin tone of a black person is blackface. Matt Espinosa did BLACKFACE. pic.twitter.com/oiU2jGFmte
— sabrina (@blckquality) July 26, 2015
@TheMattEspinosa your uncle is a G pic.twitter.com/YRfyxrzA4v
— katie (@KatieMalafis) July 25, 2015
