Internet users use the audio to refer to people of African descent, animals with black fur, or dirty or burned objects.
The audio extracted from a harmless video of Yanfry Díaz, an Afro-Colombian boy who went viral for another recording in which he walks “like a man”, he has become the controversial trend of social networks pointed out as racist.
In the clip published in 2021, the minor is heard saying: “Aunt Paola, mom, look, Camilo said something rude” and when asked by one of the women what his cousin said, he replies: “I’m not going to say it.”
The thing about aunt paola only makes you laugh with yanfry pic.twitter.com/bworfWrpw3
— jesus rodrigo (@rrrrrrrodrigo) January 17, 2023
However, the audio of the fragment in which the little one says “Aunt Paola” has been taken out of context and used to refer to people of African descent, animals with black fur, and dirty or burned objects.
Thus, Internet users used the audio to point in a derogatory way to the French footballer Kylian Mbappé. Other videos shared on TikTok or Twitter show a baby primate or a black doll.
I need an “Aunt Paola” ? pic.twitter.com/VEKzG0Dkpv
– G. (@GrettaAguilar_) January 15, 2023
The use of audio, which has been criticized by many users, who call it racist, even led the little protagonist to react, who complained about the improper use of his phrase.
In a video posted this week on the minor’s Instagram* account, he is seen walking down the street hand in hand with a young man, when two children who are playing laughingly say to them: “Good afternoon, Aunt Paola.” Yanfry turns to them and asks: “Why do you call her Aunt Paola?”, to which they both reply: “Because it’s Aunt Paola’s color.”
So he goes looking for his real aunt, Paola Pantoja, to teach them a lesson. “She is my aunt Paola and what you said is racism”the little one begins by saying, later adding the aunt: “Do you know the damage that this can cause to other children and other people? You have to think to speak“.
Together with his ‘aunt Paola’, little Yanfry leads a campaign against racism! The initiative stems from the fact that today the phrase ‘aunt Paola’ is used to refer to a person of color. With this, Yanfry seeks to stop promoting discrimination based on skin color pic.twitter.com/2VTWH6VShI
– Last Hour Col (@ultimahorapp) January 21, 2023
