Better blog post title: "On a Witch Hunt."

Showed the husband and adult son. Husband said, "Frank Zappa" and son didn't get it.

Honestly, dumb on his part but I don't think there was real intent.

I'll repeat that Macklemore is 30 years old.

Christ, I miss Goldy.

What a dumbfuck. That's the rosy spin for "Mack".

Okay, clearly Macklemore intended it to be offensive (It wouldn't be a funny costume if it wasn't a gross stereotype), or he's too ignorant to dress himself. It doesn't really require detective work to figure out if he did it by accident - there was no accident.

I'm not Jewish, I'm not a Macklemore fan, so I have no skin in this game - so here's the scorecard:

Was it offensive: Yes.
Was it intentional: Yes.
Was it harmless: No.
Is he sorry: Apparently not.

Stop dancing around it. Call him out as a bigot and move on.

@1 Beat me to it. Maybe we should start calling this "Mackghazi."

That's some Fine Investigative Reporting right there.

Yeah, seems like we should be equally angry at the costume shop management for carrying that item. And at the manufacturer for making it in the first place...

Every other newspaper should just suspend publishing the rest of the year cause obviously the Stranger has the Pulitzer in the bag with this powerful reporting.

@12:

And we should probably also point fingers at all the other people who may have purchased it in the past, or who may purchase it in the future, or any actor who ever has or ever will play Fagin in any productions of "Oliver!" until the end of time. Oh, and let's not leave out Charles Dickens, since he invented the character in the first place.

The point being, it was a stupid stunt, people were legitimately offended, and Macklemore would do himself a big favor by just owning up to it and apologizing. But I for one am going to leave off trying to pick motes out of someone's eye over this.

I have a feeling I'll turn Macklamore's music off after a few seconds if I listen to it. Can someone describe what it sounds like, with Jen "Pulitzer Writing" Graves gusto?

@1 What people like you aren't getting (assuming you aren't a screwed up racist), is that for those with a basic knowledge of modern history this is wildly blatant caricature, the caricature used for Nazi propaganda to pull the populace into direct persecution of the German Jews ,and eventually to the Holocaust.

You can choose to remain ignorant, but it doesn't make it not that image. Since Macklemore made specific statements about the nose and its origin - but has said nothing else - it is perfectly reasonable for someone to go see if they could back him up. Maybe he shouldn't be making statements that are false in response to people's deep offense.

[Somebody help me. Is this ignorance of history an age thing. Are any of you who also find this obviously and blatantly offensive under age 35? Is this the post-Kristallnacht generation?]

@12 In their possible defense, Fagin is a classic character. Perhaps, it is no surprise, since there are plays that have this stereotype, that it would be available. But, actually, it seemed a lot more troubling to me by the time I finished the sentence...

Oh fuck, here we go. Everyone grab a second pitchfork and sharpen it up for Display and Costume!

As someone under 30, age is not an excuse for ignorance or for racism.

@15 Now, he's lied about the nose, thereby suggesting he actually knew about the packaging. What a fucking idiot. So dense he doesn't know when to head straight to his label's PR firm. Shit, it's not like it would break the bank for him to consult someone who wasn't as stupid and ignorant as he is. I myself don't have that kind of money, but if I did, I would use it to help get myself out of the trouble I get myself into.

Wow, this is the closest thing to actual research on a subject that I've ever seen from anybody at the Slog. Good job, Anna. You're almost a reporter now!

Oh god why does anyone care?

Get. The. Fuck. Over. It.

Perhaps SLOG and Gawker have a lot more in common than they would like to admit.

Thing is, this issue is getting circa 30 comments a post.

Showgirls, etc are getting bang for their advertising buck!

I don't even like him but I will defend him: get the fuck over it you fucking pussies. The stranger shits on region every chance it gets.(as do I) but when it's a Jew or a Muslim, we've all gotta watch our tongues. Fuck you people.

Come on Anna Minard. Respond to that.

@21... uh that presumes he ever looked at the packaging at all, versus what it sounds like which is that his prop team picked up some stuff, presumably unpacked it to make sure it wasn't defective, and gave him some stuff to run with.

This Benghazi-level reporting is pretty low. Seems like the Stranger HUAC team could ask the guy some pretty straight-forward questions and either move on or persecute.

