Malaysian Singer Apologises For 'Brownface' MV & Explains That It Was About Sunburnt Skin

In the almost five-minute long music video, Malaysian singer Choo Hao Ren (朱浩仁) can be seen singing a song about turning a brown-skinned woman fair while describing her as a 'white doll' — which is also the title of the song.

The brown-skinned woman is played by an influencer named Qiu Wen, who normally boasts fair skin in her Instagram photos.

However, in the music video, she paints her skin brown and portrays a high schooler who gets bullied for being tanned.

In one of the scenes, a canteen vendor speaks Bahasa Malaysia with Qiu Wen's character, which can be seen as a sign that she is mistaken as Malay.

It quickly prompts her schoolmates to laugh at her.

"Your dark forearms are bullied by the sun until you reach home. I am concerned, do you know?"

Choo, who plays a boy with a hero complex, then secretly gifts her 'nutritious' sachets that can turn her fair upon drinking.

The music video also includes unscientific skin-whitening tips, such as drinking soy milk to turn one's skin tone lighter by a few shades.

By the 60th day, Qiu Wen's character turns fair, winning praise from her friends who once bullied her.

Additionally, the song also uses homophonic word plays to make the term 'very white' in Chinese sound like the vulgar word for 'vagina' in Hokkien.

Many netizens criticised Choo and his team for the racist music video and propagating antiquated ideals that fairness is beauty.

"Personally, I [find] this MV offensive, especially with the incredibly inappropriate use of tanned skin. Society has been trying to be prejudice-free and this MV creation [is] indirectly implying that fairer skin girls are more beautiful, [while] dark skin tones [are] inferior and less beautiful," read a comment.

"I think the team can create a better MV than going after such [an extreme] to gain publicity.

At the time of writing, the video was removed from YouTube.

"[Throughout] the entire production, a group of people saw this in motion and thought, 'hey this is a great idea?' It's 2021 la, please don't stupid can?" read a comment written on Choo's Instagram post, which has also been removed.

"Seems like school didn't teach y'all enough about cultural appropriation," added another.

"This is not ok it's 2021 y'all," said a person, while another asked, "Why the f*ck is there blackface in 2021?"

In the seven-minute long video, Choo also took the opportunity to clarify that the character Qiu Wen played was dark from being sunburnt.

"By sharing this MV, I hope you know that my intention is to highlight the story and effects of sunburn. It was never my intention to touch on skin colours and racial sensitive topics," said the 32-year-old singer.

"If I have offended anyone, I sincerely apologise."

He also admitted that he was "immature" when producing the music video, adding that he will make the necessary edits to the song and share it with his audience in the future.

Choo said the new music video will not contain any offensive content.

The apology video made no mention that the music video was trying to equate fair skin with beauty nor did he apologise for propagating the misguided beauty standard.

Meanwhile, watch the original music video here.