title: Blackface

text: However, blackface-inspired iconography continue in popular media in Asia. In Japan, in the early 1960s, a toy called Dakkochan became hugely popular. "Dakkochan" was a black child with large red lips and a grass skirt. There were boy and girl dolls, with the girls being distinguished by a bow. The black skin of the dolls was said to have been significant and in-line with the rising popularity of jazz. Novelist Tensei Kawano went as far as to state, "We of the younger generation are outcasts from politics and society. In a way we are like Negroes, who have a long record of oppression and misunderstanding, and we feel akin to them."


title: Blackface

text: Japanese manga and anime continue to prominently feature characters inspired by "darky" iconography, which includes Mr. Popo from the "Dragon Ball" series and the design of the Pokémon character Jynx. Both Mr. Popo and Jynx have been censored on American broadcasting. An American licensing company, 4 Licensing Company had Dragon Ball Z on their anime block 4Kids. The character Mr. Popo was turned bright blue and given orange-yellow lips In 2011, a television drama in the Philippines titled Nita Negrita was widely criticized in the media and by academics.


title: Blackface

text: Prominent brands continue to use the iconography, including Chinese toothpaste brand Darlie, which was renamed from "Darkie", and "Black Man" in Thailand. Vaudeville-inspired blackface remains frequently used in commercials..


title: Blackface

text: Over time, blackface and "darky" iconography became artistic and stylistic devices associated with Art Deco and the Jazz Age. By the 1950s and 1960s, particularly in Europe, where it was more widely tolerated, blackface became a kind of "outré", camp convention in some artistic circles. "The Black and White Minstrel Show" was a popular British musical variety show that featured blackface performers, and remained on British television until 1978 and in stage shows until 1989. Many of the songs were from the music hall, country and western and folk traditions. Actors and dancers in blackface appeared in music videos such as Grace Jones's "Slave to the Rhythm" (1985, also part of her touring piece "A One Man Show"), Culture Club's "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me" (1982) and Taco's "Puttin' On the Ritz" (1983).


title: Blackface

text: When trade and tourism produce a confluence of cultures, bringing differing sensibilities regarding blackface into contact with one another, the results can be jarring. When Japanese toymaker Sanrio Corporation exported a darky-icon character doll (the doll, Bibinba, had fat, pink lips and rings in its ears) in the 1990s, the ensuing controversy prompted Sanrio to halt production.


title: Blackface

text: Trademark for Conguitos, a confection manufactured by the LACASA Group features a tubby, little brown character with full, red lips. It became a topic of controversy after a Manchester City player compared his black teammate to the character. In Britain, "Golly", a golliwog character, fell out of favor in 2001 after almost a century as the trademark of jam producer James Robertson & Sons, but the debate still continues whether the golliwog should be banished in all forms from further commercial production and display, or preserved as a treasured childhood icon. In France, the chocolate powder Banania still uses a little black boy with large red lips as its emblem. The licorice brand Tabu, popularized by Perfetti in the middle of the 20th century, introduced in the 1980s a cartoon minstrel mascot inspired by Al Jolson's blackface performance in "The Jazz Singer", which is still in use today.


title: Blackface

text: The influence of blackface on branding and advertising, as well as on perceptions and portrayals of black people, generally, can be found worldwide.


title: Blackface

text: In October 2009, a talent-search skit on Australian TV's "Hey Hey It's Saturday" reunion show featured a tribute group for Michael Jackson, the "Jackson Jive", in blackface, with the Michael Jackson character in whiteface. American performer Harry Connick, Jr. was one of the guest judges and objected to the act, stating that he believed it was offensive to black people, and gave the troupe a score of zero. The show and the group later apologised to Connick, with the troupe leader of Indian descent stating that the skit was not intended to be offensive or racist.


title: Blackface

text: In 1999 Sam Newman wore blackface to impersonate legendary Indigenous Australian Football League footballer Nicky Winmar after Winmar did not attend a scheduled appearance on the program


title: Blackface

text: In the Netherlands and Belgium, people annually celebrate St. Nicolas Eve with "Sinterklaas", the Dutch version of Saint Nicholas, accompanied by multiple helpers or "Zwarte Pieten" (Black Petes). The first is typically an older white man similar to the American Santa, while the latter are usually adolescent boys and girls, and men and women in make-up and attire similar to the American blackface. The task of the "Pieten" is generally to entertain the children with jokes and pranks, and to help "Sinterklaas" distribute presents and dole out candy. The "Pieten" wear Moorish page boy costumes and partake in parades.


title: Blackface

text: The Moorish "Zwarte Piet" character has been traced back to the middle of the 19th century when Jan Schenkman, a popular children's book author, added a black servant to the "Sinterklaas" story. The Dag Sinterklaas series written by Hugo Matthysen gave children in Flanders, Belgium since the early 1990s a view on the daily life of the holy man. Also, it explained some of the questions children have around the event: why Zwarte Piet (Black Peter) is black (not his original skin colour, but because of sliding through the chimney) and how Sinterklaas acquires the presents (with a special kind of money). 20 years later, Bart Peeters (the main roll in the series) stated it is thanks to Matthysen that in Belgium the Sinterklaas event has not been subject of a racism discussion as it has been in the Netherlands, because the series explains the figure of Zwarte Piet has nothing to do with slavery. However, the original and archetypal Zwarte Piet is believed to be a continuation of a much older custom in which people with blackface appeared in Winter Solstice rituals. In other parts of Western Europe and in Central Europe, black-faced and masked people also perform the role of companions of Saint Nicholas, who is known as Nikolo in Austria, Nikolaus in Germany and Samichlaus in Switzerland. Also on Saint Martin's Eve, black-faced men go around in processions through Wörgl and the Lower Inn Valley, in Tyrol.


title: Blackface

text: Due to "Zwarte Piet" strong aesthetic resemblance to the archetypal US blackface, as well as the dynamics between the blackface servants and the white "Sinterklaas", there has been international condemnation of the practice since the 1960s. Some of the stereotypical elements have been toned down in recent decades as a result of increasing protests within the nation. For example, there has been a transition towards applying only a few smears of 'soot' to the "Piet" cheeks, rather than apply a full blackface. The public support for changing the character was at 5% (versus 89% opposed to such changes) in 2013, which increased to 26% (versus 68% opposed to such changes) in 2017. However, in 2019, support for changing the character of "Zwarte Piet" underwent a slight decline, with opposition to changes increasing.


title: Blackface

text: In 2020, following the murder of George Floyd and worldwide protests against racism, the Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte (who previously, since 2013, had strongly supported "Zwarte Piet" and condemned protests against "Zwarte Piet" and suggestions for change) stated he had changed his mind on the matter and hoped the tradition would die out. Yet, he emphasized not intending to impose an official ban and noted he too retains sympathy towards those who do not want to let go of "Zwarte Piet".


title: Blackface

text: On the eve of the Feast of the Epiphany, children go door to door in threes wearing paper crowns (to commemorate the Biblical Magi), carrying a lantern and singing songs. They are dressed in adult clothing (to commemorate the Massacre of the Innocents) and one of the three may be in blackface to depict Balthazar.


title: Blackface

text: Up until the early 2000s, white comedians sometimes used makeup to represent a black person, most often as a parody of an actual person. Many of these segments have been aired during the annual New Year's Eve TV special "Bye Bye." For instance, the 1986 edition features three such skits:


title: Blackface

text: The Montreal-based satiric group Rock et Belles Oreilles did its own blackface sketches, for instance when comedian Yves Pelletier disguised himself as comedian and show host Gregory Charles, making fun of his energetic personality (not of his racial background) on his television game show "Que le meilleur gagne". RBO also did a parody of a talk show where a stereotypical Haitian man (Pelletier again) was easily offended, as well as a group parody of the Caribbean band La Compagnie Créole and a sketch about the lines of African-American actors that were mangled in movie translations. Pelletier did another parody of Gregory Charles for the New Year's Eve TV special "Le Bye Bye de RBO" in 2006 (as an homage to Charles who had had a particularly successful year), along with a parody of Governor General Michaëlle Jean. And in RBO's 2007 "Bye Bye", Guy A. Lepage impersonated a black Quebecer testifying during the Bouchard-Taylor hearings on cultural differences, while in another sketch, Lepage, Pelletier and Bruno Landry impersonated injured Darfur residents.


title: Blackface

text: In September 2011, HEC Montréal students caused a stir when using blackface to "pay tribute" to Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt during Frosh Week. The story went national, and was even covered on CNN. The university students were filmed in Jamaican flag colours, chanting "smoke weed" in a chorus. The University later apologized for the lack of consciousness of its student body.


title: Blackface

text: In May 2013, comedian Mario Jean () took part in an award show to imitated several fellow comics, donning blackface when he came to Boucar Diouf (), a Senegalese-born story-teller. Many Quebec pundits defended the practice and Diouf himself praised Jean for his open-mindedness.


title: Blackface

text: In December 2013, white actor Joel Legendre () performed in blackface in "Bye Bye 2013", in yet another parody of Gregory Charles, this time as host of the variety show "Le choc des générations".


title: Blackface

text: Halloween of 2014, Brock University's Student's Union awarded first prize at their costume contest to several white students in blackface, dressed as the Jamaican bobsled team from the film Cool Runnings. No disciplinary action was taken against the Student Union.


title: Blackface

text: In December 2014, the satirical end-of-year production by Théâtre du Rideau Vert, a mainstream theatre company, included a blackface representation of hockey player P.K. Subban by actor Marc Saint-Martin. Despite some criticism the sketch was not withdrawn.


title: Blackface

text: In March 2018, comedian of the year Mariana Mazza (), whose parents are Arab and Uruguayan, celebrated International Women's Day by posting a message on her Facebook page which read "Vive la diversité" (Hurrah for diversity) and was accompanied by a picture of herself surrounded by eight ethnic variations, including one in a wig and makeup that showed what she'd look like if she were black. She immediately received a flurry of hate messages and death threats, and two days later, posted another message in which she apologized to whoever had been offended, but argued that she had been "naively" trying to "express her support for all these communities."


title: Blackface

text: In June 2018, theatre director Robert Lepage was accused of staging scenes that were reminiscent of blackface when he put together the show "SLĀV" at the Montreal Jazz Festival, notably because white performers were dressed as slaves as they picked cotton. After two initial performances, lead singer Betty Bonifassi broke an ankle and the rest of the summer run was canceled, but later performances were nevertheless scheduled in other venues. The controversy prompted further protests about the play "Kanata" that Lepage was to stage in Paris about the Canadian Indian residential school system – without resorting to any indigenous actors. The project was briefly put on hold when investors pulled out, but the production eventually resumed as planned.


