A Nigerian model, Ewa has taken to social media to share her terrible experience with an unnamed artiste on a music video set.
Sharing on the microblogging platform, Twitter, she revealed that the artiste had picked her for the role himself but on getting to the set, he changed his mind and decided he wanted a light-skinned model for the role instead.
According to Ewa, they offered to pay her a compensation fee that was not up to half of the initial price and told her to be grateful she was getting anything because they could have easily paid her nothing.
She wrote;
“8am on Sunday, I left my house in Ikeja to the set of a mv at Lekki. Some minutes after noon, the artiste arrived on set and said he changed his mind. He wants a light skinned model because my skin tone ‘doesn’t fit the aesthetic’
At this time, I was done with makeup and half way through my hair, so l was thinking it must probably be a joke. Am I supposed to whip out bleaching cream and turn myself into the skin tone that fits the aesthetic?
The members of the crew tell me that it’s the artiste’s video and there’s nothing they can do about it. This is very funny to me because the artiste himself casted me for the role a week ago. And it wasn’t until an hour to filming that he decided he wanted a lightskinned girl.
They said I will be given a compensation fee which isn’t even half the pay for the job but I should be grateful because they could have just told me bye bye.
Throughout everything the director and the artist refused to address me personally and instead resorted to sending members of the crew to me. They told me to go home, it happens all the time, lightskinned women are preferable for mvs.
They kept telling me how the situation could have been much worse. ‘What if I had started filming before the artiste changed his mind?’ I should be grateful they decided to give me some money because they originally just wanted to pay for my transport alone.
I can’t begin to describe how insulted I felt. The fact that this didn’t happen in Europe or Asia makes it all the more hurtful. It’s always baffling to see how outrageously colorist our society and the industry is.
I’m a dark skinned woman and if I don’t fit the aesthetic or meet up to your beauty standards, don’t book me. It’s that simple. There are thousands of lightskinned women to choose from.
Models are not accessories. We are not shoes or bags that you can change and replace as you see fit. We are people and we deserve to be treated as such.
See her tweet below,
8am on Sunday, I left my house in Ikeja to the set of a mv at Lekki. Some minutes after noon, the artiste arrived on set and said he changed his mind. He wants a light skinned model because my skin tone ‘doesn’t fit the aesthetic’ 🧵 https://t.co/3xlFhccg0S pic.twitter.com/8g1vam9RI9
— Yoruba Barbie 王美 (@ewameansbeauty_) May 30, 2023
