UCLA Investigating Kanye West-Themed Frat Party After Blackface Photos Posted

There is a controversy brewing on the campus of UCLA, it appears, after the school’s Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity and Alpha Phi sorority threw a party with the theme “Kanye Western”, which sounds like it must have been racist as hell.

The Daily Bruin reports “several student groups” are now asking the university to respond to what they perceived as insensitive behavior, including a few attendees showing up with their “foreheads covered in charcoal” and others in “baggy clothes, plumped lips and padded bottoms”.

After photos from the party were posted to social media, the incident began drawing intense online criticism for actions that a few are calling racist and mocking black culture, according to the Times. According to the LA Times, the Afrikan Student Union is planning to meet at noon on Thursday at the Bruin Bear statue, where students will wear black. As one might expect, UCLA’s black students are extremely unhappy about this. Expect way more of these stories to hit the air when Halloween parties start to roll around in a few weeks. We remind students that while they are free to celebrate in ways that draw on popular culture, their specific choices can cause harm and pain to fellow members of their community.

“Put simply, just because you can do something does not mean you should”, it says in a statement. In response to the issue, people took to social media using the hashtag #BlackBruinsMatter. Fourth-year student Jaimeson Cortez gave a comment to the publication.

The Los Angeles Times reports a few students showed up wearing blackface.

A UCLA fraternity and sorority are under fire after throwing a “Kanye Western” themed party, which was viewed by many as being racially and culturally insensitive.

[Photos Courtesy of David McNew, Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images & Instagram].