title: Blackface

text: In 2019, "Time" published a photograph of the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, wearing brownface makeup in the spring of 2001. The photograph, which had not been previously reported, was taken at an "Arabian Nights"-themed gala. The photograph showed Trudeau, wearing a turban and robes with his face, neck and hands completely darkened. The photograph appeared in the 2000–2001 yearbook of the West Point Grey Academy, where Trudeau was a teacher. A copy of the yearbook was obtained by "Time" earlier in the month from Vancouver businessman Michael Adamson, who was part of the West Point Grey Academy community. Adamson said that he first saw the photograph in July and felt it should be made public. On September 19, 2019, Global News obtained and published a video from the early 1990s showing Trudeau in blackface. The video showed Trudeau covered in dark makeup and raising his hands in the air while laughing, sticking his tongue out and making faces. The video showed his arms and legs covered in makeup as well.


title: Blackface

text: There are some occurrences of blacking up (completely covering the entire exposed body) with afro wigs and stereotypical grass skirts and costume at festivals in this African country.


title: Blackface

text: On February 15, 2018, a comedy sketch titled "Same Joy, Same Happiness" intending to celebrate Chinese-African ties on the CCTV New Year's Gala, which draws an audience of up to 800 million, showed a Chinese actress in blackface makeup with a giant fake bottom playing an African mother, while a performer only exposing black arms playing a monkey accompanied her. At the end of the skit, the actress shouted, "I love Chinese people! I love China!" After being broadcast, the scene was widely criticized as being "disgusting", "awkward" and "completely racist" on Twitter and Sina Weibo. According to the street interviews by the Associated Press in Beijing on February 16, some Chinese people believed this kind of criticism was overblown. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang, who also watched the skit, said that China had consistently opposed any form of racism, and added, "I want to say that if there are people who want to seize on an incident to exaggerate matters, and sow discord in China's relations with African countries, this is a doomed futile effort" at a daily news briefing on February 22, 2018.


title: Blackface

text: In 2021 CCTV's New Year's Gala show once again featured performers in blackface wearing approximations of African clothing. Like in 2018 it received criticism both within China and internationally. The Chinese foreign ministry responded to criticism by saying that it was not an issue and that anyone saying otherwise must have ulterior motives.


title: Blackface

text: The television comedy "Sábados Felices" included a blackface character, who after a controversy changed his makeup to look like a camouflaged soldier.


title: Blackface

text: In Ecuador, there's a traditional festival held in Latacunga called "La Mama Negra" also known as "La Santísima Tragedia" in which a man in blackface makeup portrays a black woman liberated from slavery holding her youngest child.


title: Blackface

text: In Finland, a version of the Star boys' singing procession originating in the city of Oulu, a musical play known as Tiernapojat, has become established as a cherished Christmas tradition nationwide. The Tiernapojat show is a staple of Christmas festivities in schools, kindergartens, and elsewhere, and it is broadcast every Christmas on radio and television. The Finnish version contains non-biblical elements such as King Herod vanquishing the "king of the Moors," whose face in the play has traditionally been painted black. The character's color of skin is also a theme in the procession's lyrics.


title: Blackface

text: The last installation of the "Pekka and Pätkä" comedy film series, "Pekka ja Pätkä neekereinä" (Pekka and Pätkä as Negroes), was made in 1960. In the film a computer tells the title characters that a "negro" would be a suitable profession for them. They blacken their faces and pretend to be American or African entertainers performing in a night club, talking self-invented gibberish that is supposed to be English. The computer meant "negro" as a now archaic term for a journalist, which originates from journalists' hands becoming tinted black with ink when handling prints. When Finland's national public broadcasting company Yle aired this film 2016, some people on the social media disapproved of it and insisted that the film should have been censored, or at least the name changed. A representative from Yle said that an old movie should be evaluated in the context of its own time, and that the idea of the movie is to laugh at people being prejudiced. When the film series was aired in 2019, this particular film of the series was left unaired.


title: Blackface

text: A group of showmen in the Cologne Carnival called "Negerköpp", founded in 1929, act with their hands and faces painted black.


title: Blackface

text: The Germany-based Dutch musician Taco Ockerse stirred up controversy in 1983 by using dancers in blackface for his hit synthpop version of "Puttin' On the Ritz".


title: Blackface

text: Examples of theatrical productions include the many productions of the play "Unschuld" (Innocence) by the German writer Dea Loher, although in this play about two black African immigrants, the use of black-face is not part of the stage directions or instructions.


title: Blackface

text: The staging of the play "Unschuld" (Innocence) at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin was also subject of protest. The activist group "Bühnenwatch" (stage watch) performed a stunt in one of the stagings: 42 activists, posing as spectators, left the audience without a word and later distributed leaflets to the audience. Fundamental of the criticism was that the use of black-face solidifies stereotypes regardless of any good intentions and supports racist structures. The critics were invited to a discussion with the director, actors, theatre manager and other artists of the Deutsches Theater. As a result of the discussion, Deutsches Theater changed the design of actor make-up. Ulrich Khuon, the theatre manager, later admitted to being surprised by the protest and is now in a process of reflection.


title: Blackface

text: German productions of Herb Gardner's "I'm Not Rappaport" almost always cast the role of Midge Carter, the black character, famously portrayed in the U.S. by Ossie Davis, with a white actor in black makeup. The 2012 production of the play at the Berlin Schlosspark-Theater was the subject of protest. The director, Thomas Schendel, in his response to critics, argued that the classical and common plays would not offer enough roles that would justify a repertoire position for a black actor in a German theatre company. The protest grew considerably and was followed by media reports. While advocates of the theatre indicated that in principle it should be possible for any actor to play any character and that the play itself has an anti-racist message, the critics noted that the letter unwillingly disclosed the general, unexpressed policy of German theatres, i.e., that white actors are accounted to be qualified for all roles, even black ones, while black actors are suitable only for black roles. Other authors said that this problem in Germany generally exists for citizens with an immigrant background. The debate also received foreign media attention. The Schlosspark-Theater announced plans to continue the performances, and the German publishing company of "Rappaport" stated it will continue to grant permits for such performances.


title: Blackface

text: In 2012, the American dramatist Bruce Norris cancelled a German production of his play "Clybourne Park" when it was disclosed that a white actress would portray the African-American "Francine". A subsequent production using black German actors was successfully staged.


title: Blackface

text: Guatemalan 2015 elected president, Jimmy Morales, was a comic actor. One of the characters he impersonated in his comic show "Moralejas" was called Black Pitaya which used blackface makeup. Jimmy Morales defended his blackface character saying he is adored by the country's black Garifuna and indigenous Mayan communities.


title: Blackface

text: Hajji Firuz is a character in Iranian folklore who appears in the streets by the beginning of the New Year festival of Nowruz. Additionally there is "Siah-Bazi", a type of Persian theatre in Iran that involves a blackfaced character.


title: Blackface

text: In Japanese hip hop, a subculture of hip-hoppers subscribe to the "burapan" style, and are referred to as blackfacers. The appearance of these blackfacers is evidence of the popularity of the hip-hop movement in Japan despite what is described as racist tendencies in the culture. It was reported in 2006 that some Japanese hip-hop fans found it embarrassing and ridiculous for fans to change their appearance with blackface in attempt to embrace the culture. In some instances it could be seen as a racist act, but for many of the young Japanese fans it was seen as an appropriate way of immersing in the hip hop culture. The use of blackface is seen by some as a way to rebel against the culture of surface images in Japan.


title: Blackface

text: Blackface has also been a contentious issue in the music scene outside of hip hop. One Japanese R&B group, the Gosperats, has been known to wear blackface makeup during performances. In March 2015 a music television program produced by the Fuji TV network was scheduled to show a segment featuring two Japanese groups performing together in blackface, Rats & Star and Momoiro Clover Z. A picture was published online by one of the Rats & Star members after the segment was recorded, which led to a campaign against broadcasting of the segment. The program that aired on March 7 was edited by the network to remove the segment "after considering the overall circumstances", but the announcement did not acknowledge the campaign against the segment.


title: Blackface

text: In modern-day Mexico there are examples of images (usually caricatures) in blackface (e.g., Memín Pinguín). Though there is backlash from international communities, Mexican society has not protested to have these images changed to racially sensitive images. On the contrary, in the controversial Memín Pinguín cartoon there has been support publicly and politically (chancellor for Mexico, Luis Ernesto Derbez). Currently in Mexico, only 3–4% of the population are composed of Afro-Mexicans (this percentage includes Asian Mexicans).


title: Blackface

text: Portobelo's Carnival and Congo dance in Panama include a use of blackface as a form of celebration of African history, an emancipatory symbol. Black men paint their faces with charcoal which represents three things. Firstly, the blackface is used as a tool to remember their African ancestors. Secondly, the black face is representative of the disguise or concealment on the run which slaves would have used to evade the Spanish colonizers. Lastly, the practice of blackface is used as a way to signify the code or "secret language" which slaves would have used during the time of the Spanish occupation. During the celebration, for example, good morning will mean good night, and wearing black, or in this case wearing blackface, which normally denotes a time of mourning, is instead used as a way to represent a time of celebration.


title: Blackface

text: Use of black performance in impersonations was quite frequently used in the impressions show "A Tua Cara não Me É Estranha", with blackface impressions of Michael Jackson, Siedah Garrett, Tracy Chapman, Louie Armstrong, Nat King Cole, among others. In 2018, Eduardo Madeira dressed up as Serena Williams, adding an African accent the tennis player does not have in real life.


title: Blackface

text: In Brazil, there has been at least some history of non-comedic use of blackface, using white actors for black characters like Uncle Tom (although the practice of "racelift", or making black/mulatto characters into mestiços/swarthy whites/caboclos, is more frequent than blackface). Use of blackface in humor has been used more rarely than in Portugal, although it also continues into this century (but it creates major uproar among the sizeable and more politically active Afro-Brazilian community).


title: Blackface

text: Soviet Russian writers and illustrators sometimes inadvertently perpetuated stereotypes about other nations that are now viewed as harmful. For example, a Soviet children's book or cartoon might innocently contain a representation of black people that would be perceived as unquestionably offensive by the modern-day western standards, such as bright red lips and other exaggerated features, similar to the portrayal of blacks in American minstrel shows. Soviet artists "did not quite understand the harm of representing black people in this way, and continued to employ this method, even in creative productions aimed specifically at critiquing American race relations".


