Gérard Darmon at the Cannes film festival in 2019 -

LAURENT VU / HAEDRICH JEAN-MARC / SIPA

The photo didn't stay on Instagram for long, but it did have time to provoke strong reactions.

On this now deleted photo, Gérard Darmon appears grimaced in black.

“Othello for Marleau…!

», Wrote the actor of

Family Business

who will be soon in an episode of

Captain Marleau

, the detective series of Corinne Masiero.

If the actor affirmed to refer to

Othello

or the Moor of Venice

of William Shakespeare, the Net surfers saw there, for their part, a

blackface

(make up his face in black).

A practice considered racist which goes back to the American “minstrel shows” born in the first part of the 19th century, shows during which whites blackened their faces to play blacks and to make fun of them.

"I am a free actor"

Faced with many indignant reactions, Gérard Darmon tried to explain himself in comments.

" What is happening ?

I'm talking

about Shakespeare's

Othello

.

Laurence Olivier.

Orson Welles.

Pierre Brasseur (Claude's father) and a multitude of others, he insisted.

What are you talking to me about with black faces.

So calm down, don't sue me and if there's any time left, (re) read Shakespeare.

I am a free actor and if one day I want to do a biopic on Mao Tse-Tung, I will do it ”.

Some Internet users recalled that Shakespeare described Othello as the "Moor of Venice", the character could as well be from North Africa as from Sub-Saharan Africa.

Gérard Darmon ended up removing the cliché from his Instagram account without extinguishing the controversy.

On Twitter, screenshots continue to be shared.

Several celebrities have been pinned in recent years for wearing a "blackface", including Antoine Griezmann who disguised himself as an African-American basketball player.

Society

VIDEO.

Griezmann grimé in black: The "" blackface "reveals a deep forgetfulness of the racist origins of these shows"

Television

VIDEO.

Racism, "blackface", colorism ... The "Dear White People" series explained to the French

  • Shakespeare

  • Racism

  • Culture

  • Instagram