Blackfishing
Pretending to be ethnically Black
Example
She's definitely blackfishing with her photoshopped hips and big gold hoop earrings
Related Slang
| BIPOC | Black, Indigenous, People of Color |
| BLM | Black Lives Matter |
| Performative activism | Advocating a cause to gain social standing |
| Performative allyship | Allyship that is performed to gain social standing |
| Virtue signaling | Demonstrating moral superiority |
| Do it for the gram | To do something only to share on Instagram |
| IG | |
| VSCO girls | Preppy female teen Instagrammers |
| Catfish | To assume a false identity |
| Clout leech | A person who is friends with someone just to become more popular |
Baseball Slang Quiz: Can you bat 1.000?
Blackfishing is when a person pretends to be Black. The person may adjust his appearance, modify his mannerisms, or flat-out lie about his ethnic background to appear Black.
Due to the heightened awareness of cultural appropriation in the late-2010s, people have quickly called out individuals who are using Blackness to appear cooler. Some people may also blackfish to gain sympathy or a competitive edge over others in the job market.
Blackfishing is especially common on social media, where influencers may adjust their skin tone in photos and exploit Black fashion and cultural trends. Some influencers even go under the knife to acquire ethnically Black physical features.
Amelia Hamlin, Emma Hallberg, Ariana Grande, Kim Kardashian, and Aga Brzostowska are all celebrities that have been accused of blackfishing on social media.