title: Blackface

text: In 1910, the ballet "Sheherazade", choreographed by Michael Fokine, premiered in Russia. The story behind the ballet was inspired by a tone poem written by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov. In the ballet the leading female character, Zobeide, is seduced by a Golden Slave. The dancer who portrayed the Golden Slave, the first being Vaslav Nijinsky, would have his face and body painted brown for the performance. This was done to show the audience the slave was of a darker complexion. Later in 1912, Fokine choreographed the ballet "Petrushka", which centers around three puppets that come to life, Petrushka, the Ballerina, and the Moor. When the ballet premiered, the part of the Moor, first danced by Alexander Orlov, was performed in full blackface. The Moor puppet is first seen onstage playing with a coconut, which he attempts to open with his scimitar. His movements are apelike. The Moor seduces the Ballerina and later savagely cuts off the head of the puppet Petrushka. When "Petrushka" is performed today, the part of the Moor is still done in full blackface, or occasionally blueface. The blackface has not been publicly criticized in the ballet community. Black and brownface appear in other ballets today, such as "La Bayadère" and "Othello", in the United States and Europe.


title: Blackface

text: The early Soviet political cartoon "Black and White", created in 1932, managed to avoid the blackface style, confronting "precisely that paternalistic model of the ever-passive black subject awaiting enlightenment from the Comintern". The cartoon integrated "an avant-garde-influenced visual aesthetic with images derived from the many newspaper illustrations, cartoons, and posters of American racism that appeared in Soviet Russia at this time".


title: Blackface

text: Soviet theater and movie directors rarely had access to black actors, and so resorted to using black makeup when dictated by the character's descent. Soviet actors portrayed black people mostly by darkening the skin and occasionally adjusting the hair style, without accentuating or exaggerating their facial features. In particular, Vladimir Vysotsky performed the role of Abram Petrovich Gannibal, an 18th-century Russian general of African origin, in the 1976 Soviet film "How Czar Peter the Great Married Off His Moor", while Larisa Dolina performed the role of Cuban singer Clementine Fernandez in the 1983 film "We Are from Jazz". The 1956 Soviet film adaptation of Othello received the Best Director Award at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival.


title: Blackface

text: On November 30, 2020, in a segment of the Russian TV show "International Sawmill", Russian television presenter Tigran Keosayan interviewed an actress in blackface posing as former United States President Barack Obama. In the segment, Keosayan, referring to Obama's book "A Promised Land", asks the actress: "Do you consider this book your achievement?", to which the actress in blackface replies: "Of course." Keosayan then asks: "Because none of your relatives have written books?", after which the actress answers: "Because none of my relatives that came before me could write." Keosayan then states "you should have a rap musician, not the president". The segment was widely deemed racist.


title: Blackface

text: Inspired by blackface minstrels who visited Cape Town, South Africa, in 1848, former Javanese and Malay coolies took up the minstrel tradition, holding emancipation celebrations which consisted of music, dancing and parades. Such celebrations eventually became consolidated into an annual, year-end event called the "Coon Carnival" but now known as the Cape Town Minstrel Carnival or the Kaapse Klopse.


title: Blackface

text: Today, carnival minstrels are mostly Coloured ("mixed race"), Afrikaans-speaking revelers. Often in a pared-down style of blackface which exaggerates only the lips. They parade down the streets of the city in colorful costumes, in a celebration of Creole culture. Participants also pay homage to the carnival's African-American roots, playing Negro spirituals and jazz featuring traditional Dixieland jazz instruments, including horns, banjos, and tambourines.


title: Blackface

text: The South African actor and filmmaker Leon Schuster is well known for employing the blackface technique in his filming to little or no controversy. But in 2013, the Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa halted the airing of an ad wherein Schuster portrayed a stereotypically dishonest African politician in blackface. The action was in response to the following submitted complaint:


title: Blackface

text: Vodacom South Africa has also been accused of using non-African actors in blackface in its advertising as opposed to simply using African actors. Some have denounced blackface as an artefact of apartheid, accusing broadcasters of lampooning Black people. Others continue to see it as "harmless fun". In 2014, photos of two white University of Pretoria female students donning blackface makeup in an attempt at caricaturing Black domestic workers surfaced on Facebook. The students were said to face disciplinary action for throwing the institution's name into disrepute.


title: Blackface

text: Comedians in many Asian countries continue to occasionally use minstrel-inspired blackface, with considerable frequency in South Korea. "Acting black" has been a common phenomenon in South Korean media for more than 30 years: in the 80s, comedians used to perform with darkened faces without attracting criticism. Although criticism has increased, use of blackface in Korean media was still occurring in 2018: a performer used blackface in a TV show, a play called "The Blacks" used blackface, as well as all-female quartet Mamamoo while doing a cover for one Bruno Mars' songs. In 2020, "The Diplomat" reported that backlash to pictures posted by students in which they posed in blackface for Halloween was indicative of growing consciousness toward racism in the country.


title: Blackface

text: Taiwanese YouTube comedy group The Wackyboys came under fire after some of its members blackfaced for a Dancing Pallbearers parody video. The group later apologised and deleted the video.


title: Blackface

text: In Thailand, actors darken their faces to portray the Negrito of Thailand in a popular play by King Chulalongkorn (1868–1910), "Ngo Pa", which has been turned into a musical and a movie.


title: Blackface

text: From 1723 to 1823, it was a criminal offence to blacken one's face in some circumstances, with a punishment of death. The Black Act was passed at a time of economic downturn that led to heightened social tensions, and in response to a series of raids by two groups of poachers who blackened their faces to prevent identification. Blackening one's face with soot, lampblack, boot polish or coal dust was a traditional form of disguise, or masking, especially at night when poaching.


title: Blackface

text: The Welsh Rebecca Rioters (1839–1843) used to blacken their faces or wear masks to prevent themselves being identified whilst breaking down turnpike gates, sometimes disguised as women.


title: Blackface

text: South Western English traditional folk plays sometimes have a Turk Slaver character, probably from the Barbary Coast Slave raids on Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Somerset in the early 17th Century by "Sallee Rovers" (where the English were the slaves captured and taken by force to North Africa). This character is usually played using a black face (or brownface).


title: Blackface

text: Throughout the country, the Turkish (Saracen) Knight character (probably harkening back to the crusades during the Medieval era) in traditional English Mummers' plays was played in blackface (or brownface), though less often in the modern era.


title: Blackface

text: Various forms of folk dance in England, including Morris dancing, have traditionally used blackface; its continuing use by some troupes is controversial. Some interpretations trace the original invention of blackface back to specific morris traditions.


title: Blackface

text: Molly dancers and Cornish Guise Dancers, traditionally associated with midwinter festivals, often use blacked faces as a disguise. The Molly dancers wished to avoid being identified by the landlords and petty nobles, who were also usually the local magistrates, when they played tricks on those who failed to be generous enough in their gifts to the dancers. The Guise dancers (disguised dancers) also wished to avoid any punishment for their mocking songs embarrassing the local gentry.


title: Blackface

text: Some traditional mummers groups perform the English folk play "St George and the Turkish Knight" with the entire cast, including Father Christmas, and all the white, English characters in mummers' blackface.


title: Blackface

text: In Bacup, Lancashire, the Britannia Coconut Dancers wear black faces. Some believe the origin of this dance can be traced back to the influx of Cornish miners to northern England, and the black face relates to the dirty blackened faces associated with mining.


title: Blackface

text: In Cornwall, several Mummer's Day celebrations are still held; these used to be sometimes known as "Darkie Day" (a corruption of the original "Darking Day", referring to the darkening or painting of the faces) and involved local residents dancing through the streets in blackface to musical accompaniment. As late as 2014, at least one festival (Padstow) featured such songs as 'Old Uncle Ned', which includes the lyrics "He's gone where the good niggers go".


title: Blackface

text: The traditional wedding day chimney sweep, that is considered to be good luck, sometimes has a partially blacked up face to suggest smears of soot. This depends on the performer but it was, and still is, unusual to have a full blackening. Though the complete covered "greyface" is known.


title: Blackface

text: These two traditions, of chimney sweep and folk dancing, coincide in the sometimes lost traditions of (chimney) sweepers festivals. Medway Council supports the Sweeps' Festival, revived in 1981, now claimed to be "the largest festival of Morris dance in the world". It takes place in Rochester around May Day and features a Jack in the Green character. Originally the chimney sweeps were little boys, and they used the day to beg for money, until this child labour was outlawed.


title: Blackface

text: On Guy Fawkes' Day 2017, participants in the Lewes Bonfire, the best known of the Sussex bonfire tradition, decided to abandon black face paint in their depiction of Zulu warriors.


title: Blackface

text: On July 3, 2020, the Joint Morris Organisation announced that all three constituent bodies, representing the vast majority of Morris Dancing in the United Kingdom, would be actively moving to eliminate the use of full-face black makeup from their membership.


title: Blackface

text: "The Black and White Minstrel Show" was a British light entertainment show that ran for twenty years on BBC prime-time television. Beginning in 1958, it was a variety show which presented traditional American minstrel and country songs, as well as show tunes and music hall numbers, lavishly costumed. It was also a successful stage show which ran for ten years from 1962 to 1972 at the Victoria Palace Theatre, London. This was followed by tours of UK seaside resorts, together with Australia and New Zealand.


title: Blackface

text: Due to its employment of artists wearing blackface, the show was seen by UK anti-racist groups such as the Campaign Against Racial Discrimination, to be both racist and perpetuating ethnic stereotypes.


title: Blackface

text: Blackface minstrelsy was the conduit through which African-American and African-American-influenced music, comedy, and dance first reached the white American mainstream. It played a seminal role in the introduction of African-American culture to world audiences.


title: Blackface

text: and Bob Wills, were veterans of blackface performance. More recently, the American country music television show "Hee Haw" (1969–1993) had the format and much of the content of a minstrel show, albeit without blackface.


title: Blackface

text: The immense popularity and profitability of blackface were testaments to the power, appeal, and commercial viability of not only black music and dance, but also of black style. This led to cross-cultural collaborations, as Giddins writes; but the often ruthless exploitation of African-American artistic genius, as well – by other, white performers and composers; agents; promoters; publishers; and record company executives.


title: Blackface

text: While blackface in the literal sense has played only a minor role in entertainment in recent decades, various writers see it as epitomizing an appropriation and imitation of black culture that continues today. As noted above, Strausbaugh sees blackface as central to a longer tradition of "displaying Blackness". "To this day," he writes: "Whites admire, envy and seek to emulate such supposed innate qualities of Blackness as inherent musicality, natural athleticism, the composure known as 'cool' and superior sexual endowment," a phenomenon he views as part of the history of blackface. For more than a century, when white performers have wanted to appear sexy (like Elvis or Mick Jagger), or streetwise (like Eminem), or hip (like Mezz Mezzrow), they often have turned to African-American performance styles, stage presence and personas. Pop culture referencing and cultural appropriation of African-American performance and stylistic traditions is a tradition with origins in blackface minstrelsy.


