A group of white girls at a Boston Sephora have been put on blast, along with a mother, after the teenagers reportedly used dark makeup for blackface.
The teens were recently caught on camera at the Prudential Center store using the dark makeup samples on their faces. A woman — apparently the mother of one of the girls — stood by amid the behavior, which onlookers called “shameful” and “incredibly offensive.”
The girls were asked to leave the store, according to the company, which said it was “extremely disappointed” in the girls’ conduct.
The video went viral on TikTok before it was taken down from the site. It can still be seen across other social media platforms.
“This is so wild,” the TikTok user says in the video. “This is so shameful. This is so shameful.”
The girls reportedly made “animal sounds” while applying the makeup, the TikTok user posted.
The video showed one of the girls posing for her mother to take a photo of her with the dark makeup.
A woman who has been identified as an outside vendor at the store then confronted the mother.
“I walked over here and you were about to send a picture of that,” the outside rep told the mother. “You want to document this? Go ahead. This is the stuff that ruins jobs, college acceptances, let alone how incredibly offensive this is.”
The mother turned and walked away during the admonishment.
Dear @Sephora,
You have an amazing employee who stepped in when a group of teenagers and their mothers walked in and used your samples to do blackface while recording themselves making animal noises.
I hope this goes viral so this young woman gets a raise instead of fired for… pic.twitter.com/5UYlboPVvu
— Ryan Shead (@RyanShead) February 12, 2024
Sephora issued a statement after the video went viral.
“Sephora’s top priority is to create a welcoming and inclusive shopping experience for all,” the company said in a statement.
“We are extremely disappointed by the behavior of these shoppers at our Prudential Center location, and as such, they were asked to leave our premises,” Sephora added. “Under no circumstance is this type of behavior tolerated at Sephora.”
The girls and their parents have been criticized all across social media.
“White teens at Sephora in Boston doing blackface while their mom says nothing. Welcome to America in 2024,” a user posted.
“Unfortunately as a Bostonian I am not surprised that the racist children who put on blackface in Sephora happened in Boston,” another person wrote.
“Boston has come a long way since its admittedly racist past,” a social media user posted. “But kids at Sephora in blackface in 2024?”
