HK's TVB stirs controversy using blackface to portray Filipina domestic worker in series

A TVB series Barrack O'Karma 2 has ignited criticism from the Filipino community as a local actress Franchesca Wong was made to darken her skin in an attempt to play the role of a Filipino domestic helper. In the series, actress Wong plays the role of "Louisa" from The Philippines with visibly darker skin. A video circulating online shows that Wong applying make-up on her legs, and saying in a Filipino accent that she is transforming into another person and sun-tanning. The video was originally posted by Wong's fellow actor Lam King-ching on Instagram, but Lam deleted the video on his personal account afterwards.

Netizen chatter on forums and on social media platforms called the move "so wrong" and problematic.

https://twitter.com/VivienneChow/status/1514028803944763392?cxt=HHwWgMCy7Z3L9IIqAAAA

https://twitter.com/maryhui/status/1514127574838177794?cxt=HHwWhMDTrbrAoYMqAAAA

Interestingly, Wong's performance was also lauded by local media despite the brownface incident. In response to the incident, a spokesperson of TVB told MARKETING-INTERACTIVE that "through her professional performing techniques and sophisticated handling of role-playing, the character Louisa was successfully portrayed." 

She added, "TVB has always strived to provide top-notch entertainment experience for our viewers and we wish to emphasise that it was never our intention to show disrespect or to discriminate any nationality in any of our programme. We would like to express our concern to anyone who might be affected in this matter."

This isn’t the first time a company in Hong Kong has come under scrutiny in its depiction of Filipina’s. A domestic helper insurance ad from Malaysia's Hong Leong Insurance came under fire for running a commercial in Hong Kong in 2014, depicting a local actor as a Filipina maid with a black face. The ad, aimed at employers of maids, has been flaked on social media with groups representing the city's legions of domestic helpers calling for an apology. The entity then said,

“We regret that our recent advertisement involving an individual playing two characters resulted in comments about the advertisement being deemed inappropriate. We wish to emphatically state that at no time did Hong Leong Insurance (Asia) Limited intend to offend any person or be to any extent discriminatory on grounds of race, sex or otherwise. Our sole intention has been to draw the public's attention to the benefits of having appropriate insurance protection for employees, in this particular case domestic helpers. Nevertheless, we have taken action to withdraw the said advertisement as we sincerely do not wish to upset any member of the public.”

The issue around darkening a skin tone to depict a nationality or race has been an issue in neighboring Asia markets as well. In January 2021, Malaysian mandopop singer Choo Haoren apologised for causing an uproar online over his latest music video featuring a Chinese woman wearing brownface to depict a tanned character. The music video shows the female receiving a note saying "You are so dark, does your Mum know?". Frustrated by the teasing, the female protagonist attempts to rid of her tanned skin using an eraser.

Less than a month after Choo was criticised for brownface in his music video, Malaysian actress and entrepreneur Syatilla Melvin also came under fire for using blackface to promote her new foundation line Foundation WAJAH in a TikTok video. The video showed Syatilla first appearing in blackface before tapping the screen a few times and transforming into a fair-skinned lady.

Meanwhile, in Singapore, an advertisement by e-payment company E-Pay also had netizens riled up on social media for being insensitive for featuring Mediacorp actor and DJ Dennis Chew impersonating different races - with darkened skin tones. Chew, who is known for cross-dressing and Channel 8 character Auntie Lucy, was seen dressing as a Malay women in a head scarf and an Indian man with darkened skin. He also played the role of a Chinese woman in the same ad.

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