title: Blackface

text: This "browning", à la Richard Rodriguez, of American and world popular culture began with blackface minstrelsy. It is a continuum of pervasive African-American influence which has many prominent manifestations today, among them the ubiquity of the cool aesthetic and hip hop culture.


title: Sal Mineo

text: Salvatore Mineo Jr. (January 10, 1939 – February 12, 1976) was an American actor, singer, and director. He is best known for his role as John "Plato" Crawford in the drama film "Rebel Without a Cause" (1955), which earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor at age 17, making him the fifth-youngest nominee in the category.


title: Sal Mineo

text: Mineo also starred in films such as "Crime in the Streets", "Giant" (both 1956), "Exodus" (1960), for which he won a Golden Globe and received a second Academy Award nomination, "The Longest Day" (1962), John Ford’s final western "Cheyenne Autumn", and "Escape from the Planet of the Apes" (1971).


title: Sal Mineo

text: Mineo was born in The Bronx, New York City, the son of coffin makers Josephine (née Alvisi) and Salvatore Mineo Sr. He was of Sicilian descent; his father was born in Italy and his mother, of Italian origin, was born in the United States. Mineo's sister Sarina and brothers Michael and Victor were also actors. He attended the Quintano School for Young Professionals and was one of the few Italian-American actors of his era to keep his last name, saying he was proud of his heritage and identity.


title: Sal Mineo

text: Mineo's mother enrolled him in dancing and acting school at an early age. He had his first stage appearance in Tennessee Williams's play "The Rose Tattoo" (1951). He also played the young prince opposite Yul Brynner in the stage musical "The King and I". Brynner took the opportunity to help Mineo better himself as an actor.


title: Sal Mineo

text: On May 8, 1954, Mineo portrayed the Page (lip-synching to the voice of mezzo-soprano Carol Jones) in the NBC Opera Theatre's production of Richard Strauss's "Salome" (in English translation), set to Oscar Wilde's play. Elaine Malbin performed the title role, and Peter Herman Adler conducted Kirk Browning's production.


title: Sal Mineo

text: As a teenager, Mineo appeared on ABC's musical quiz program "Jukebox Jury". Mineo made several television appearances before making his screen debut in the Joseph Pevney film "Six Bridges to Cross" (1955). He beat out Clint Eastwood for the role. Mineo also successfully auditioned for a part in "The Private War of Major Benson" (1955), as a cadet colonel opposite Charlton Heston.


title: Sal Mineo

text: Mineo's breakthrough as an actor came in "Rebel Without a Cause" (1955), in which he played John "Plato" Crawford, a sensitive teenager smitten with main character Jim Stark (played by James Dean). Mineo's performance resulted in an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. At age 17, he became the fifth-youngest nominee in the category. Mineo's biographer Paul Jeffers recounted that Mineo received thousands of letters from young female fans, was mobbed by them at public appearances, and further wrote: "He dated the most beautiful women in Hollywood and New York City."


title: Sal Mineo

text: In "Giant" (1956), Mineo played Angel Obregon II, a Mexican boy killed in World War II. Many of his subsequent roles were variations of his role in "Rebel Without a Cause", and he was typecast as a troubled teen. In the Disney adventure "Tonka" (1958), for instance, Mineo starred as a young Sioux named White Bull who traps and domesticates a clear-eyed, spirited wild horse named Tonka that becomes the famous Comanche, the lone survivor of Custer's Last Stand.


title: Sal Mineo

text: By the late 1950s, Mineo was a major celebrity. He was sometimes referred to as the "Switchblade Kid", a nickname he earned from his role as a criminal in the movie "Crime in the Streets" (1956).


title: Sal Mineo

text: In 1957, Mineo made a brief foray into pop music by recording a handful of songs and an album. Two of his singles reached the Top 40 in the United States' "Billboard" Hot 100. The more popular of the two, "Start Movin' (In My Direction)", reached No. 9 on "Billboard"s pop chart. It sold over one million copies and was awarded a gold disc. He starred as drummer Gene Krupa in the movie "The Gene Krupa Story" (1959), directed by Don Weis with Susan Kohner, James Darren, and Susan Oliver. He appeared as the celebrity guest challenger on the June 30, 1957, episode of What's My Line?


title: Sal Mineo

text: Mineo made an effort to break his typecasting. In addition to his roles as a Native American brave in "Tonka" (1958), and a Mexican boy in "Giant" (1956), he played a Jewish Holocaust survivor in "Exodus" (1960); for his work in "Exodus", he won a Golden Globe Award and received his second Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.


title: Sal Mineo

text: By the early 1960s, Mineo was becoming too old to play the type of role that had made him famous, and rumors of his homosexuality led to his being considered inappropriate for leading roles. For example, he auditioned for David Lean's film "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962) but was not hired. Mineo appeared in "The Longest Day" (1962), in which he played a private killed by a German after the landing in Sainte-Mère-Église. Mineo was baffled by his sudden loss of popularity, later saying: "One minute it seemed I had more movie offers than I could handle; the next, no one wanted me."


title: Sal Mineo

text: Mineo was the model for Harold Stevenson's painting "The New Adam" (1963). Now in the Guggenheim Museum's permanent collection, the painting is considered "one of the great American nudes". Mineo also appeared on the Season 2 episode of "The Patty Duke Show": "Patty Meets a Celebrity" (1964).


title: Sal Mineo

text: Mineo's role as a stalker in "Who Killed Teddy Bear" (1965), which co-starred Juliet Prowse, did not seem to help his career. Although his performance was praised by critics, he found himself typecast again—this time as a deranged criminal. The high point of this period was his portrayal of Uriah in "The Greatest Story Ever Told" (1965). Mineo guest-starred in an episode of the TV series "Combat!" in 1966, playing the role of a GI wanted for murder. He did two more appearances on the same show, including appearing in an installment with Fernando Lamas.


title: Sal Mineo

text: In 1969, Mineo returned to the stage to direct a Los Angeles production of the gay-themed play "Fortune and Men's Eyes" (1967), featuring then-unknown Don Johnson as Smitty and Mineo as Rocky. The production received positive reviews, although its expanded prison rape scene was criticized as excessive and gratuitous. Mineo's last role in a motion picture was a small part in the film "Escape from the Planet of the Apes" (1971); he played the chimpanzee Dr. Milo.


title: Sal Mineo

text: In December 1972, Mineo stage-directed the Gian Carlo Menotti short opera "The Medium" in Detroit. Muriel Costa-Greenspon portrayed the title character, Madame Flora, and Mineo played the mute, Toby. In 1975, Mineo appeared as Rahman Habib, the assistant to a murderous consular head (portrayed by Hector Elizondo) of a Middle Eastern country, in the "Columbo" episode "A Case of Immunity," on NBC-TV. One of his last roles was a guest spot on the TV series "S.W.A.T." (1975), in which he portrayed a cult leader similar to Charles Manson.


title: Sal Mineo

text: By 1976, Mineo's career had begun to turn around. While playing the role of a bisexual burglar in a series of stage performances of the comedy "P.S. Your Cat Is Dead" in San Francisco, Mineo received substantial publicity from many positive reviews; he moved to Los Angeles along with the play.


title: Sal Mineo

text: In a 1972 interview with Boze Hadleigh, Mineo confirmed his bisexuality. Mineo met English-born actress Jill Haworth on the set of the film "Exodus" in 1960, in which they portrayed young lovers. Mineo and Haworth were together on-and-off for many years. They were engaged to be married at one point. According to Mineo biographer Michael Gregg Michaud, Haworth cancelled the engagement after she caught Mineo engaging in sexual relations with another man. The two remained very close friends until Mineo's death. Mineo expressed disapproval of Haworth's brief relationship with the much older television producer Aaron Spelling. One night, when Mineo found Haworth and Spelling at a private Beverly Hills nightclub, he punched Spelling in the face, yelling, "Do you know how old she is? What are you doing with her at your age?" At the time of his death, he was in a six-year relationship with male actor Courtney Burr III.


title: Sal Mineo

text: On the night of February 12, 1976, Mineo returned home from a rehearsal for the play "P.S. Your Cat Is Dead". After parking his car in the carport below his West Hollywood apartment, he was stabbed in the heart by a mugger. Mineo was found lying and bleeding profusely in the parking alley by neighbors who had heard his cries for help, but he died immediately on the spot after walking a few steps and eventually collapsing. Lionel Ray Williams, a young pizza delivery man with a long criminal record, was convicted and sentenced in March 1979 to 57 years in prison for killing Mineo and for committing ten robberies. Although considerable confusion existed as to what witnesses had seen in the darkness the night Mineo was murdered, Williams claimed to have had no idea who Mineo was. Corrections officers later said they had overheard Williams admitting to the stabbing. Williams' wife later confirmed that on the night Mineo died, he had come home with blood on his shirt. After several years of speculation about the motives for the murder,


title: Sal Mineo

text: the police investigation concluded that it was a random robbery. Williams was paroled in 1990 after serving 12 years.


title: Ameesha Patel

text: Ameesha Patel (), (born Amisha Amit Patel; 9 June 1975), is an Indian actress and model who predominantly appears in Hindi films alongside few Telugu films. She made her acting debut in 2000 with the romantic thriller film "Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai" which became critically and commercially successful and won her several awards including Zee Cine Award for Best Female Debut.


title: Ameesha Patel

text: Patel rose to prominence with "" (2001), which became one of the biggest hits in the history of Hindi cinema, earning her a Filmfare Special Performance Award. She made her Telugu film debut with the successful "Badri" (2000).


title: Ameesha Patel

text: Patel has also been part of successful films including "Humraaz" (2002), "Kya Yehi Pyaar Hai" (2002), "Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd." (2007), "Bhool Bhulaiyaa" (2007) and "Race 2" (2013).


title: Ameesha Patel

text: Patel was born in a Gujarati family to Amit and Asha Patel on 9 June 1975. She is the sister of Ashmit Patel and the granddaughter of lawyer-politician Barrister Rajni Patel, who was the Congress Pradesh Committee President of Mumbai. She was born in the Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai and has been a trained Bharatnatyam dancer since the age of five. Her birth-name is a blend of the first three letters of her father's name Amit and the last three letters of her mother's name Asha.


title: Ameesha Patel

text: She studied at the Cathedral and John Connon School in Mumbai and was head girl for the academic year 1992–93 before heading to Tufts University in United States to study Bio-genetic engineering, which she studied for two years, and eventually switching to Economics.


