Questions are being raised about Sephora's handling of girls in blackface

Sephora made headlines this week after a video went viral showing three girls apparently wearing blackface at one of the chain's Boston locations. The company said inside a statement told the news media that it had asked customers to “leave the premises,” adding, “This type of behavior will not be tolerated at Sephora under any circumstances.” But two witnesses have a different story about what happened.

The 24 seconds video, which was posted to TikTok, was taken on February 8 at the Sephora store in Boston's Prudential Center. It shows a blonde woman confronting a second woman, who appears to be the girls' supervisor. Next to the two adults is a girl whose face is painted in a circle of dark brown foundation makeup.

The blonde woman calls the behavior 'incredibly offensive'. The chaperone walks away and shakes her head. The person filming the incident says: “This is so embarrassing.” The video then cuts to a shot showing two other girls in dark makeup.

After the video sparked national coverage, Sephora, a division of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE, said in its statement that its “top priority is to create a welcoming and inclusive shopping experience for everyone.”

Kiara Janae Kudlo, the blonde woman in the video, said in an interview with The New York Times that the company's statement did not reflect what happened at the store that day. Instead, she said, members of the group were allowed to make purchases at the register before leaving. According to Ms. Kudlo, that was not in line with Sephora's zero-tolerance statement.

Ms. Kudlo, 24, is not an employee of Sephora, but a market specialist for a beauty brand carried by the chain. As part of her job, she travels to Sephora locations to check inventory and clean up displays. (She declined to name the brand, but The Times verified her employment.)

Ms. Kudlo said she was working at the Prudential Center location when the group of about 10 girls walked in about an hour before closing time. They were accompanied by several adults, she added.

The girls were noisy, but Ms Kudlo said she had become accustomed to working among rowdy groups of young people. In recent weeks, Sephora has made headlines for a social media-driven rise in popularity among teens and tweenswho often post videos of themselves shopping for expensive beauty products and sometimes wreak havoc.

Ms. Kudlo said she saw several girls applying dark foundation to their faces, which she thought was blackface. After informing a store manager, Ms. Kudlo said, she heard “hysterical laughter and animal noises,” including sheep and monkey noises, coming from the group.

Ms Kudlo said she instructed the girls to wash the make-up off their faces. Several people rushed to do so, but one girl went to an accompanying adult and appeared to ask the woman to take a photo of her in the guise of the black face. The woman laughed and held up her phone, Ms. Kudlo said.

“I was shocked that an adult was there,” Ms Kudlo said. She added that the woman defended the girls, saying, “They're just kids.” Afterwards, Ms Kudlo said she raised the issue of the girls' behavior again with the manager and was told she should not have spoken to the customers.

In an emailed statement to The Times, Sephora said Ms. Kudlo “was not involved in the many discussions between Sephora employees and the individuals in this group, or the subsequent requests to leave them. Our team has done everything possible to prevent further escalation under incredibly tumultuous circumstances.”

Blackface minstrelsy became a popular form of entertainment in the 19th century, presenting insidious stereotypes of black people and offering a distorted view of slavery. The racist caricatures became a regular part of Hollywood productions and can still be seen occasionally in recent years.

The video of the incident at the Sephora store was posted by Temi Ojora, a college student visiting Boston for a track meet. In a follow up videoMs Ojora said: “This was incredibly disturbing and distressing for my teammates and me to witness.” Her account matched Ms Kudlo's version, including details about members of the group making purchases. “These individuals were not kicked out of Sephora,” she said in her video. Ms Ojora had no comment for this article.

In its statement to The Times, Sephora said: “We are extremely disappointed by and will not tolerate the behavior and hostility of these shoppers at our Prudential Center location, and as such they have been asked to leave our premises and are no longer allowed to enter . shop with us.”

“Several Sephora team members spoke with individuals from this large group to address the disruption and concerning behavior,” the statement continued. “Eventually they were asked to leave the building.”

Ms Kudlo said store workers appeared “morally out of step with this racist behavior” but were not equipped to deal with it.