The Pin Traders store in Disney World’s Spring Marketplace found themselves targets of criticism after posting a photo of an unofficial Black Panther clothes pin that featured T’Challa in his mask. The photo used appeared to show the popular Marvel Comics character as a white or light-skinned person, but that might have been the result of a flash used with a cell phone camera or photo editing.
Polygon reports:
Social media users were in outrage Sunday afternoon, after a post suggested that the Pin Traders store in Disney World’s Spring Marketplace is selling a Black Panther pin that features T’Challa, the hero of the upcoming movie, wearing a black mask over a white face. However, additional photographs suggest that a camera flash may have lightened the skin tone in question.
The image that touched off the controversy was first reported by The Disney Pin Blog, a website dedicated to reporting on official Disney Parks pins, on Dec. 31, according to the site’s page. (Disney Pin Blog is not an official Disney website.) The tweet that caught everyone’s attention, however, was sent out earlier today.
The pin is described as an “open edition pin spotted at Walt Disney World featuring Marvel’s Black Panther,” selling for $12.99.
Polygon followed up and noticed that in other images, including an eBay resell, the skin of the character appears darker.
While it didn’t seem like a malicious act, Twitter users still chimed in with their dissenting comments and their own research. We’ve captured a few below and on the following pages.
https://twitter.com/DisneyPinsBlog/status/950026246397812737
https://twitter.com/Minnow1233/status/950132459525550080
https://twitter.com/ilikecomicstoo/status/950110962769715201
—
Photo: Twitter
