A beauty influencer is standing by a series of photos and a video in which she darkened her face for a costume.
Kuwait-based makeup artist Ghadeer Sultan boasts 2 million followers on Instagram, where she shares her different beauty and makeup looks.
But Sultan shocked fans with a video of her lipsyncing to the song 'We Are the World' in a series of different costumes, while wearing makeup to darken her skin.
'No matter where you are from or what you believe in, we are all children of this world, and we all share it together equally,' she captioned the January 1 post. "Beauty comes in all shapes and colours, so let's love each other and celebrate our unity."
Commenters pleaded with the makeup artist to take down the video, and apologise for using darkened skin as a character trope.
"Please delete this," one person wrote. "Darkening your face, regardless of the context or the circumstances, is always unacceptable because of the racist history of blackface."
"This is the most offensive thing I've seen. You can portray togetherness without disrespecting an entire culture. So uneducated, this is beyond unnecessary and unacceptable," wrote someone else.
However the influencer doubled down on the offence, posting a further series of photos of herself with the dark makeup on.
"I am not racist .. I hate racism," she wrote.
"What I've done is only to show what I am capable of... I love you all. Life is meant for living... living with love and passion for everyone without thinking of what they are could really change your life."
Apparently proud of the controversy, she even shared a BBC clip addressing the post.
