No more face painting in “Your Face Sounds Familiar”! The owner of the format reacted

The entertainment program “Your Face Sounds Familiar” is one of Polsat’s most popular programs. The music show has been on the station’s schedule since 2014 and there have been many changes over the ten years the program has been running. However, the most important modification in the rules for organizing the Polish edition of the program is yet to happen.

Over the years, people have pointed out that this is inappropriate. Polsat, however, did not see a problem

It’s about using the so-called blackface, i.e. painting the faces of program participants to make their skin color look like the actual artist who the show’s contestants play. In the Western world, this procedure is considered offensive, but many Polish Internet users also think the same.

This treatment has been used in the Polish version of “Your Face Sounds Familiar” for many years. Recently, the performance of Kuba Szmajkowski, who played Kendrick Lamar, caused huge controversy. The young singer won the episode, and an avalanche of criticism poured out on him and the production. The situation was even described in the foreign press, including: British “”:

Kuba Szmajkowski, a Polish star with 163,000 followers on Instagram, won the second episode of the 19th season of the program. (…) He performed Kendrick Lamar’s song ‘Humble’ in full blackface, fake braids and a fake beard. He used the n-word, which was not censored during broadcast. Actress Pola Gonciarz also darkened her skin, impersonating Beyonce with her song ‘If I Were a Boy’. They both published recordings of their performances on their social media profiles, we read.

The article also noted that Polsat, the show’s production and the participants “expressed no remorse for the growing controversy.” Moreover, the text recalls that “Your Face Sounds Familiar” has already been criticized for the use of blackface, as evidenced by the Facebook page “Blackface in Polish pop culture”, which is described as a “chronicle of cultural appropriation”.

Now the owner of the format has made a decision. The same rules for all markets

However, the wind of change is coming. This fanpage published a statement sent by the program’s production to the site’s administrators. It follows that from the upcoming edition, the Polish version of the program will be adapted to specific rules that are the same for the whole world.

By decision of the global owner of the “Your Face Sounds Familiar” format, the global media and entertainment group Banijay, the Polish production of the “Your Face Sounds Familiar” program, carried out by Banijay’s Endemol Shine Polska, will be adapted to the strictly defined rules contained in the international format bible, which are transparent and the same for all markets.

“This means that from the latest edition of the program, participants will not change their skin color or imitate other physical features that could be considered cultural appropriation” – we read further.

Thanks to this change, the 20th anniversary edition of the program will be truly revolutionary. In addition, we will see stars known from previous seasons. Supposedly, they will include, among others: Katarzyna Skrzynecka, and Piotr Gąsowski is also expected to return to the program. However, it is not known whether he will become a host or a juror.