*Baseball legend Sammy Sosa embarked on a skin whitening journey about 8 years ago, and as his complexion has become noticeably lighter over the overs, fans have been left perplexed, with many accusing the Dominican Republic native of being a self-hater.
Fans first questioned his complexion transition in 2009 when Sammy attended a music awards show appearing dramatically lighter than he had when he retired just a year earlier. Many assumed Sosa was bleaching his skin and he confirmed the speculation during a TV appearance, explaining that his lighter complexion was the result of a skin bleaching cream.
“It’s a bleaching cream that I apply before going to bed and whitens my skin tone,” Sosa said during an appearance on Univision’s Primer Impacto show 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.”
“What happened was that I had been using the cream for a long time and that, combined with the bright TV lights, made my face look whiter than it really is. I don’t think I look like Michael Jackson,” he added.
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Sosa’s transition into a white man may be complete, however, he appeared damn near unrecognizable during a recent appearance with ESPNDeportes at the Home Run Derby early this week. Ya boy almost looks PINK!
Check out a few reactions to Sosa’s new complexion below.
As reported by Newsweek, “skin whitening is a booming business in countries where lighter skin tones are hailed as a beauty must-have sparked by years of colorism, racism and ideals of lighter complexions being more attractive.”
The news site notes that the skin whitening industry is worth over $13 billion in Asia, according to a BBC report. A 2016 New York Times report said some “70 percent of women in West and South Africa used lightening cream.” Ghana’s government banned lightening creams and lotions but “has struggled to remove the products from shelves.”
Sadly, the world of skin lightening is a multi-billion dollar industry.
Sammy Sosa really living his life as a one man Neapolitan Ice Cream pic.twitter.com/enU75FS5ML
— Ol’ QWERTY Bastard (@TheDiLLon1) July 13, 2017
Sammy Sosa then, and Sammy Sosa now, don’t look like the same human being. They don’t even look related to each other. pic.twitter.com/bp9QxysV3y
— LEFT✍? (@LeftSentThis) July 13, 2017
ayo Sammy Sosa look like a unbrushed tongue pic.twitter.com/q4dGPPYI6q
— Price. (@Priceverson) July 13, 2017
Mannnnn …wtf happened to Sammy Sosa pic.twitter.com/v8BksD0dZX
— Nubz (@HollywoodNuby) July 13, 2017
