What happened in a Boston Sephora Store? Blackface incident explained as netizens react to viral video

A video of a group of teenage girls doing "blackface" inside a Boston Sephora store has gone viral across social media platforms. The makeup outlet has also released a statement condemning the incident.

For those unaware, blackface refers to wearing makeup to imitate a person of African origin. Blackface, deemed offensive, originated in the minstrel shows of the mid-19th century, where Caucasian performers darkened their skin, put on tattered clothes, and attempted to look stereotypically “Black.”

Temi Ojora, a University of South California student, reportedly took to her now-private TikTok account to share a video of the young girls doing blackface. She described the scene as “genuinely so disgust[ing] and disturb[ing].” In the video, a teenager can be seen wearing dark makeup like a mask on her face. A staffer in the background could be heard saying in the background:

“This is the stuff that ruins jobs, college acceptances, let alone how incredibly offensive this is.”

At the time of writing this article, the TikTok video had appeared on several other social media platforms, leading to the clip amassing multi-million views online.

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Netizens express their concerns as the Sephora blackface video goes viral

Many took to the internet to express disdain over the incident and the teenagers’ behavior. A few reactions read:

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Sephora releases statement after the video goes viral

After the Sephora incident gained traction, the popular makeup outlet released a statement that read:

“We are extremely disappointed by the behavior of these shoppers at our Prudential Center location, and as such, they were asked to leave our premises. Under no circumstance is this type of behavior tolerated at Sephora.”

The incident at Sephora comes amid the “Sephora kids” trend, which has swarmed the internet. Many are recording teenagers who come to the makeup stores to ransack the outlets by ruining tester products and bullying the staff members.

Many Sephora employees have since taken to the internet to opine that youngsters should only be allowed into the high-end beauty outlet if an adult accompanies them.