Parents are outraged after a popular children’s YouTube channel uploaded a ‘racist’ cartoon.
The My Pingu TV fairytale, entitled Dina and the Prince, tells the story of a girl who marries a prince, but a curse means if she speaks to him, she will lose her beauty. Eventually Dina cannot bear to ignore the prince any longer and finally talks to him. This is where the problems begin.
After ‘losing her beauty’, Dina wakes up and not only is her face covered in scars, her white skin is now brown, and her straight hair is now curly.
“Now I’m ugly,” she tells the Prince, who says he will love her regardless of her appearance. This declaration breaks the curse, and she goes back to being white with straight hair. “Dina becomes beautiful again”, the narrator says.
The 13-minute video, which has had more than 400,000 views, has been met with outrage and widespread criticism.
“This is actually so disturbing. Imagine being in 2019 and still trying to perpetuate the stereotype that black women/darker skin tones are ugly and undesirable,” wrote one viewer.
“Dark skin and curly hair is beautiful! Blatant racism is what’s ugly!” added another.
The National has contacted My Pingu TV for comment.
