Go Ahead and Reset the Counter on 'Days Without a Frat Racism Scandal'
Lambda Theta Delta, UC Irvine oldest and largest Asian-American fraternity, has found itself the source of the latest scandal involving the employment of blackface by non-black college students.
[There was a video here]
A lip-sync video posted to YouTube by LTD to promote the 2013 Installs event celebrating the admittance of new brothers featured four members lip-syncing to Justin Timberlake's "Suit & Tie."
Which is all well and good until one member suddenly shows up in blackface to portray Jay-Z.
LTD has since pulled the video, which reportedly carried a disclaimer informing viewers that no racism was intended, but others quickly re-uploaded it as on-campus outrage ensued.
After receiving complaints from both UC Irvine's Asian Pacific Student Association (with which LTD is not affiliated) and the UCI Black Student Union, the fraternity issued a long apology on its Facebook page, calling its own video "extremely racist" and claiming that the "ignorant" individuals involved "have already been reprimanded."
The statement has done little to curb the outcry, which has led the university to launch an investigation into the frat's actions.
Meanwhile, older footage from an LTD costume party that took place last fall has since surfaced showing one frat member in blackface and another in a poncho and sombrero.
LTD is the latest frat to be accused of racism, but certainly not the first.
Just a few months ago a Duke fraternity was suspended for throwing an Asia-themed party that was dubbed the "racist rager" by some on campus.
Prior to that, the University of Florida's Beta Theta Pi fraternity found itself explaining why two members were allowed to wear blackface to an off-campus Halloween party.
And, though not technically a fraternity, who could forget Chi Omega Nu Gamma's almost too racist "Mexican fiesta"-themed social.
