Open Thread: Does the Celebrity Doppelganger Facebook Meme leave out POCs?

By Deputy Editor Thea Lim

Over at Sepia Mutiny, Anna writes about the fact that the new Facebook trend of replacing your profile pic with a photo of the celebrity who looks most like you poses a unique problem for some people of colour. She quotes from a number of friends who couldn’t find a celeb that looked like them:

“I’ve noticed that most of my friends of South Asian descent have changed theirs to Kal Penn when they don’t resemble him in the least… “all look same” syndrome, perhaps? “

“I’m only half-brown, and I hate that my doppelganger is white. I feel like I’m insulting my Dad with that picture. I’m not just white, even if I look it. I’m Indian, too!”

“I don’t look like Apu or that girl from the “Office”, so I guess I can’t play. Bummer.”

“I know I do not resemble anyone in the small group of desi celebs familiar to most Americans (e.g. Mindy Kaling, Padma Lakshmi, etc.). I couldn’t instantly think of a Latina/Persian/Arab/other brown-skinned celeb familiar to most Americans that I might resemble. (This is a small pool too! How many can you think of? The Kardashians don’t count ! Therefore, the number of potential possibilities seemed much larger in celebs more famous in South Asia than in the US. “

Personally I put up a picture of Pee Wee Herman. Unless it is hidden somewhere on his Wikipedia profile that he has some Chinese or Anglo-Irish heritage, I believe we don’t have any ethnic commonality.

Anyone else struggling to take part in the celeb doppelganger meme?