November 10, 2025
SEOUL – A promotional video posted to the official YouTube channel of the city of Gumi in North Gyeongsang Province is facing public backlash for featuring what appears to be a character in blackface.
The Gumi City Government uploaded the video on Oct. 30 to promote its ramyeon festival, held from Friday to Sunday. In the clip, actors dressed as characters from “Dooly the Little Dinosaur,” a beloved Korean cartoon that first aired in 1983, sing a song celebrating ramyeon.
Among the characters is Michael, an aspiring singer modeled after Michael Jackson. Although the character is Korean, Michael is depicted with darker skin in the original animation. In the city’s video, the actor portraying Michael is seen wearing dark brown face paint and an afro wig.
The video went viral after a Reddit user shared screenshots early Sunday morning, accusing the city of “promoting blackface videos.”
Criticism quickly followed. “Isn’t this a city’s official YouTube channel? And you guys are just straight up posting blackface videos?” one commenter wrote. Another Korean comment urged, “It may not draw criticism in Korea, but from an overseas perspective, it’s blackface. Take the video down and issue an apology before it becomes more problematic.”
Another viewer said they had filed a formal complaint with both the city government and the National Human Rights Commission of Korea, the country’s largest independent human rights institution. The NHRCK referred the case to Gumi City, but the complainant said the city declined to review or remove the video, stating that it would “make its own judgment” on the matter.
Blackface refers to the practice of non-Black performers darkening their skin to portray caricatures of Black people — a racist tradition that originated in 19th-century American minstrel shows. These performances perpetuated demeaning stereotypes and were used to mock and marginalize Black communities. Today, blackface is widely recognized as a form of racial discrimination and cultural insensitivity.
Gumi City was not immediately available to comment.