Polish Kendrick Lamar Impersonator Causes Controversy by Using Blackface During Game Show

Last week, a long-running karaoke competition in Poland called Your Face Sounds Familiar featured a disturbing performance involving Kendrick Lamar. The show, which brings on Polish celebrities to perform worldwide hit songs, welcomed singer Kuba Szmajkowski to the stage, where he decided to offer a rendition of Lamar’s 2017 smash hit “Humble.”

To help accentuate the performance, though, at least in his mind, Szmajkowski had braids put in his hair to mimic Lamar, as well as painting himself a darker complexion. In the clip of the moment uploaded to YouTube by Polish network Przewodnik TV, Szmajkowski is seen rapping “Humble” unapologetically in blackface as fans from the audience cheer him on. On top of this, Szmajkowski also used the N-word while on stage, according to Complex.

Complex noted that Szmajkowski actually ended up winning the competition, which took place during the second episode of Your Face Sounds Familiar‘s third season. Reportedly, he would go on to donate his earnings from the show to the Przystań Nadziei Foundation, an organization that helps children battle cancer.

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After the video of Szmajkowski made its way to social media in the United States, people were able to find more performances from the Polish show just like this. These included a man using blackface to give a karaoke version of Kanye West’s 2007 hit “Stronger,” as well as another person doing the same for a performance of Drake’s “Hotline Bling” (2015). On both occasions, the performers dressed up in costumes similar to those West and Drake wore at the time they released the aforementioned songs.

It’s unclear if Lamar, West, or Drake have caught wind of these performances, but users on Twitter have already suggested they could and should take legal action.

“Kendrick needs to file the nastiest copyright suit of all time,” one person wrote. “I’m talking not even able to say his name no more on some Voldemort shit.”

Watch the aforementioned videos from Your Face Sounds Familiar below.

(Photo by Ollie Millington/Redferns)