Alyssa Milano Grilled Over ‘Tanface’ Accusations

BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images/Funny or Die
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images/Funny or Die
Alana Mastrangelo

After being accused of blackface, actress Alyssa Milano insists that she was instead doing “tanface” for a 2013 parody of Jersey Shore star Snooki.

Now that cancel culture is in full swing, it appears that the left is eating their own, as left-wing activist and actress Alyssa Milano is facing scrutiny for a Funny or Die video she did in 2013, in which she parodied Snooki — Nicole Polizzi — from Jersey Shore.

“Hey, assholes. The below picture is me parodying Jersey Shore and Snookie’s tan,” tweeted Milano, who also used her defense as an opportunity to take a jab at President Donald Trump, of course.

“Snookie’s tan (she is a sweetheart by the way) is worthy of parodying as is Trump’s ‘tan,'” added the What Goes Around Comes Around actress. “So go fuck yourselves with your smear campaign.”

Milano had been reacting to a Lifezette article with the headline, “Alyssa Milano facing backlash over ‘blackface scandal’ after damning photo comes back to haunt her.”

“Notice how all of the ‘loving liberals’ are the ones getting canceled for racism and blackface?” the article said.

In an Instagram Live interview with Ziwe Fumudoh, Milano insisted that she has never done blackface, but rather, “tanface,” adding that in doing tanface, she was making a political statement against the way Italian Americans were portrayed in the show, according to a report by Daily Mail.

“I’ve never worn blackface. I did a parody of — she doesn’t like me much so let me just say that — but I did a parody of Jersey Shore on Funny Or Die,” said Milano during the interview. “I came in like this, light skinned, and then makeup transformed me into Snooki. And my take was — how I felt was how that show was representing Italian Americans, and so there are pictures of me all over the Internet in ‘tanface.'”

“But I did feel at that time that I was making a political statement about how Italian Americans are depicted,” the Deadly Sins actress added.

The report added that Milano ended up acknowledging that maybe wearing tanface “wasn’t the greatest move,” but added that “there are a lot of people who have done blackface.”

“Tanface, and that’s what people are saying I did blackface,” said Milano. “There are a lot of people who have done blackface though, you know? And I don’t know that hindsight that maybe making fun of Snooki’s tan wasn’t the greatest move, especially with the Internet.”

The Tempting Fate actress went on to claim that she is a descendant of slavery.

“When I was in South Africa, South African Black people kept telling me that I was from slave descent,” said Milano. “And I said, ‘I don’t understand, how do you know that?’ And they said ‘It’s because your last name is Milano. So you were actually bought into a city and instead of allowing you to keep your last name, they gave you the last name of the city you were bought into.'”

Last month, amid facing backlash over the alleged blackface, Milano took to Twitter to claim that “cancel culture” is being weaponized by conservatives and Russian president Vladimir Putin, adding that “they trying to hurt Trump’s most vocal critics.”

“Cancel culture is being weaponized by the right/Putin,” she said. “Take notice of who they are targeting & what is trending. Are they trying to hurt Trump’s most vocal critics? Yup.”

In 2017, Milano was mercilessly mocked after she flaunted corn rows with extensions in her hair — a move that many considered “cultural appropriation.”

You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, on Parler at @alana, and on Instagram.

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