Sarah Nicole Prickett reports from Miami Beach for Artforum:
What Blanco did may or may not have been rehearsed, and it may or may not have been a ‘stunt,’ as some said, and it may or may not have been, as many speculated, ‘justifiable’ in the particular. What he said, however, was that Biesenbach doesn’t care about black people unless they’re famous. What he said, and the demandingness with which he said it, was in the general so just—so urgent—that the wish for it to be justified is disgusting. ‘He wants to hug Mickalene Thomas, he wants to hug Kehinde Wiley,’ said Blanco, three or four times. ‘I’m not Mickalene Thomas, I’m not Kehinde Wiley,’ he said, twice. The second time I caught that he was saying, ‘I’m not your Mickalene Thomas.’ He talked about being black in America. He talked about being hated. When he said your, I didn’t think he was talking to Biesenbach, and when he called him a German and a bad word for gay, I thought ‘German’ sounded more like the slur. ‘He doesn’t like black people,’ said Blanco, just once. ‘He likes black culture.’ I felt a little bad for Mickalene Thomas, but mostly I just felt bad. Blanco went out to dance, and Biesenbach said, of the queer black artist’s performance, ‘That’s entertainment.’