title: Ameesha Patel

text: Patel's career began as an economic analyst at Khandwala Securities Limited after graduation. Later on, she received an offer from Morgan Stanley but turned it down. After returning to India, she joined Satyadev Dubey's theatre group and acted in plays, including an Urdu language play titled "Neelam" (1999), that was written by Tanveer Khan, upon receiving permission from her conservative parents.


title: Ameesha Patel

text: At the same time she plunged into modelling, appearing in several commercial campaigns. Patel has also modelled for well-known Indian brands such as "Bajaj", "Fair & Lovely", "Cadburys", "Fem", "Lux" and many more.


title: Ameesha Patel

text: Patel's first opportunity for acting came in the form of an offer from her father's schoolmate, Rakesh Roshan, to star opposite his son, Hrithik Roshan, in "Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai" (2000). The offer came immediately after she graduated from high school, but she refused the project because she wanted to continue her education in the US. Afterwards, Kareena Kapoor replaced her, but luckily, Kapoor dropped out a few days into the principal photography and Patel was given the opportunity once again during a family lunch. She readily agreed to do the project this time. The role of an exuberant college girl in love, undergoing a tortuous time at losing her lover and rediscovering a more mature relationship gave Patel scope to perform. The film was a smashing success and established Patel as a rising star, earning her awards for "Best Debut" at a number of award ceremonies. In her second film, the Telugu language drama "Badri", she starred opposite Pawan Kalyan. The film was a major success, earning more than ₹12 crore distributor share in India.


title: Ameesha Patel

text: 2001 saw her appearing in Anil Sharma's cross-border romance "", alongside Sunny Deol. Patel signed on much before she shot into the limelight with "Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai" and was among 22 girls that were screen-tested from 500 girls who came to audition for the film. Patel had gone through a 12-hour audition before she got the part. The film went on to become the top-grossing film of the year, as well as the biggest hit of the 21st century, earning Rs 973 million in India. Set during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947, it featured Patel as Sakeena, a Muslim girl who finds refuge in Deol's house during the riots, and subsequently falls for him. Her performance was praised, and won her the Filmfare Special Performance Award, as well as nominations for "Best Actress" at various award ceremonies. Taran Adarsh of "IndiaFM" concluded: "Despite being one-film-old, Amisha Patel deserves full marks for handling the complex role with elegance. She looks the character she is portraying and impresses with a natural performance." The film was perceived as being excessively anti-Pakistani.


title: Ameesha Patel

text: These successes were followed by a series of films that flopped at the box office. In "Yeh Zindagi Ka Safar" (2001), she played a successful singer who was abandoned by her mother at the time of her birth.


title: Ameesha Patel

text: In 2002, Patel had three failures. In "Aap Mujhe Achche Lagne Lage", she played the role of Sapna, who is caged in protective custody of her own father. She co-starred opposite Hrithik Roshan for the second time in this film. Unlike their successful pairing in "Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai", the film proved to be a disappointment and resulted in a critical and commercial failure. Patel's performance in the film was criticised by a section of the media, but during an interview she clarified that there was an "error" because the scene explaining that her character is supposed to be asthmatic in the film was edited out not knowing that one shot would make such a difference, thus creating confusion to the viewer about her appearing out of breath, as if she's overacting or crying. Patel's unsuccessful follow-up continued with "Kranti" and David Dhawan's comedy "Yeh Hai Jalwa" in 2002. In the same year, she tasted minor box office success with "Kya Yehi Pyaar Hai", in which she played a career-oriented young woman who rejects the advances of Aftab Shivdasani's character. Then she found another major success when her last release of the year, "Humraaz", became the fifth highest-grossing film of the year at the box office, and her performance earned her a nomination for Filmfare Best Actress Award. The Abbas–Mustan marital thriller saw her playing a character with negative shades for the first time. She played the girlfriend of Akshaye Khanna, who marries Bobby Deol to grab his wealth – but, seeing Bobby's honesty, her character surrenders to him. Taran Adarsh commented: "Amisha Patel is just about okay as Akshaye's lover (first half), but splendid as Bobby's wife (second half). This performance should silence her detractors for sure. Also, she's looked her best with admirable outfits and perfect make-up."


title: Ameesha Patel

text: During 2003 to 2006, Patel's acting career entered a slump. After the relative success of "Humraaz", her string of unsuccessful films followed, and would continue until 2006. In 2003, her only releases were Tamil language film "Pudhiya Geethai" and the Hindi film Deepak Bahry's "Parwana". Pudhiya Geethai was the first and only Tamil film that she ever acted in. Her releases in 2004, Vimal Kumar's comedy "Suno Sasurjee", a delayed production since 2000, and her second Telugu language film "Naani", followed. That year she also appeared in the music videos for "O Meri Jaan" and "Hai Kasam Tu Na Ja" by Adnan Sami.


title: Ameesha Patel

text: In 2005, she starred in Satish Kaushik's thriller "Vaada", playing Arjun Rampal's unfaithful wife who is followed by her obsessive ex-lover. In her next release, "Elaan", she played a TV reporter. She later appeared in Ketan Mehta's historical drama "" where she played the role of the soft-spoken Jwala, a Bengali widow who gets rescued from committing Sati by a British commanding officer. Patel was cast as a replacement for Aishwarya Rai under the recommendation of Aamir Khan, who was impressed by her IQ level when he saw her on "BBC" under the segment of "Question Time India" in 2003. The film, which saw her in a deglamorized role for the first time, emerged an average earner at the box office. Her other releases that year include "", a delayed production since 2001, and the Telugu film "Narasimhudu", both which failed at the box office.


title: Ameesha Patel

text: Patel featured in six films in 2006, all of which failed commercially. She first appeared alongside Akshay Kumar and Karisma Kapoor in Suneel Darshan's musical drama, "Mere Jeevan Saathi", a delayed production since 2003. Her second release, "Humko Tumse Pyaar Hai", saw her playing a blind village girl who gets stuck in a love triangle after undergoing eye surgery. The production was halted since 2002 due to the passing of its director-producer, until Patel's boyfriend then, Vikram Bhatt, took it upon himself to complete the project. The film had a limited release and failed to perform at the box office with some critics terming it as "outdated."


title: Ameesha Patel

text: In "", Patel played the role of a mute girl who witnesses a murder. She learned sign language in order to fit the role. She was next cast in "Tathastu", based on Denzel Washington's thriller "John Q" (2002).


title: Ameesha Patel

text: Patel's fifth release in 2006, "Ankahee", earned her critical praise despite its failure at the box office. The film centred around an extramarital affair with Patel playing a housewife whose husband cheats on her with a model. To understand the mentality of a wronged wife, Patel spoke to her own grandmother who had undergone a similar situation. Diganta Guha from "Hindustan Times" noted "...it's Ameesha's performance that remains in your mind. She is dignity personified in the film, playing a woman betrayed in marriage, going all out to save it and in the end choosing her own path." Later that year, she appeared alongside Akshaye Khanna and Priyanka Chopra in Dharmesh Darshan's "Aap Ki Khatir".


title: Ameesha Patel

text: After appearing in a series of box office flops during 2003–2006, Patel's career prospects began to improve in 2007. Her first release in that year was the ensemble comedy drama "Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd.". The low-budget film achieved moderate success at the box office. Patel played the role of Karan Khanna's talkative wife who tries to overcome her husband's gay leanings. Her comic timing in the film was well received. Later in 2007, she co-starred opposite Akshay Kumar in Priyadarshan's hit "Bhool Bhulaiyaa" as a rejected adopted girl who is accused of trying to disrupt the marriage of her childhood crush.


title: Ameesha Patel

text: In an attempt to renew her image, Patel appeared in a bikini item number, "Lazy Lamhe", in Kunal Kohli's "Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic" (2008). She learned scuba diving for the song that took 15 days to complete. Although the film flopped at the box office, Patel managed to garner attention for her appearance.


title: Ameesha Patel

text: After the release of "Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic", Patel signed on to two comedies; "Run Bhola Run" and "Chatur Singh Two Star". However, both films were continuously delayed despite being completed in 2009. She next attempted a comeback by signing on to Rajkumar Santoshi's "Power." Patel featured in an ensemble cast which also included Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, Anil Kapoor, Ajay Devgn and Kangana Ranaut, but the film was shelved after eight days of principal photography. Despite repeated attempts to land a starring role, Patel dropped out of several projects due to various reasons.


title: Ameesha Patel

text: Following a two-and-a-half-year sabbatical, she made a comeback to the Telugu film industry in a brief role with "Parama Veera Chakra" (2011) alongside Nandamuri Balakrishna; the film flopped.


title: Ameesha Patel

text: In the same year, the long delayed "Chatur Singh Two Star" saw the light of day after three years. "Run Bhola Run" remains unreleased following the shutting down of the production company Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision, despite the trailer and posters being unveiled in late 2010.


title: Ameesha Patel

text: On 23 April 2011, Patel hosted an event launching her production company, Ameesha Patel Productions, in collaboration with her friend and business partner Kuunal Goomer. Their debut home production, "Desi Magic", was launched at an event on 2 April 2013.


title: Ameesha Patel

text: In 2013, Patel returned to Hindi cinema with a special appearance in Abbas–Mustan's "Race 2", replacing Sameera Reddy as Anil Kapoor's ditzy assistant. Though the film was critically panned, it emerged a box office success. She followed it with a starring role alongside Neil Nitin Mukesh in "Shortcut Romeo", a Hindi remake of the 2006 Tamil hit "Thiruttu Payale". The film opened to mixed reviews and performed poorly at the box office.


title: Ameesha Patel

text: In 2018, she played a movie star in the ensemble action comedy "Bhaiaji Superhit" alongside Sunny Deol and Preity Zinta, a production in the making since 2012. The film was poorly received by critics.


title: Ameesha Patel

text: On January 19, 2019, it was announced her debut home production "Desi Magic" has been complete after six years in the making. However, it remains unreleased due to a legal battle.


title: Ameesha Patel

text: In the same year, she entered the reality show "Bigg Boss 13" with a twist. She was seen as the maalkin of the house for the first week to give different interesting tasks to the housemates.


title: Ameesha Patel

text: As of September 2021, Patel is set to reprise her role as Sakeena in "Gadar 2: The Katha Continues", 20 years since its predecessor released.


title: Ameesha Patel

text: Patel performed in a number of concerts and world tours during her career. Her first world tour; "The Roshans: Hrithik Live in Concert" (2001), along with Hrithik Roshan, was performed across India.


