White Aussie Rapper Iggy Azalea Accused Of Blackfishing In Latest Music Video

Aussie rapper Iggy Azalea has been called out after debuting her latest music video.

The clip is for the song 'I Am The Strip Club' and features the white artist from northern New South Wales in a skin tight black and white bodysuit.

Surrounded by loads of dancers in the back of a moving truck, Iggy is sporting a noticeable tan across her body and face and many fans have criticised her for it.

Known as 'blackfishing', it's a concept where non-Black influencers and public figures using bronzer, tanning, Photoshop, or even cosmetic surgery to change their looks to appear Black or mixed race.

While loads of people think 'I Am The Strip Club' is a bop, many are finding it difficult to get past Iggy's dramatically different skin tone in the music video.

One person wrote on Twitter: "The normalisation of blackfishing is actually mad alarming to me. Like Iggy keeps doing it because she knows there ain't no actual consequences behind it."

Another added: "But it just so happens she's imitating a black female aesthetic surrounded by a bunch of black people in the background."

A third said: "It's obvious Iggy is blackfishing in that video, not only because of her appearance but she also has a bunch of black dancers around her as props."

Iggy and since hit back at the alleged racial issues with the music video. She's called the criticism 'ridiculous and baseless' and reminded her followers: "I'm the same colour as I always am, just in a dimly lit room with red lights.

"I can't care about something that ridiculous and baseless. I'm wearing a shade 6 in Armarni foundation, it's the same shade I've worn for the last 3 years.

"It's the same shade in every music video since sally Walker. Suddenly I wear a black wig in a club scene & its an issue."

Some of her loyal fans have rushed in to support the artist and claimed the darker skin tone could be due to the editing process.

One viewer wrote on YouTube: "People obviously don't understand lighting and colour grading. These are some of the important factors that set the vibe in a video. It would be a completely different story if she was walking around in real life trying to darken her skin and try to be black just to profit from it. I'm not sure who out there trying to sabotage her, but I hope people realise that she's not blackfishing."

There have also been behind-the-scenes pictures posted that show Iggy's skin tone looking much lighter than the music video.

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Topics: Entertainment, Celebrity, Australia

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

@stewartperrie