Amanita Design have made the decision to change the colour of their lovable character Chuchel. The complaints state that the similarities between Chuchel and ‘blackface’ are too close for comfort and that Amanita had perhaps been insensitive when choosing the look of Chuchel. ‘Blackface’ is a racial stereotype that came from the USA in the 19th century where white actors would ‘black up’
Amanita Design have listened to the complaints and have decided to change Chuchel from black to orange. They have posted the following statement on their website.
“In reaction to a number of requests we’ve seen coming from the players throughout the year, we ultimately decided to swap Chuchel’s colours and change his body colour from black to orange. We acknowledge that due to significant differences in culture and history between Central Europe and other regions, we did not consider the possibility of Chuchel, a living dust bunny, being associated with ‘blackface’, a theatrical racial stereotype which emerged in the United States in the 19th century.”
This is your new Chuchel:
“We would like to sincerely apologize to anyone who has been offended by the original appearance of Chuchel. As a team of peace-minded creative people, we simply do not want any of our games and characters even remotely associated with racism or any other form of hate crime. In order to avoid any further misinterpretations, Chuchel’s appearance will be changed on all platforms in the upcoming days and weeks.
Thank you for your understanding and ongoing support,
Amanita Design”
They also posted the following response on Twitter:
This is your new Chuchel.
In reaction to a number of requests we’ve seen coming from the players throughout the year, we ultimately decided to swap Chuchel’s colours and change his body colour from black to orange. pic.twitter.com/YcVsOeg2U9
— Amanita Design (@Amanita_Design) December 20, 2018
It’s clear that although it may have been misguided the colouration of the original Chuchel wasn’t intended to cause any offense, and the responses on the Twitter thread are mostly positive praising Amanita for their decisive action.
