Identity Politics and Vocal “Whitewashing” in Celebrity Lip-Syncs
The popularity of celebrity lip-syncing in contemporary media culture often lies in the presentation of racial and/or gender-based disjunctions between the connotations of the voice that is heard and the body that is seen. This chapter argues that such racial ventriloquism can be conceived as vocal “whitewashing,” which involves changing a preexisting vocal performance by a person of color into one by a white person. With a focus on two performances by white actors (Paul Rudd and Emma Stone) on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and a contrasting performance by a Black actor (Taraji P. Henson) on Lip Sync Battle, the chapter contextualizes and historicizes the trend in which white celebrities “try on” the voices of singers of color. It demonstrates how the racial ventriloquism involved in such lip-syncs intersects problematically with histories of cultural appropriation in the US film and music industries.