Skip to main content

The context you need, when you need it

When news breaks, you need to understand what actually matters — and what to do about it. At Vox, our mission to help you make sense of the world has never been more vital. But we can’t do it on our own.

We rely on readers like you to fund our journalism. Will you support our work and become a Vox Member today?

Join now

Oprah and Whoopi Goldberg Are Not the Same Person #OscarsSoWhite

Oh no.

Jason Merritt / Getty Images

Beauty and fashion site Total Beauty tweeted out a photo Sunday night from the Oscars with this caption: “We had no idea @Oprah was #tatted, and we love it. #oscars”

Cool, right? Except the photo was not an image of Oprah. It was an image of Whoopi Goldberg, a totally different person who is like Oprah only in that she is also a black woman. It was an embarrassing mistake, and it doesn’t appear Twitter users are going to let this faux pas go.

Total Beauty deleted the tweet, and then apologized.

https://twitter.com/TotalBeauty/status/704113071116021760

What truly makes this error tough to stomach, though, is that the Oscars are already under scrutiny for a lack of diversity. The hashtag #OscarsSoWhite has been making the rounds all day and some black actors and actresses, including Jada Pinkett Smith, husband Will Smith and director Spike Lee, are all boycotting the event.

Here you can see the Internet’s reaction to Total Beauty. It appears Total Beauty has stopped tweeting.

https://twitter.com/hollyrpeete/status/704099572356935680

https://twitter.com/zandywithaz/status/704103484115714048

https://twitter.com/Clisare/status/704103921036488704

Update: Oscars host Chris Rock addressed the #OscarsSoWhite issue right off the bat during his opening monologue Sunday night. Then he jokingly introduced Stacey Dash as the Academy’s “new director of our minority outreach program.”

“I cannot wait to help my people out. Happy Black History Month!” she said, then retreated backstage. Dash, of course, is the black conservative who blasted actors for boycotting Sunday’s event.

People on Twitter seemed confused by the appearance nonetheless. Here’s the video:

https://twitter.com/PopCrave/status/704126046254137344

https://twitter.com/jamilsmith/status/704125018268164099

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

See More:

More in Technology

Future Perfect
The 5 most unhinged revelations from Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAIThe 5 most unhinged revelations from Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI
Future Perfect

The Musk v. OpenAI trial is over. Here are the receipts.

By Sara Herschander
Podcasts
Are humanoid robots all hype?Are humanoid robots all hype?
Podcast
Podcasts

AI is making them better — but they’re not going to be doing your chores anytime soon.

By Avishay Artsy and Sean Rameswaram
Future Perfect
The old tech that could help stop the next airborne pandemicThe old tech that could help stop the next airborne pandemic
Future Perfect

Glycol vapors, explained.

By Shayna Korol
Future Perfect
Elon Musk could lose his case against OpenAI — and still get what he wantsElon Musk could lose his case against OpenAI — and still get what he wants
Future Perfect

It’s not about who wins. It’s about the dirty laundry you air along the way.

By Sara Herschander
Life
Why banning kids from AI isn’t the answerWhy banning kids from AI isn’t the answer
Life

What kids really need in the age of artificial intelligence.

By Anna North
Culture
Anthropic owes authors $1.5B for pirating work — but the claims process is a Kafkaesque messAnthropic owes authors $1.5B for pirating work — but the claims process is a Kafkaesque mess
Culture

“Your AI monster ate all our work. Now you’re trying to pay us off with this piece of garbage that doesn’t work.”

By Constance Grady