WikiHow Apologizes For “Terrible” Whitewashed Image Of Barack Obama, Beyoncé & Jay Z

    Fans of Houston songstress Beyoncé were quick to take action after a whitewashed image of Bey, Jay Z and former President Barack Obama surfaced on popular how-to site wikiHow.

    The particular wikiHow page detailed the steps one would take in order to become a congressman.

    An explanation for the “Schedule and attend fundraising events” step featured an illustration of a photo of Beyoncé and Jay Z meeting with Obama at a fundraiser in 2012. Unlike the photo it took its cue from, those in the illustration are all noticeably white.

    After the illustration went viral in part thanks to a Beyoncé fan account, wikiHow quickly stepped into action, removing the image and issuing the following apology/explanation on Twitter:

    “When we saw the whitewashed image of Obama, Jay Z & Beyoncé, we were disgusted & ashamed. It never should have been on wikiHow. Within minutes of the 1st tweet, a volunteer removed the image. We then started investigating how it got on wikiHow at all. We learned it was made 3 years ago by a team of illustrators who work as one. One person sketches, the other person colors. The sketcher sent the colorist a black and white sketch. The colorist did not know the race of the models. The colorist wasn’t aware it was Obama and Beyoncé. We don’t think the illustrator intentionally whitewashed here.

    “This doesn’t excuse the fact that we hosted a terrible image on wikiHow and we needed more diversity on that article period,” WikiHow added. “We’re talking with our illustrators to prevent recurrence and encourage diversity. Especially in positions of power.”

    17 thoughts on “WikiHow Apologizes For “Terrible” Whitewashed Image Of Barack Obama, Beyoncé & Jay Z

    1. To all that say they don’t care

      What you would say if they made trump look anything but a white guy from
      Now on

      1. we’d love it so everyone will stop lying and saying he is racist. maybe if he beat a white baby to death he could even get a BLM endorsement.

    2. Skin tone ain’t the only thing that is whitewashed with this “president of peace”. How about the fact that in just 2016 he was responsible for US dropping 27,000 bombs on other countries that the US is not even officially at war with..

      1. Dropping bombs as the Commander in Chief is not a race thing and can’t be whitewashed as you alluded to. When you’re at war and you see a terrorist, you kill it.

    3. It is interesting to note that President Obama also did not sport the hairstyle that was rendered on the drawing. They were all drawn as Caucasian to begin with.

      1. the graphic designers for this site use real life photos and draw over them so they don’t need to either give credit or pay the original. they basically just trace them and screw around with them. someone probably googled “politics” and picked one at random and changed it around so they wouldn’t get in trouble.

    4. Why is Obummer still a thing? He’s out of the White House already. We don’t talk about George Bush still *shudders*

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