Lance Gross took the picture with a group of friends (Picture: Instagram/Lance Gross)

A black actor has been accused of ‘colourism’ after posing with eight of his friends in a Christmas picture.

Lance Gross, 35, posted the picture on Instagram, but people accused him of ‘white supremacy’ because it showed a woman with a darker complexion ‘excluded’ from a group of lighter-skinned women.

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One user wrote: ‘This picture says white supremacy has won.’

Another added: ‘Let’s not act like there’s no colorism in the black community and negative stereotypes about dark-skinned women.’


But the woman sitting off to the side in the picture defended Lance’s post and said it was an ‘inside joke’ because she was the only singleton.

She wrote: ‘ALL OF US in this photo are beautiful Black people.

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‘NEWSFLASH: Black people come in ALL shades!! And just so everyone can RELAX, the photo is a annual tradition– ITS A JOKE! I’m dating someone special, but he didn’t come to Big Bear this year. I take a pic like this EVERY YEAR making fun of the fact that I’m the only single one in the couples pic. Calm down people! Go enjoy your family, and stop worrying about OURS!!’



The original Instagram post has since been removed, but Gross later posted a picture showing his friends in similar poses over previous Christmases in California.

The star of TBS sitcom Tyler Perry’s House of Payne later posted a picture of Tupac Shakur holding up a middle finger, he wrote: ‘All I have to say about all this ignorant sh*t at the moment.’

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Other people on social media soon jumped to his defence.

One user wrote: ‘Problem with it is….an ‘inside joke’ is for the ‘insiders’. Not the world. No problem with having your own tradition and friends who get the joke.’