Okay, it was a bit of an offensive costume, I admit. But a question: would the Stranger staff at least have been okay if it was a Jew doing this?

Seattle is the only place I know that doesn't adhere to the old "it's okay to poke fun at your own kind" rule. I make jibes about being half black all the time (where's my forty acres and a mule!...ah, I mean, 20 acres and a goat cause I'm only half) and uptight Seattle pricks act like I just murdered a prostitute or something.

At least be bigger than most Seattle idiots and admit that people have a right to poke fun at their own kind...otherwise this is the most racist thing in history:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3PJF0YE…

My goodness, antisemitism in the Hip-Hop community? I never would have expected such villainy. Next you'll tell me there's sexism, too! Or celebrations of violent behavior!

Now that this awful thing has been pointed out, though, I'm sure the hatefulness will be eradicated in short order, and Hip-Hop will return to its core ideals of of diversity, tolerance, and pacifism.

Where was the outrage when Humpty Hump wore the same nose in the Humpty Dance?!?!

So I take it the office threw an intervention with Kelly-O with the same gusto eh? Cue pulling of comment for "trolling" in 3.2.1...

Next you should dig through his garbage in search of the incriminating packaging!

Oh hey, Macklemore apologized! Only took 1 day....We're still waiting Kelly-o (seriously Stranger if you want any credibility on calling out this type of thing you need to address one of your own staff being 1/2 of a blackface costume, especially when that staff member calls out other people for the same thing she does).

http://macklemore.com/

I thought we were against the Internet outrage machine? People are working so hard to twist their panties up over this.

Clearly, Macklemore should be brought before the Stranger editorial board to answer important questions about what he knew about the fake nose, and when he knew it. #Mackghazi

From Macklemore.com:

"Family, friends and fans alike who know me well, know that I’m absolutely not the person described in certain headlines today. There is no worse feeling than being misunderstood, especially when people are hurt or offended.

On Friday night we had a surprise show at the EMP Museum in Seattle. Earlier in the day I thought it would be fun to dress up in a disguise and go incognito to the event, so that I could walk around unnoticed and surprise the crowd with a short performance. I picked up a bunch of fake mustaches and beards and grabbed a left over wig from our recent trip to Japan.

As it turns out the fake noses they sell at the costume store are usually big (my nose didn’t fit most of them). So I ended up with a big witch nose. I went with a black beard, because that’s the furthest color from my natural hair. Disguise was the intention. I personally thought I looked very ambiguous in terms of any “type” of person. Some people there thought I looked like Ringo, some Abe Lincoln. If anything I thought I looked like Humpty Hump with a bowl cut.

We showed up to the event, I hit the stage in the outfit, rocked two songs, took pictures and went home. We had a great time and it was fun to be a surprise guest in a costume. I’ve always loved dressing up and have been doing so my entire career. The character I dressed up as on Friday had no intended cultural identity or background. I wasn’t attempting to mimic any culture, nor resemble one. A “Jewish stereotype” never crossed my mind.

My intention was to dress up and surprise the people at the show with a random costume and nothing more. Thus, it was surprising and disappointing that the images of a disguise were sensationalized leading to the immediate assertion that my costume was anti-Semetic. I acknowledge how the costume could, within a context of stereotyping, be ascribed to a Jewish caricature. I am here to say that it was absolutely not my intention, and unfortunately at the time I did not foresee the costume to be viewed in such regard. I’m saddened that this story, or any of my choices, would lead to any form of negativity.

I will let my body of work and the causes for which I’ve supported speak for themselves. I hope that anyone who may question my intent take a few moments to discover the human and artist that I strive to be. I respect all cultures and all people. I would never intentionally put down anybody for the fabric that makes them who they are. I love human beings, love originality, and… happen to love a weird outfit from time to time.

I truly apologize to anybody that I may have offended. I hope this better explains the situation and my point of view.

With love,

Ben

PS - Out of a negative can come a positive. Through this situation I’ve got hip to some incredible groups like the ADL and I encourage people to check the great work they, and others like them, do: http://www.adl.org"

Why does Macklemore continue to assert he wore a "witch" nose, and why does he so callously slur the Wiccan community? We want answers! #Mackghazi

@40, yes, we read it already. It's bullshit. The whole point of this post is that it's a bullshit excuse, because that is not a witch's nose. Macklemore is lying.

