Snapchat Are Getting Dragged For Their ‘Racist’ 4/20 Bob Marley Filter

But now Snapchat are copping it for an ‘insensitive’ filter celebrating 4/20 in which you superimpose the skin colour and facial features of Bob Marley on your own (obviously with added Rasta hat). This, as you might imagine and perhaps Snapchat should have, recalls blackface, something that is generally considered very offensive and recalls a long racist history of derogatory ethnic costuming.

It was actually made with Marley’s estate, so obviously the executors of his musical legacy thought it was a-okay. But they also think it’s good to plaster his name on all kinds of audio equipment and merch, so maybe the sensitivity of the branding isn’t that much of an issue for them.

Snapchat copped some serious heat for this one. Bob Marley is trending on Twitter because of it. 

Hey @Snapchat your Bob Marley filter looks an awful lot like blackface…. What were you thinking…?

— Seth Toplin (@sjtoplin) April 20, 2016

my issue with the bob marley filter is not even that its black face but rather they’re summing up his life to just 4/20

— ALMTY BAM (@MrVicBam) April 20, 2016

Ok is anyone else seeing this Bob Marley snapchat filter? read: blackface filter? @Snapchat wtf ???

— Lauren L’Amie (@LameLAmie) April 20, 2016

In the grand scheme of regrettable blackface events, this one probably isn’t on the same garbage level as deadshit Australians blacking up for an awful Halloween party. But it’s still massively tone deaf and it’s surprising no one brought it up at any point during the production process.

As many commenters pointed out, possibly the more offensive/annoying aspect is that it reduces Marley to a cool dude who smoked bucketloads of weed and loved the weed number 420. That’s kinda reductive.

Regardless, the filter is still up, so looks like Snapchat haven’t backed down on this one.