WELP! SNAPCHAT’S 420 FILTER CELEBRATES BOB MARLEY WITH BLACKFACE

BRIAN BARRETT

LOOKING FOR A hip and also racially insensitive way to celebrate 420, the sacred marijuana holiday of people who somehow aren’t over it already? Snapchat’s here for you, with a new Bob Marley filter that gives you both dreadlocks and digital blackface. Hoo boy. It’s bad. It’s very bad.

There’s not much more to say, other than maybe to point out that in addition to the inappropriate and very tone-deaf racial mapping it also reduces Marley’s legacy to a pot joke. But we already got that, right? Even a teenager could! Which makes it even more of a wonder that Snapchat didn’t.

We’ve reached out to Snapchat to see uhhh… what exactly happened here. We’ll update if the company gets back, and/or when their representatives inevitably pull the filter and apologize.

Update: A Snapchat spokesperson provided the following statement:

“The lens we launched today was created in partnership with the Bob Marley Estate, and gives people a new way to share their appreciation for Bob Marley and his music. Millions of Snapchatters have enjoyed Bob Marley’s music, and we respect his life and achievements.”