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People are up in arms over this photo Qantas Airways posted of two rugby fans, dressed up like one of their favorite players Radike Samo. In case you couldn’t tell Samo, is an Australian player of Fijian descent so the white Australian fans thought they’d use afro wigs and “face paint” to help show their devotion and Qantas Airways somehow didn’t see how that might not be such a great idea. In fact, Qantas, which promotes itself as the “spirit of Australia”, encouraged the two men and then posted the evidence of the marketing stunt on Twitter.

The airline last week ran a competition to win two tickets to this weekend’s sold-out Bledisloe Cup clash between the Wallabies and the All Blacks.

It called on followers via its official Twitter account to “tell us how you will show your support for the Wallabies at the match”.

In response, Twitter user Charles Butler, who goes by the alias of @Pek_anan, wrote “we will dress as Radike Samo. Compete with Afro Wig, Aus rugby kit and facepaint”.

The men made good on their promise, and were awarded the tickets to the match.

Then Qantas Airways posted a picture of Charles Butler, his face, legs and arms covered in black paint, stating that it “looks like our Twitter winners of the Bledisloe Cup tix lived up to their promise! Good work @pek_anan”.

Butler also posted a picture of himself and his friend with Mr Samo, who has said he did not take offense to the fans actions:

As you can probably imagine, the pictures weren’t all that well received on Twitter.

O

ne user, John Carney, wrote to Qantas, stating that he was “not so much offended as utterly gobsmacked that blackface is still seen as acceptable by some”.

Another user – Lainey – also wrote to Qantas, slamming the airline for “backing such ignorance”.

Qantas has today deleted the picture and apologised, stating it had spoken to Mr Samo.

“We apologise the photo of 2 Radike fans offended people. We’ve spoken with Radike and whilst he has no issue with it we have removed the image,” the tweet said.

Qantas also apologized to several Twitter users who raised concerns.

Mr Butler has also posted an apology on his Twitter account, stating he is “deeply sorry” and that it “was only our intention to show support for Radike Samo”.

Clearly the idea that blackface is offensive is nothing new — so how could such a large company as Qantas not realize what they were getting into? Also what gives with Samo (SMH @ his name ACTUALLY being Samo) being cool with the whole thing? Is this not that big of a deal? Should it be okay with the rest of us since the actual person being portrayed was fine with it? Or does Australia need some better diversity training? This is after all, the same country that aired a Jackson Five skit performed in blackface on national television just a few years ago.

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