@40

Oh, it's so nice to know that Macklemore has now heard of the laudable but ever-so-obscure Anti-Defamation League!

And he's sorry if you were offended, too! What a stand-up guy!

@40: Good grief. It wasn't sensationalized, it was just reported on. People were asking "why the fuck are you wearing a Fagin nose and a black beard that represent extremely negative stereotypes of Jews?" And then he 'apologizes' by saying that it is the readers responsibility to understand the person he really is?

It is true, this is completely our fault. We all hurt Macklemore today by pointing this out. If there is anyone truly at fault, it is the people who noticed the similarities. They were just too damn lazy to discover the human and artist he strives to be.

To me, this is no more offensive than drag queens (or straight men, for that matter) imitating women. I mean, talk about your privileged groups exaggerating the stereotypical tropes associated with a less privileged group, right?

But I'm old enough to remember when Macklemore would have been considered an evil "cultural appropriator" simply for dressing like a hip hop dude. Who knows when that became totally acceptable?

Hrm, I guess when he bought his Sheik nose he forgot to buy a headdress and just threw on a wig.

This controversy is all sorts of absurd.

Close up of the nose. http://www.auctiva.com/hostedimages/show…

FTR, I'm 30-ish and am gobsmacked by the number of people not seeing how this is offensive.

@49 and @50 Don't usually read unregistered comments, but I appreciate yours here.

BTW, yes, Fagin was explicitly Jewish.

Does anyone know why it is that we native Seattleites say Costume and Display when the store is actually called "Display and Costume"? This is one of those weird little peculiarities, like the fact that The Ave isn't an avenue.

I agree @51, I never read unregistered comments (didn't know I could!). It doesn't look like Al Pacino put on a big nose to play Shylock, although people used to. The caricature is the problem but why would Macklemore have willfully donned it any more than he'd wear blackface? What could he gain from it? Did people recognize the caricature, laugh at it, find it amusing, or was it part of the act? I think he's just ignorant, because what could he gain from an anti-Semitic joke followed by playing ignorant? It's a lose-lose.

@53 Yup. Like I said. This is the post-Kristallnacht generation. They don't want to have to apologize anymore. Like they say, WE are being Nazis by bringing it up. It's our fault for hurting Macklemore's feelings by bringing it up.

@54 You'll regret it if you start reading the unregistered comments. I'm going back to ignoring them again until I forget.

@55 No kidding, I figured that out when I looked @53.

@21:

On what basis do you conclude he "lied" about the nose? According to the people interviewed at D&CS, nobody recalls actually selling the costume pieces to Macklemore himself. And although he apparently said, "I went to Costume Display", I don't find it out of the realm of probability that the more accurate description may have been, "I sent some of my people to Display & Costume Supply" (such conflation of self with one's entourage not being exactly an unusual perceptual phenomenon among celebrities). As such, it doesn't strike me as any more reasonable to immediately discount the possibility that he sent someone to buy some random disguise-makings, and that person, for whatever reason, grabbed the Fagin Nose instead of, say, the Witch Set, and presented all to their boss already removed from the blister pack, because, that's what you hire minions to do. Maybe that's what happened, maybe not. I wasn't there, I don't know. It's not my place to defend him, but at the same time I can certainly understand how such a very plausible situation may have occurred. Under the circumstances, and in the absence of a preponderance of evidence to the contrary, I'm willing - for now at least - to give him the benefit of the doubt.

And it should be noted that in the interim he has apologized (although personally, I find it, as I do most offered by public figures these days, rather weak, albeit sincere), he clearly understands now that what he did, regardless of his intent, was offensive to many people, and he seems contrite and willing to make amends. So, I don't really see, aside from pure, culture-of-outrage spleen-venting, what useful purpose is served by continued excoriation. People make mistakes, they do dumb things that in hindsight they probably wouldn't have done, had they thought through the potential ramifications. No one can claim a spotless record in this regard.

This "I don't see race or racism, and people who do are the real racists" reaction coming from white people on this issue is deeply embarrassing (I say as a white person myself). Age is no excuse. Racist caricatures are real and have an effect even if you're ignorant of them, and even if you don't personally see what the deal is. The correct reaction isn't to plead ignorance and talk about what an enlightened person you are and how you meant well. It's to lead with an apology, acknowledge your ignorance, admit that you made a mistake, and determine not to do it again. And make amends if you can.