title: Ameesha Patel

text: In 2004, Patel took part in a series of concerts in the world tour "Craze 2004" alongside Hrithik Roshan, Saif Ali Khan and Lara Dutta.


title: Ameesha Patel

text: In 2005, Patel participated in Adnan Sami's world tour "Kuch Dil Se…" that was performed across the US and Canada from 15 April till 15 May.


title: Ameesha Patel

text: In October 2008, she participated in Himesh Reshammiya's comeback concert "Karzzzz Musical Curtain Raiser" joined by Neha Dhupia, Riya Sen and Amrita Arora. In December 2008, she took part in Akshay Kumar's Christmas Eve show "Chandni Chowk to Hong" along with Bipasha Basu, Priyanka Chopra, Riya Sen, Aarti Chhabria, Himesh Reshammiya and Punjabi rapper Bohemia as part of a promotional campaign for Kumar's film "Chandni Chowk to China" (2009). In response to 26/11, many New Year's Eve concerts for 2009 were cancelled, but Patel and Country Club India decided to go ahead with their show because they thought it would be against the terrorists' will.


title: Ameesha Patel

text: In September 2004, Patel joined PETA, one of the organisations championing the cause of animals, as part of an advertising campaign which highlights the lives of captive animals in a zoo who are robbed of their natural surroundings for the amusement of others. Patel posed as a petrified prisoner in a jail cell to throw focus on the plight of animals in zoos. She said:


title: Ameesha Patel

text: In February 2005, along with other Bollywood stars, Patel performed at the "HELP! Telethon Concert" raising money for the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. She also took part in the "Temptations 2005" charity function in New Delhi on 24 December 2005 at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in aid of the National Centre for Promotion of Employment of Disabled Persons (NCPEDP), a leading disabled rights' group.


title: Ameesha Patel

text: In November 2006, Patel joined an NGO called "PlanetRead", which helps people in villages to learn reading through film songs. In October 2007, Patel along with John Abraham and Kirron Kher joined the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to curb human trafficking in India.


title: Ameesha Patel

text: Between 2002 and 2005, Patel made an appearance in a number of talk shows such as "Rendezvous with Simi Garewal" and "The Manish Malhotra Show".


title: Ameesha Patel

text: In 2006, Patel appeared as the guest judge on the special Valentine's Day episode of the singing talent contest "Indian Idol 2".


title: Ameesha Patel

text: Patel is frequently cited as one of the sexiest Bollywood actresses. Rediff featured Patel as one of Bollywood's sexiest actresses and top Bollywood actresses of 2001. She was ranked tenth on Rediff's list of 2008's Sexiest Actresses. Patel was also cited by Rediff as one of 2008's Sexiest Magazine Cover Girls. She has featured on the cover of "Maxim India" three times, as well as other men magazines such as "The Man", "FHM", and "Man's World".


title: Ameesha Patel

text: In 1999, Patel met filmmaker Vikram Bhatt on the set of their first movie together; "Aap Mujhe Achche Lagne Lage" (2002), and they started dating since the film's release. Later, it caused a rift between the Patel and Bhatt families with Patel running through a financial crisis after her father used her hard-earned money to resurrect a family business, causing misunderstandings between Patel and her parents. In July 2004, Patel sent a legal notice to her father for mismanaging her accounts and assets amounting to Rs 120 million and demanding the money back. Patel's relationship with Bhatt was often reported to the media speculating on a possible marriage.


title: Ameesha Patel

text: In January 2008, the media reported that Patel and Bhatt broke their five-year relationship. Bhatt confirmed the break-up in a conversation with "Mid-Day". Shortly afterwards, Patel's parents explained their willingness to reconcile with their daughter and that "everybody is happy about the break-up" but their relationship remained strained. On 12 March 2008, Patel was spotted with London-based businessman Kanav Puri at "Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week". In June 2008, she confirmed their relationship in an interview with "Mid-Day": "I did not admit to Kanav sooner because he's very special and I did not want to jinx it. It was too precious for me to talk about it to people. It's almost six months now and now I am feeling secure and now I know our relationship is too strong for anything or anyone to come between us." The media once reported that she married Puri but she denied these rumours.


title: Ameesha Patel

text: In August 2009, "Mumbai Mirror" reported that Patel and her brother, Ashmit, had patched up on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan and were spotted together at PVR Cinemas in Juhu. Although the siblings agreed that the matter is sorted, they preferred not to speak about it publicly.


title: Ameesha Patel

text: In December 2009, Patel's mother Asha had revealed they have finally ended their five-year estrangement during an interview with "The Times of India".


title: Ameesha Patel

text: In September 2010, "Mumbai Mirror" reported that Patel broke off the relationship with her long-time boyfriend Kanav Puri, to focus on her career. She confirmed it via Twitter.


title: Ameesha Patel

text: In August 2006, an Air India employee had filed a police complaint, alleging that Patel had misbehaved with her after her companion was not upgraded to first class on the Mumbai-New York flight on 18 August. Patel was on her way to attend India's Independence Day parade in New York. Officers at the police station said Patel could be called in and warned about her behaviour, if charges against her are proved, and would be questioned once she returns from abroad. Later, CISF personnel have corroborated the Air India employees' version of the incident. Once Patel returned to India, she stated that the employees "are only trying to safeguard themselves by filing a false complaint against us." Incidentally, there was also a drunken passenger, who joined in this verbal fight. Afterwards, the organisers of the annual parade sent a written apology and a clarification to Patel and said it had booked two first class seats for Patel and her companion for the Mumbai-New York flight but the booking was automatically transferred from one flight to another, creating confusion.


title: Trixie Mattel

text: Brian Michael Firkus (born August 23, 1989), better known by the stage name Trixie Mattel, is an American drag queen, television personality, and singer-songwriter originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She is known for her exaggerated, high-camp style and blend of comedy and acoustic pop. After initially competing on the seventh season of the drag competition "RuPaul's Drag Race" in 2015, she would later go on to win the third season of "RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars" in 2018.


title: Trixie Mattel

text: Mattel stars in the World of Wonder web series "UNHhhh" (2016–present), its Viceland spin-off "The Trixie & Katya Show" (2017–2018), and the Netflix web series "I Like to Watch" (2019–present), alongside fellow drag queen and frequent collaborator Katya Zamolodchikova with whom she forms the popular comedy duo known as Trixie and Katya. Her music style is primarily folk and country, with her first and second studio albums "Two Birds" (2017) and "One Stone" (2018) both charting on the "Billboard" Folk Albums chart at number sixteen. Her third studio album "Barbara" (2020) featured an "electro-folk" sound and her first EP "Full Coverage, Vol. 1" (2021) consists of Mattel's covers of various songs. Her comedy special, "Trixie Mattel: One Night Only" (2020) was nominated for a Critics' Choice Television Award. She appeared as a judge on the competition series "Queen of the Universe" (2021–present). She also stars in and produces "Trixie Motel", a limited docuseries where she and her boyfriend, David Silver, renovate a rundown motel in Palm Springs, California (2022).


title: Trixie Mattel

text: Along with Katya, Mattel published her first book, "Trixie and Katya's Guide to Modern Womanhood" (2020), which became a "New York Times" bestseller. She has appeared on "New York Magazine"'s list of "The Most Powerful Drag Queens in America", ranking fourth. She also operates a YouTube channel focused on beauty and music, with frequent collaborations with fellow drag queens, and celebrities such as Iggy Azalea, Nicole Byer, and Margaret Cho. Her business ventures include being the founder and CEO of Trixie Cosmetics, a cosmetics brand that launched in 2019. Mattel's persona is inspired by her love of Barbie dolls: she owns a large collection of Barbies that she has shared in videos on her YouTube channel.


title: Trixie Mattel

text: Brian Michael Firkus was born on August 23, 1989, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He is part Ojibwe and comes from a Native American family in Crivitz, Wisconsin. He had an abusive stepfather who would call him a "Trixie" when he acted feminine, which later inspired his drag name. Her last name was inspired by her affinity for Mattel Barbie dolls and children's toys. Before deciding on "Trixie Mattel" as his drag name, he originally considered the name Cupcake. He moved in with his grandparents at age 15. His grandfather was a country musician who taught him how to play the guitar.


title: Trixie Mattel

text: After graduating from high school, Firkus studied at the Peck School of the Arts in the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, where he received a BFA in musical theatre and was introduced to drag while performing in a production of "The Rocky Horror Show" at the Oriental Theatre. He first performed in drag at LaCage NiteClub in Milwaukee, becoming a regular performer in Milwaukee's drag scene. He would perform with fellow drag queens Kim Chi and Shea Couleé in Milwaukee, and would also occasionally perform in Chicago. He attended beauty school in 2014 before withdrawing to participate in "RuPaul's Drag Race." Outside of drag, he worked in cosmetics at the time, freelancing at Sephora and working at Ulta and MAC.


title: Trixie Mattel

text: Mattel first gained widespread attention as a competitor in Season 7 of "RuPaul's Drag Race," in 2015. She was first eliminated in episode four and later reentered the competition in episode eight by winning the "Conjoined Twins" challenge with Pearl Liaison. Mattel was once again eliminated in episode 10, placing sixth overall and becoming the first queen to last more than one episode after returning to the competition. After her run on the show, Mattel performed her stand-up comedy tour "Ages 3 and Up" from 2015 to 2017.


title: Trixie Mattel

text: In October 2015, Mattel guest-starred in a special edition of WOWPresents' Fashion Photo Review with fellow season seven contestant Katya Zamolodchikova. World of Wonder later launched "UNHhhh", a comedy web series featuring the duo. The series became one of the most successful shows on the "WOW Presents" YouTube channel and earned them their first Streamy Award nomination for Show of the Year at the 7th Streamy Awards. In November 2016, Mattel had a guest appearance as herself on "". Mattel self-released her debut studio album "Two Birds" on May 2, 2017. The album debuted at number two on the Heatseekers Albums chart, number six on the Independent Albums chart, and number 16 on the Americana/Folk Albums chart. In December 2017, Mattel released "Homemade Christmas", an EP of three recorded Christmas songs that featured Zamolodchikova.


title: Trixie Mattel

text: Firkus is openly gay. Since 2016, he has been in a relationship with filmmaker David Silver, who also produced his documentary "Moving Parts". He is a vegetarian and also an atheist.


title: Trixie Mattel

text: In October 2017, it was announced that "UNHhhh" would come to an end after its second season. Shortly after, a television spin-off of "UNHhhh" for Viceland called "The Trixie and Katya Show" premiered. The show ran until March 2018. Midway through the season, Zamolodchikova suffered a mental health crisis triggered by a relapse into addiction, which caused her to be replaced by Bob the Drag Queen for the remainder of the season. Mattel and Zamolodchikova later reunited in October 2018 for a third season of "UNHhhh".


