Oscar
nominee Lupita Nyong’o certainly looks fabulous in an upcoming Vanity
Fair but does she look a little…well, pale?
Some
people on Twitter are furiously debating that now that the 30-year-old
Kenyan-born beauty has been nominated for best supporting actress for her role in 12
Years a Slave.
The
film, a true story about a free black man in New York kidnapped and sold into
slavery in the South in the 19th century, was one of nine best-picture nominees announced
today.
Even
before that, the Hollywood-worshiping Vanity Fair had spotted
Nyong’o to star in its February Vanities column. On Wednesday, it
tweeted out a picture of her in a white feathered, strapless outfit, nestled
among a bunch of huge white balloons, against a white background.
“The
stunning @Lupita_Nyongo photographed for our February #Vanities section,’ read
the tweet.
Soon,
tweeters were raising questions about whether VF digitally
lightened Nyong’o's skin color from its rich chocolate tone. Some people
couldn’t believe it.
“did
vanity fair seriously lighten lupita’s picture? really? did this happen?”
tweeted Nocciola Nazgul.
Lizz
Brown tweeted the picture side-by-side to another picture of Nyong’o where her
skin appears darker.
“Here
is what Lupita N’yongo’s gorgeous skin tone looks like and here is what
@vanityfair did. You be the judge,” Brown tweeted.
At
least a few tweeters pointed out that lighting is everything in magazine
photography, and just possibly there was nothing nefarious about the lighting
of Nyong’o in this picture. But it’s a sensitive issue among African Americans.
As Huffington Post pointed
out, it isn’t the first time this has come up. Beyoncé and India.Arie are
among the black stars who have been criticized for publishing photos of
themselves in which their skin appears lighter than in real life. Other black
celebs have been accused of
bleaching their skin.
So
far, no response from Vanity Fair to all the tweeters
demanding to know what they did and why they did it.
Source:
USA Today
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