There’s no gray area: Blackface just wrong

WHO KNOWS what God’s plan is, but it probably wasn’t for Drake to be smiling like Sambo in blackface. The “God’s Plan” rapper found himself on the defensive Thursday after a rival unearthed a disturbing photo of a smiling Drake in blackface showing every tooth he has, the latest salvo in the latest rap beef about God knows what.

Rapper Pusha-T used the image as cover art for his dramatic anti-Drake missive, “The Story of Adidon,” in which he calls out the Canadian rapper on everything from Drake’s rumored baby with a porn star to his alleged insecurities about his mixed-race background.

“I know everyone is enjoying the circus but I want to clarify this image in question,” Drake wrote about the image on his Instagram page.

“This was not from a clothing brand shoot or my music career. This picture is from 2007, a time in my life where I was an actor and I was working on a project that was about young black actors struggling to get roles, being stereotyped and typecast. The photos represented how African Americans were once wrongfully portrayed in entertainment,” he wrote.

It’s worth noting that the last rapper Drake got into a beef with went on to become a civil rights hero.

Meek Mill raised the rap bar as the poster boy of prison reform after a looney judge hit him with a bogus parole violation for popping a wheelie in Inwood and posting it on Instagram.

Pusha, meanwhile, wasn't impressed by Drake’s defense.

“That doesn’t change my view at all,” Pusha, in a radio interview on Los Angeles’ Real 92.3, said about Drake’s blackface explanation.

“You are silent on all black issues, Drake. You don’t stand for nothing, you don’t say nothing about nothing. You have all the platform in the world. You were so passionate back then? No you weren’t. That’s number one. That’s what I know.”

Drake might be winning the beef battles, but he’s really losing the war.

While Drake’s blackface defense is as thin as a CD, the picture Pusha posted has sparked an interesting debate over whether the use of blackface is ever appropriate, and, if it is, who is allowed to use it.

Let’s start with this: Blackface is offensive. It’s as loaded as the N-word and as racist as a Roseanne Barr tweet.

The origins of blackface can be traced to 19th-century minstrel shows where white actors would smear their faces with black grease paint to depict plantation slaves during America’s Jim Crow Reconstruction era.

Some black actors also wore blackface themselves — but usually because white audiences didn’t want to see them on the stage without it.

In recent years, blackface has made a comeback, most notably at foolish frat parties and sick Halloween celebrations.

Sadly, its return necessitates a usage refresher course similar to what I’ve offered for the nword.

Here it is, and once again, I’ll try and keep it simple.

Is it ever acceptable for a black person to appear in blackface? Answer: No. A white person? Hell, no. Any questions?