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Behold the Blackface Bimbo Cheerleader

By Dan O'Donnell

Story Created: Nov 5, 2009 at 12:16 PM CST

Dallas Cowboys cheerleader Whitney Isleib is in some hot water for her Lil' Wayne Halloween costume:

 

 

Here's what she looks like the other 364 days of the year:

 

 

Yeah, that's blackface.  And yeah, she's quite stupid and incredibly insensitive for wearing it, but perhaps even dumber is the fact that either she or a friend (another Cowboys cheerleader) posted the pictures on Facebook.  When are people going to learn that your pictures on social networking sites ONLY lead to bad things?

 

Making matters worse, another of the pictures allegedly shows one of Isleib's friends in blackface as singer T-Pain.  It doesn't appear that Isleib will get in much trouble with her employer, though, since a Cowboys spokesman said the team will "handle it internally."  Translation: "It's too late in the season to hold auditions, so she'll likely get a slap on the wrist.

 

I'm not saying that she should be fired for this, but she definitely deserves a stern talking to and probably a suspension.  If athletes, as Charles Barkley famously asserted, are not role models, then certainly cheerleaders aren't either (except for breast implant enthusiasts), but anyone in the public eye needs to hold him or herself to a higher standard of conduct.  Such insensitive posturing casts both Isleib and the Cowboys in an incredibly unfavorable light, and the team should react accordingly.  More signifcantly, in the supposedly post-racial 2009, it's a shame that people (public figures or not) still think costumes like these are funny.

 

11 Comments

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  1. wooble da wobbie - Nov 05, 2009 1:07 PM

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    i don't get what is so insensitive about it. people need to lighten up.

  2. Ellen - Nov 05, 2009 1:44 PM

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    People of other races can make fun of white people with no problem. Reverse it and the PC police will get angry. Who really discriminates? Besides - the National Felons League has worse problems with players to worry about.

  3. VengeVega - Nov 05, 2009 4:22 PM

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    White people were never considered second class citizens in this country. I don't know how people seem to forget that. Then again, I'm sure it's only white people commenting on how it's not offensive (and how come black people can make fun of white people, yada yada). I personally don't think it's a big deal(can a white girl look like Lil Wayne without paint?) but I'm sure many black people would find it offensive. I understand that. That's why I would never do a "blackface" costume.

  4. Erika Avalos - Nov 05, 2009 4:36 PM

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    You got it right, Dan. A "bimbo in blackface." What is more shocking is how Judy Trammell is defending Whitney, talking about how "sweet" she is. Brooke Sorenson was also involved in this fiasco. She went as a mexican man, complete with mustache and mariachi clothes. And they bill themselves as "America's Sweethearts." As Richard Vasquez sagely put it--the photo speaks for itself.

  5. Jeff - Nov 06, 2009 4:44 AM

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    When will the race card stop being played? When will there be enough "pay back" for things that happened in the past? In 50 years? A 100 years? Maybe a 1000 years? Get over it and move on already. It has to come to an end at sometime, right?

  6. steve a reno - Nov 06, 2009 6:22 AM

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    This is a "sports" topic? Always remember, the first rule of race baiters is that only white people can be rascist, never a black person.

  7. Jeff - Nov 06, 2009 8:00 AM

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    If a person dressed as Barney for Halloween, what should the costume be? Red? No, purple. What about Big Bird? Green? No, yellow. How is this different? When in costume we try to portray that character as closely as possible, right. We need to ALL get over ourselves and stop being so PC, it's ridiculous.

  8. Jennifer - Nov 06, 2009 5:42 PM

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    Have we hit everything on Blackface Bingo yet?

    1) Lighten up! (Always a classic!
    2) ____ is black, so...
    3) Race card
    4) "White Chicks" (the movie)
    5) Racism/Slavery is in the past

    Did I miss any other ones?

  9. hank - Nov 06, 2009 7:07 PM

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    looked scary to me its holloween,so sad.monkey see monkey do

  10. Henry - Nov 07, 2009 12:15 AM

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    what a scry costume for holloween,sad the writer is scarying you with frigging crap,

  11. Huh? - Nov 08, 2009 8:18 PM

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    IT'S A HALLOWEEN COSTUME!!! Fake mustaches must really offend Tom Selek. Fat costumes must offend half of our population.
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