It's not about you, as the clueless racist. You are part of a society with a long history of racism and deep divisions on race that continue to the present day. Get over it, grow up, take responsibility for your actions, and stop making excuses. That's basic respect and human decency.

More idiocy from Anna Minard.

First her editorializing and being a spokesperson for $15/hr., and now this INCREDIBLY investigative journalism!

WOW!

Seriously. Go get a $15/hr. job. You suck at this one.

Well said, @62.

What, so he's not dressed as a sheik? Because that's the first word I see on the nose package. Good thing he didn't wear a turban with that; the Islamic community would have been outraged.

One of Dear Leader's most successful pogroms has been his antisemitic attacks on bankers and investment companies so maybe Macklemore was just following Dear Leader's example.

"I bought the nose thinking it was making Arabs, so clearly I'm not racist."

@26- People who are too stupid to tell the difference between shitting on religious and bigotry against ethnic/religious communities should just shut the fuck up.

What's most amazing about this is, if you take Mack at his word, he thought that was a witch's nose. I find that much harder to believe than that he might have been (and might still be) woefully ignorant of historical and current racism and racist propoganda. Apparently, his childhood was not just deprived of education but also of Halloween.

Also, his apology was so standard and front loaded with self-aggrandizement as to seem both wishy-washy and corporate, despite the overwhelming sincerity inherent in everything he does (except wearing an obviously racist costume in a questionable context).

Taking his approach and mixing in a lie about the nose casts a much more negative image for me than the costume alone would have.

Any asshole who would even tie a costume of anything into someone's persona so negatively, especially when it is so far from the real Ben - should have their head examined...or have pies thrown at them or something...

@63

Is this part of your restaurant's brand? "Come enjoy dinner served by an angry internet troll!"

It looks like the witch nose and the sheik/fagan nose are the same mold, just photographed at different angles to be sold to both women and men.

You're right, it's not a witch nose. The Witch one is the EXACT SAME MOLD but with a wart on it, making it magically less anti-semitic to wear. I'm sure when they shit these out of a factory in China, they take slightly more satisfaction in stamping latex with a mold WITHOUT a wart, because then they know they are really sticking it to the secret Jewish cabal that runs the world's banking system from their underground lair.

If everyone has either lapsed into a coma or OD'd on righteous indignation at this point, can we all go back to caring about non-manufactured problems?

He is an anti-bullying advocate, yet he is a visual bully to those who remember such stereotypes as methods of pushing around us Hebrews.

So then it's settled: Macklemore maybe, possibly, allegedly purchased a seemingly racist nose.

@18 - It might be a generational thing. I am under 35 and I would have never thought "jewish" for that costume or the nose. I was not intimately familiar with the actual images used in Nazi propaganda (although I knew it existed and how it was used). They are honestly so over the top (especially the noses) that i'm not sure I would recognice that they were supposed to be Jewish characatures with out some type of context. The nose Macklemore was wearing looked sort of like the noses in the Nazi propaganda (although there was nothing Jewish about the Beatles mop top or beard that he was wearing), but it is so over the top I never would have thought it was supposed to be related to an actual group of people, it looks totally fictional, like a witch or something.

Good grief. Does the stranger staff have nothing better to do than go around harassing Costume Display employees about whether or not Macklemore bought something from their shop? This is almost worse than that time Mudede wrote about loitering around downtown Target for 24 hours.

I mean, uhh.. Keep up that GRADE A investigative journalism.

Why does everyone assume that Macklemore has 1) ever opened a history book 2) thought about Jews one way or the other or 3) a clue about issues like these? Utter ignorance seems a fine excuse. I could see a 30 year old self-absorbed hip hop star, surrounded by sycophants, being oblivious to the connotations of a mask with a big nose. As brent.b says, people who didn't grow up with WWII under their skin as the boomers did might not pick up the signals.

Apparently we have more outrage than we have good outlets for it. Give this one a rest.

When I first saw the picture of Macklemore jumping around in this costume, I didn't immediately think, "He's making fun of Jews!". I actually thought he was making fun of beardo indie rockers.