YES, IT’S 2020

Mummers Group Disqualified From Parade After Members Wear Blackface

The members said their costumes were inspired by Gritty, the black-and-orange mascot for the Philadelphia Flyers.

A group that wanted to perform in Philadelphia’s annual Mummers Parade was disqualified Wednesday after members wore blackface as part their costumes, local news station KYW-TV reports. At least two members of the mummers group Froggy Carr donned blackface as part of their costumes. They reportedly denied that the dark makeup was racist and said the group’s colors were an homage to Gritty—the black-and-orange mascot for the Philadelphia Flyers. “Black and orange, getting Gritty with it,” one of those in blackface, Kevin Kinkel, said. “All the blackface, it ain’t about that,” another man who donned blackface, Mike Tomaszwski, said. “I know it’s a shame to be white in Philly right now. It’s a shame.” Mayor Jim Kenney called the use of blackface by the group “abhorrent and unacceptable.” “This selfish, hateful behavior has no place in the mummers, or the city itself,” he wrote in a tweet. The group was subsequently not allowed to perform at the city’s convention center.