BLACKFACE
Van de Ven carried out for years as ‘Rasta-Ruud’ with dreadlocks, a black face, and different options that made Ruud Gullit so iconic in the course of the 1988 European Championships. Even though he had by no means acquired damaging suggestions about his act earlier than, he now sees that occasions have modified. “In all these years I’ve by no means had one damaging remark about my racist act,” he appears to be like again. “However I now perceive that blackface has a racist connotation that hurts many individuals.”
The occasion DJ acknowledges that he beforehand didn’t have in mind the truth that his act is racist. “I understood the criticism of Zwarte Piet,” he says. “A white man with dark-skinned assistants, I perceive that. However with my Ruud Gullit act I by no means considered the truth that this was racism. For me it was a approach to honor my hero.”
