“Sinners” star Wunmi Mosaku is having a moment! Not only is she a first-time Oscar nominee this year, but she’s also an expecting mom who’s been absolutely slaying and glowing on red carpets this awards season.
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So it’s no wonder why fans are up in arms over an illustration of the beloved actress that was recently published by The New Yorker that many say fails to highlight her beauty. And when you see the picture, you’ll more than understand.
As you well know by now, Mosaku has been all over styling and profiling due to her first Academy Award nomination— which made her the perfect candidate for an interview with the iconic New York magazine.
However, what was less than iconic was the drawing done of her by illustrator João Fazenda. While it appeared to reference the outfit and hairstyle she wore in February during an appearance on “The Kelly Clarkson Show,” it failed to really nab her facial features, signature smile, or even the correct color of her outfit.
Naturally, once the picture began circulating, fans were quick to hop on social media and let the magazine and the illustrator have it!
“What the hell is that drawing?! Have you lost your minds?” wrote one user on X/Twitter.
“I need the @NewYorker to NEVER let João Fazenda draw a Black woman again, holy shit,” said another.
“lol I could’ve drawn Wunmi without makeup and out of full glam but honestly, why? Blue is clearly her fav color to be styled in and her hair is always on point, make up eats and the earrings are always bold and beautiful. I mean hey,” one other user wrote, specifically a Black illustrator who did their own rendition of Mosaku’s cartoon drawing.
Added another: “i feel like i’ve been trying to warn about anti-blackness & racism at the @newyorker for years now but sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words…”
Another person pulled up Fazenda’s illustration history and called out he may have a pattern of drawing Black women in a more frumpy light.
“I looked up João Fazenda’s previous illustrations of Black women. His body of work isn’t that impressive, but I feel like he puts even more effort into making Black women look homely,” they suspected.
However, there were a few people coming to the artist’s defense, citing the backlash as unnecessary.
“Lord they are canceling an illustrator because she obeyed New Yorker house style guidelines and didn’t draw someone in full award show glam when they were [checks notes] attending an apothecary in Brooklyn,” wrote one user online.
Said one other person: “He’s an illustrator, he’s Portuguese and from what little I know of him he would be incapable of the malice they’re accusing him of, I can’t imagine that he would intentionally make a bad drawing but I think they asked for an ‘ugly sketchy”‘anyway.”
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