A Beyoncé fan Twitter account shared a screenshot from the "how to become a congressman" WikiHow on Sunday that includes a drawing of Beyoncé, Jay Z, and Obama. But you'll notice something unusual about it: They all look white.
The tweet included the photo it's based on, so you can see the stark contrast.
Wikihow turned Obama, Beyoncé, and Jay Z white to explain "How to become a congressman." pic.twitter.com/QNTGz5wjaq
— FORMATION (@beyupdates_) January 22, 2017
The site tweeted an apology on Tuesday, saying they were "disgusted and ashamed" by the "whitewashed image" and it that is has been removed, as Pitchfork reports.
1/ When we saw the whitewashed image of Obama, Jay Z & Beyoncé, we were disgusted & ashamed. It never should have been on wikiHow. https://t.co/tCIgpPpD2R
— wikiHow (@wikiHow) January 24, 2017
@wikiHow 2/ Within minutes of the 1st tweet, a volunteer removed the image. We then started investigating how it got on wikiHow at all.
— wikiHow (@wikiHow) January 24, 2017
Then, WikiHow explained how the mishap occurred: One person drew the outline, then another coloured it in. The colourist didn't have the original photo, so they didn't know who the people in the picture were.
But, WikiHow conceded, even if the picture weren't intended to depict three Black people, they shouldn't as a general practice make everyone white by default.
To prevent incidents like this in the future, the organisation plans to school its illustrators on diversity.
@wikiHow 3/ We learned it was made 3 years ago by a team of illustrators who work as one. One person sketches, the other person colors.
— wikiHow (@wikiHow) January 24, 2017
@wikiHow 4/ The sketcher sent the colorist a black and white sketch. The colorist did not know the race of the models.
— wikiHow (@wikiHow) January 24, 2017
@wikiHow 5/ The colorist wasn’t aware it was Obama and Beyoncé. We don’t think the illustrator intentionally whitewashed here.
— wikiHow (@wikiHow) January 24, 2017
@wikiHow 6/ This doesn’t excuse the fact that we hosted a terrible image on wikiHow and we needed more diversity on that article period.
— wikiHow (@wikiHow) January 24, 2017
@wikiHow 7/ We’re talking with our illustrators to prevent recurrence and encourage diversity. Especially in positions of power.
— wikiHow (@wikiHow) January 24, 2017
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