A Polish reality show has faced widespread criticism when a participant donned blackface and used the N-word while performing a version of a Kendrick Lamar song.
The Your Face Sounds Familiar series sees eight celebrities dress up as their favourite musicians to perform songs and raise money for charity.
However, one participant, Kuba Szmajkowski, went too far during his rendition of US rapper Drake’s smash song Humble off his 2017 album Damn.
Szmajkowski can be seen wearing Blackface while playing the song in a video clip from Saturday’s broadcast – and uttering the N-word halfway through.
It’s not the first time the programme has been chastised for using Blackface, but its creators rushed to Instagram to express their astonishment at the backlash.
The performance supposedly went down well with the judges and the audience, with Szmajkowski winning the competition on the night.
The footage shows the audience in the arena dancing and applauding along to the performance, as the judges watch on with wide smiles.
Szmajkowski’s repeated remark ‘Finesse a n***a with some counterfeits’ during the opening stanza was particularly striking.
Naturally, the video appeared on social media and quickly went viral, leaving numerous X (previously Twitter) users speechless.
One person said: ‘Kendrick needs to file the nastiest copyright suit of all time. I’m talking not even able to say his name no more on some Voldemort s**t.’
A second person said: ‘What made them think it’s okay to put blackface Kendrick, Drake, and Kanye on Polish television and allow them to say the n-word?’
Szmajkowski had previously recorded a TikTok video of himself going into costume while the show’s make-up specialists created his provocative appearance for the night.
Kanye West makes his long awaited return to the stage, performing last night in Poland 🔥😳‼️ pic.twitter.com/QYe4ltvyf4
— Hip Hop All Day (@HipHopAllDayy) September 10, 2023
In the same programme, Polish actress Pola Gonciarz performed as Beyoncé in Blackface.
It’s not the first time the programme has been chastised for similar pranks, with competitors previously impersonating Kanye West and Drake in Blackface.
Szmajkowski did contribute 10,000 Polish z (£2000) of his prize money to charity after winning, but his night will be remembered for the wrong reasons.
