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Philidelphia Mayor Jim Kenney criticized two men who wore blackface to the city's annual New Year's Day Mummers Parade, which has a history of racially offensive displays that have marred the event.
The men -- Kevin Kinkel and Mike Tomaszewski -- were seen marching with the Froggy Carr Wench Brigade, which was disqualified from the event after city staffers reported the pair.
"The use of blackface by someone affiliated with Froggy Carr today was abhorrent and unacceptable. This selfish, hateful behavior has no place in the Mummers, or the city itself. We must be better than this. The group was disqualified and we will be exploring additional penalties," Kenney tweeted.
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The club prohibits blackface, Wrench Brigade Association President Charles McKenna said during a Thursday press conference to address the ensuing controversy.
"One of our rules, no blackface. It's horrible. It's a bad mark on each city and it's a bad mark on each club," he said.
McKenna said one of the men is a member of the club. He did not specify which one but said both were banished from all Froggy Carr activities. The Froggy Carr group was dressed in orange and black during the parade to pay homage to Gritty, the mascot for the Philidelphia Flyers NHL club.
Gritty has orange hair all over, including on his face, and googly eyes. The blackface was part of their costumes, Tomaszwski told KYW-TV.
He said he wore it because “I like it. Yeah, why not? I know it’s a shame to be white in Philly right now, yeah, yeah. It’s a shame.”
Much of Froggy Carr's marchers wore face paint in Flyers colors of orange, black and white. Kinkel and Tomaszewski only wore blackface.
"I talk to black people. They told me, 'What are you talking about? You can wear whatever you want. That ain’t discriminating me. That ain’t racist to me,'" Kinkel told WCAU-TV. “That’s what they tell me.”
He said the blackface was to honor a deceased friend.
The parade, which dates back to 1901 and has a history of racist incidents, features participants wearing ornate costumes and musical performances.
The Mummers Parade has been ensnared in controversy before. In 2016, one group made fun of Caitlyn Jenner while another painted their faces brown to portray Mexicans while dressed in ponchos snd sombreros and as tacos.
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On New Year's Day 2019, one group featured a black man holding a leash around a white man. The group called the incident satire, saying the black man was impersonating rapper Jay-Z and the white man was portraying Kenny.
The city banned blackface at the parade in 1963, The Washington Post reported.
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