title: Trixie Mattel

text: In November 2017, Mattel and Zamolodchikova starred in a drag stage adaptation of the 1997 cult film "Romy and Michele's High School Reunion", entitled "Trixie and Katya's High School Reunion". Also in November 2017, Mattel produced a video for GQ Magazine "Trixie Mattel Makes a PB&J (and More Importantly, a Cocktail)", earning a nomination from the James Beard Foundation Awards in the humor category.


title: Trixie Mattel

text: Mattel later returned to the "Drag Race" franchise for the third season of "", which started airing on January 25, 2018. On March 15, 2018, her fellow competitors voted for her to advance to the final two, where she ultimately won against runner-up Kennedy Davenport in the final lipsync battle. In December 2018, she competed on the television special "RuPaul's Drag Race Holi-slay Spectacular" and won in a tie with the other competitors.


title: Trixie Mattel

text: On February 3, 2018, Mattel released an acoustic version of her song "Moving Parts" as a tease for her upcoming album. It became her first charting single, peaking at number 83 on the Scottish Single Chart. She dropped her second studio album, "One Stone", on March 15, 2018, the same night as the "All Stars" finale. The album peaked at number 16 on the Folk Albums chart, number ten on the Independent albums chart, and number one on the Heatseekers chart, becoming Mattel's first album to reach the top spot on a Billboard chart.


title: Trixie Mattel

text: In April 2018, she launched her new comedy world tour "Now with Moving Parts", followed by the "Super Bowl Cut" tour later that same year. A documentary film titled "" premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2019, and screened until May 2019. It documents Mattel as she embarks on her "Moving Parts" tour following her "All Stars" win, as well as her personal struggles. The documentary was made available on Video On Demand platforms on December 3, 2019. An accompanying acoustic soundtrack was released later in December. Mattel's first comedy special, "Trixie Mattel: Skinny Legend", aired on OutTV in Canada on September 26, 2019.


title: Trixie Mattel

text: In a September 2018 interview with "Billboard", she announced that she was working on her third studio album, "Barbara," featuring an "electro-folk" sound"." "Yellow Cloud" was released as the first single from the album on May 17, 2019, though it did not make the final cut. "Malibu" was released as the official first single on January 24, 2020 and the album was released a week later through Producer Entertainment Group and ATO Records. The album later received a GLAAD Media Award nomination for Best Breakthrough artist.


title: Trixie Mattel

text: In January 2019, Mattel and Zamolodchikova launched the fourth season of "UNHhhh". In June 2019, Mattel was one of 37 drag queens featured on the cover of "New York" magazine. The magazine ranked the 100 most powerful drag queens in America and placed Mattel at number 4.


title: Trixie Mattel

text: During the COVID-19 pandemic, filming of the fifth season of "UNHhhh" was put on hold. In its place, Mattel and Zamolodchikova launched "Trixie and Katya Save the World", a spin-off filmed from their homes. Mattel also took the time to start building her YouTube channel, which previously featured make-up tutorials and music videos, and expanded to include content reflecting her pastime as a toy collector, with videos reviewing new Barbie collections, talking about doll history, or baking with Easy Bake Ovens. Mattel and Zamolodchikova resumed filming the fifth season of "UNHhhh" later in 2020 and launched their podcast "The Bald and the Beautiful". On July 14, 2020, Mattel and Zamolodchikova released "Trixie and Katya's Guide to Modern Womanhood", an affectionate parody of women's self-help books. The book was a "New York Times" best-seller.


title: Trixie Mattel

text: In September 2020, Mattel released a cover of Lana Del Rey's "Video Games", which charted at number 66 on the Scottish singles chart and number 89 on the UK Downloads chart. In December 2020, it was announced that Mattel and Zamolodchikova would co-host the 10th Streamy Awards in Los Angeles. In the same ceremony, the duo was nominated for Show of the Year and Unscripted Series for "UNHhhh", winning the latter category.


title: Trixie Mattel

text: In February 2021, Mattel released a cover of the Violent Femmes track "Blister in The Sun", and announced the EP "Full Coverage, Vol. 1", which included the two aforementioned singles, as well as a cover of "Jackson" with Orville Peck. The EP was released on April 30, 2021. In May 2021, it was announced that Mattel would star in "Trixie Motel", a reality series on Discovery+ that would follow Mattel's efforts to renovate an old motel in Palm Springs. In mid 2021 it was hinted, then formally announced on July 1, 2021, that Mattel will co-star in a dating show with Zamolodchikova, to help her find a partner.


title: Trixie Mattel

text: In August 2021, Mattel and Zamolodchikova launched a newsletter, including light-hearted advice, "Gooped". In November 2021, Mattel announced "The Trixie Doll", a collectible fashion doll in her likeness, in collaboration with Integrity Toys.


title: Trixie Mattel

text: In December 2021, the drag queen singing competition "Queen of the Universe" premiered, featuring Mattel as one of the four judges. On November 12, 2021, Mattel released the single "Hello Hello" which is loosely inspired by 60s power pop. The music video was choreographed by fellow drag race alumna Laganja Estranja. Joseph Longo of "Them" said: "With “Hello Hello,” Mattel makes her case for pop star status — elaborate choreography, suave backup dancers, expressive makeup, and a sparkly mini-dress." The single "This Town" featuring Shakey Graves followed on January 28, 2022, along with the announcement of her fourth studio album, a double album called "The Blonde & Pink Albums". The third single "C'mon, Loretta" was released on April 15, 2022, with the full 14-track album following in June 2022.


title: Trixie Mattel

text: In fall 2021 Trixie Mattel began renovating a motel in Palm Springs with her partner David Silver. The renovation process was documented in the Discovery+ limited series "Trixie Motel", which premiered on June 3, 2022.


title: Trixie Mattel

text: On April 8, 2022 it was announced that Trixie and Katya's second book, "Working Girls: Trixie & Katya's Guide to Professional Womanhood" will be released on October 25, 2022. The book will include "advice for people entering the modern workplace, including satirical tips for choosing a career path, navigating the 'Nine Circles of Retail Hell,' corporate culture, grappling with suspicions that your colleague 'doesn't really hope their emails finds you well,' and the inevitable sailing into one's retiree era." as well as quizzes and an aptitude test.


title: Trixie Mattel

text: On May 1, 2019, Mattel announced that she would be releasing her make-up brand, Trixie Cosmetics, later that month and it would be available at RuPaul's DragCon LA on May 24, 2019. Mattel had previously dipped into the makeup industry with her Oh Honey! collaboration with independent makeup brand Sugarpill Cosmetics in 2018.


title: Trixie Mattel

text: In 2020, Trixie Cosmetics launched a collaboration collection with Zamolodchikova called "Red Scare".


title: Trixie Mattel

text: In February 2021, Mattel announced that she had become co-owner of Wisconsin's oldest LGBTQ+ bar, This Is It!, located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.


title: Trixie Mattel

text: Mattel and her partner David Silver bought a motel in Palm Springs, California originally named the Coral Sands Inn for $1.9 million. She had planned to transform it into an AirBnB to rent out, but changed her mind after viewing the property, and decided to pump in an additional $500,000 to renovate the motel to reflect the aesthetics of her drag persona, and enlisting designer Dani Dazey to collaborate on the project. The renovation process has been chronicled in a Discovery+ original series aptly titled Trixie Motel. The series is available to stream on HBO Max starting December 14, 2022.


title: Trixie Mattel

text: In addition to her comedic drag persona, Mattel is also a country folk singer-songwriter. Speaking to "Rolling Stone", Mattel listed her primary influences as June Carter Cash and Dolly Parton and states that she grew up on the music of George Jones, Conway Twitty, and Johnny Cash. She is also a fan of Jason Isbell, Kris Kristofferson, Aimee Mann, Michelle Branch, and Kacey Musgraves. Several of Mattel's influences for the finished version of her third studio album, "Barbara," include The Go-Go's, Blondie, The B-52's, Fountains of Wayne, Weezer, Aimee Mann, and The Click Five.


title: Rodrygo

text: Rodrygo Silva de Goes (; born 9 January 2001), simply known as Rodrygo, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a forward for La Liga club Real Madrid and the Brazil national team.


title: Rodrygo

text: He began his career with Santos, where he played 80 games and scored 17 goals before a €45 million transfer to Real Madrid in 2019. At international level, Rodrygo made his senior debut for Brazil in 2019, aged only 18.


title: Rodrygo

text: Born in Osasco, São Paulo, Rodrygo joined Santos' youth setup in 2011 at the age of ten, initially assigned to the futsal team. In March 2017, with the first team regulars in Peru for a Copa Libertadores match against Sporting Cristal, he was called up to the first team by manager Dorival Júnior to complete training.


title: Rodrygo

text: On 21 July 2017, Rodrygo signed his first professional contract, after agreeing to a five-year deal. On 1 November, he was promoted to the main squad by interim manager Elano.


title: Rodrygo

text: Rodrygo made his first team – and Série A – debut on 4 November 2017, coming on as a late substitute for Bruno Henrique in a 3–1 home win against Atlético Mineiro. The following 25 January he scored his first senior goal, netting a last-minute winner in a 2–1 Campeonato Paulista away win against Ponte Preta.


title: Rodrygo

text: Rodrygo made his Copa Libertadores debut on 1 March 2018, replacing Eduardo Sasha in a 2–0 away loss against Real Garcilaso; aged 17 years and 50 days, he became the youngest player of Santos to appear in the competition. Fifteen days later he scored his first goal in the tournament, netting his team's second through an individual effort in a 3–1 win against Nacional at the Pacaembu Stadium; at the age of 17 years, two months and six days, he became the youngest Brazilian to score in the competition before his record was broken by fellow Santos youth graduates Kaiky and Ângelo.


title: Rodrygo

text: Rodrygo scored his first goal in the main category of Brazilian football on 14 April 2018, netting the last in a 2–0 home win against Ceará. On 3 June, he scored a hat-trick and also assisted Gabriel's last goal in a 5–2 home routing of Vitória.


title: Rodrygo

text: On 26 July 2018, Rodrygo changed his jersey number from 43 to 9 (a number he already wore during the Libertadores). For the 2019 campaign, he again switched numbers, now to jersey 11, previously worn by fellow youth graduate Neymar.


