Is it me or does former MLB player Sammy Sosa just get whiter and whiter with each passing year? Back in 2009, he attended the Latin Grammy Awards showing off a much paler complexion and then just this year we spotted him looking so pale he looked as pink as a bottle of Pepto-Bismol. But if you can believe it, Sammy was recently spotted looking even whiter than ever and it's really starting to concern us.
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In case you're wondering how Sammy Sosa went from a beautiful, deep dark chocolate complexion to a dull, pasty skin tone. It's all because of bleaching cream and he's even admitted it himself.
"It's a bleaching cream that I apply before going to bed and whitens my skin some," he told Univision's Primer Impacto back in 2009. "It's a cream that I have, that I use to soften [my skin], but has bleached me some. I'm not a racist. I live my life happily."
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Sammy must still be using bleaching cream because his skin has only gotten whiter since. I wouldn't go as far as calling him a racist, but I definitely think there's some self-hate going on here.
Honestly, this situation is more devastating than anything. Sammy is from the Dominican Republic and like a lot of countries in Latin America, colorism is something that's very prevalent. Chances are he grew up being told he was too black, developed a complex, and has since decided to do something to make his skin tone lighter. If only he knew how amazing he looked with his naturally brown complexion.
Colonization has had a huge impact on today's beauty standards and this impacts men as well. Whiteness is still associated with beauty, status and power. It's just sad to see someone as successful as Sammy Sosa feel the need to give into this.
One thing for sure, Sammy bleaching his dark skin to white is definitely not a good message to young people of color.
h/t Vivala
