CNN was blasted across social media after releasing an article that accused white people of "digital blackface" for using reaction images of black people to convey their emotions.

In the piece, headlined What's 'digital blackface?' And why is it wrong when White people use it, CNN writer John Blake stated, "If you're White and you've posted a GIF or meme of a Black person to express a strong emotion, you may be guilty of wearing 'digital blackface.'"

According to Blake, the utilization of such memes and gifs represents "radicalized reactions." While black individuals are given leniency when utilizing them, their use by white people has unintentionally propagated one of the most harmful forms of present-day racism.

Furthermore, Blake contends that the usage of these memes by white individuals is a contemporary rebranding of minstrel shows.

Tesla and Twitter CEO, Elon Musk, responded to the post as a quote tweeting a response to the article, which told CNN to "shut the f*ck up."

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— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 26, 2023

Journalist Glenn Greenwald also responded to the article by saying:

The modern-day segregationists do everything possible to keep people divided by race, prevent them from having joyful and natural interactions, ban them from appreciating the culture and humor of others, and in general demand that they have as little in common as possible.