title: Rodrygo

text: On 15 June 2018, Real Madrid reached an agreement with Santos for the transfer of Rodrygo, with the player joining "Los Blancos" in June 2019 and signing until 2025. The rumoured fee was of €45 million, with Santos receiving €40 million as the club owned 80% of his rights with the rest owned by Rodrygo's agents.


title: Rodrygo

text: On 25 September 2019, Rodrygo made his first team debut and scored his first league goal against Osasuna within a mere minute. He scored his first hat-trick, being a perfect hat-trick, and gave an assist for the club on 6 November, aged 18 years and 301 days old, against Galatasaray in a 6–0 win in the 2019–20 UEFA Champions League season. The second youngest ever to score a hat-trick in the competition, he is also the first player born in the 21st century to score in the tournament. In his first season, he managed to make 19 appearances, while scoring two goals during the league season, as Real Madrid won the 2019–20 La Liga. On 3 November 2020, Rodrygo scored the winning goal in a 3–2 victory over Inter Milan in the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League.


title: Rodrygo

text: On 12 April 2022, after coming on as a substitute in the second leg of the 2021–22 UEFA Champions League quarter-final tie against Chelsea, he scored with a volleyed finish to send the game into extra-time, in which Karim Benzema scored the winner from a header, allowing Real Madrid to progress into the semi-finals. On 30 April, Rodrygo helped Real clinch their 35th La Liga title after scoring twice in a 4–0 win against Espanyol at the Bernabéu. On 4 May, while trailing 0–1 (3–5 on aggregate) in the second leg of the Champions League semi-final tie against Manchester City, he scored two goals between the 89th and 91st minutes to level the tie and send the game into extra-time. Benzema scored a penalty to win the game 3–1, allowing Real Madrid to progress into the final against Liverpool with an aggregate score of 6–5 and eventually win the tournament. Following the turnaround win against City and other recent last-minute winning contributions, Rodrygo’s impact on the team was praised despite his young age and he quickly turned into a cult hero at Madrid.


title: Rodrygo

text: On 30 March 2017, Rodrygo was called up to Brazil under-17s for the year's Montaigu Tournament. He made his debut in the championship by scoring his side's only goal in a 2–1 loss against Denmark, and netted two more against Cameroon and United States.


title: Rodrygo

text: On 7 March 2018, Rodrygo and Santos teammate Yuri Alberto were called up to the under-20s, but both were cut from the squad six days later after a request from his club's president.


title: Rodrygo

text: In November 2019, Rodrygo was called up for the first time to the Brazil senior team, for the Superclásico de las Américas against rivals Argentina in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. In the 1–0 loss on 15 November, he replaced Willian for the final 20 minutes.


title: Rodrygo

text: Rodrygo's father, Eric, is a former professional footballer. A right back, he played in several tiers of Brazilian football, the highest of which was Série B.


title: JPEG

text: JPEG ( ) is a commonly used method of lossy compression for digital images, particularly for those images produced by digital photography. The degree of compression can be adjusted, allowing a selectable tradeoff between storage size and image quality. JPEG typically achieves 10:1 compression with little perceptible loss in image quality. Since its introduction in 1992, JPEG has been the most widely used image compression standard in the world, and the most widely used digital image format, with several billion JPEG images produced every day as of 2015.


title: JPEG

text: The term "JPEG" is an acronym for the Joint Photographic Experts Group, which created the standard in 1992. JPEG was largely responsible for the proliferation of digital images and digital photos across the Internet, and later social media.


title: JPEG

text: JPEG compression is used in a number of image file formats. JPEG/Exif is the most common image format used by digital cameras and other photographic image capture devices; along with JPEG/JFIF, it is the most common format for storing and transmitting photographic images on the World Wide Web. These format variations are often not distinguished, and are simply called JPEG.


title: JPEG

text: The MIME media type for JPEG is "image/jpeg", except in older Internet Explorer versions, which provides a MIME type of "image/pjpeg" when uploading JPEG images. JPEG files usually have a filename extension of codice_1 or codice_2. JPEG/JFIF supports a maximum image size of 65,535×65,535 pixels, hence up to 4 gigapixels for an aspect ratio of 1:1. In 2000, the JPEG group introduced a format intended to be a successor, JPEG 2000, but it was unable to replace the original JPEG as the dominant image standard.


title: JPEG

text: The original JPEG specification published in 1992 implements processes from various earlier research papers and patents cited by the CCITT (now ITU-T) and Joint Photographic Experts Group.


title: JPEG

text: The JPEG specification cites patents from several companies. The following patents provided the basis for its arithmetic coding algorithm.


title: JPEG

text: The JPEG specification also cites three other patents from IBM. Other companies cited as patent holders include AT&T (two patents) and Canon Inc. Absent from the list is , filed by Compression Labs' Wen-Hsiung Chen and Daniel J. Klenke in October 1986. The patent describes a DCT-based image compression algorithm, and would later be a cause of controversy in 2002 (see "Patent controversy" below). However, the JPEG specification did cite two earlier research papers by Wen-Hsiung Chen, published in 1977 and 1984.


title: JPEG

text: "JPEG" stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group, the name of the committee that created the JPEG standard and also other still picture coding standards. The "Joint" stood for ISO TC97 WG8 and CCITT SGVIII. Founded in 1986, the group developed the JPEG standard during the late 1980s. The group published the JPEG standard in 1992.


title: JPEG

text: In 1987, ISO TC 97 became ISO/IEC JTC 1 and, in 1992, CCITT became ITU-T. Currently on the JTC1 side, JPEG is one of two sub-groups of ISO/IEC Joint Technical Committee 1, Subcommittee 29, Working Group 1 (ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29/WG 1) – titled as "Coding of still pictures". On the ITU-T side, ITU-T SG16 is the respective body. The original JPEG Group was organized in 1986, issuing the first JPEG standard in 1992, which was approved in September 1992 as ITU-T Recommendation T.81 and, in 1994, as ISO/IEC 10918-1.


title: JPEG

text: The JPEG standard specifies the codec, which defines how an image is compressed into a stream of bytes and decompressed back into an image, but not the file format used to contain that stream.


title: JPEG

text: The Exif and JFIF standards define the commonly used file formats for interchange of JPEG-compressed images.


title: JPEG

text: JPEG standards are formally named as "Information technology – Digital compression and coding of continuous-tone still images". ISO/IEC 10918 consists of the following parts:


title: JPEG

text: Ecma International TR/98 specifies the JPEG File Interchange Format (JFIF); the first edition was published in June 2009.


title: JPEG

text: In 2002, Forgent Networks asserted that it owned and would enforce patent rights on the JPEG technology, arising from a patent that had been filed on October 27, 1986, and granted on October 6, 1987: by Compression Labs' Wen-Hsiung Chen and Daniel J. Klenke. While Forgent did not own Compression Labs at the time, Chen later sold Compression Labs to Forgent, before Chen went on to work for Cisco. This led to Forgent acquiring ownership over the patent. Forgent's 2002 announcement created a furor reminiscent of Unisys' attempts to assert its rights over the GIF image compression standard.


title: JPEG

text: The JPEG committee investigated the patent claims in 2002 and were of the opinion that they were invalidated by prior art, a view shared by various experts.


title: JPEG

text: Between 2002 and 2004, Forgent was able to obtain about US$105 million by licensing their patent to some 30 companies. In April 2004, Forgent sued 31 other companies to enforce further license payments. In July of the same year, a consortium of 21 large computer companies filed a countersuit, with the goal of invalidating the patent. In addition, Microsoft launched a separate lawsuit against Forgent in April 2005. In February 2006, the United States Patent and Trademark Office agreed to re-examine Forgent's JPEG patent at the request of the Public Patent Foundation. On May 26, 2006, the USPTO found the patent invalid based on prior art. The USPTO also found that Forgent knew about the prior art, yet it intentionally avoided telling the Patent Office. This makes any appeal to reinstate the patent highly unlikely to succeed.


title: JPEG

text: Forgent also possesses a similar patent granted by the European Patent Office in 1994, though it is unclear how enforceable it is.


title: JPEG

text: As of October 27, 2006, the U.S. patent's 20-year term appears to have expired, and in November 2006, Forgent agreed to abandon enforcement of patent claims against use of the JPEG standard.


title: JPEG

text: The JPEG committee has as one of its explicit goals that their standards (in particular their baseline methods) be implementable without payment of license fees, and they have secured appropriate license rights for their JPEG 2000 standard from over 20 large organizations.


title: JPEG

text: Beginning in August 2007, another company, Global Patent Holdings, LLC claimed that its patent () issued in 1993, is infringed by the downloading of JPEG images on either a website or through e-mail. If not invalidated, this patent could apply to any website that displays JPEG images. The patent was under reexamination by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office from 2000 to 2007; in July 2007, the Patent Office revoked all of the original claims of the patent but found that an additional claim proposed by Global Patent Holdings (claim 17) was valid. Global Patent Holdings then filed a number of lawsuits based on claim 17 of its patent.


title: JPEG

text: In its first two lawsuits following the reexamination, both filed in Chicago, Illinois, Global Patent Holdings sued the Green Bay Packers, CDW, Motorola, Apple, Orbitz, Officemax, Caterpillar, Kraft and Peapod as defendants. A third lawsuit was filed on December 5, 2007, in South Florida against ADT Security Services, AutoNation, Florida Crystals Corp., HearUSA, MovieTickets.com, Ocwen Financial Corp. and Tire Kingdom, and a fourth lawsuit on January 8, 2008, in South Florida against the Boca Raton Resort & Club. A fifth lawsuit was filed against Global Patent Holdings in Nevada. That lawsuit was filed by Zappos.com, Inc., which was allegedly threatened by Global Patent Holdings, and sought a judicial declaration that the '341 patent is invalid and not infringed.


title: JPEG

text: Global Patent Holdings had also used the '341 patent to sue or threaten outspoken critics of broad software patents, including Gregory Aharonian and the anonymous operator of a website blog known as the "Patent Troll Tracker." On December 21, 2007, patent lawyer Vernon Francissen of Chicago asked the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to reexamine the sole remaining claim of the '341 patent on the basis of new prior art.


title: JPEG

text: On March 5, 2008, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office agreed to reexamine the '341 patent, finding that the new prior art raised substantial new questions regarding the patent's validity. In light of the reexamination, the accused infringers in four of the five pending lawsuits have filed motions to suspend (stay) their cases until completion of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's review of the '341 patent. On April 23, 2008, a judge presiding over the two lawsuits in Chicago, Illinois granted the motions in those cases. On July 22, 2008, the Patent Office issued the first "Office Action" of the second reexamination, finding the claim invalid based on nineteen separate grounds. On Nov. 24, 2009, a Reexamination Certificate was issued cancelling all claims.