Last year when we heard the news that Covergirl got its first “Coverboy”, we were excited. Make-up should not be exclusive to women, because it isn’t. All genders should be allowed to wear make-up. Covergirl making this progressive step forward showed us that make-up can defy the limits of gender.

Today, Charles tweeted about fearing to go to Africa because he fears he will get Ebola.

I will no longer support your company as long as he’s on the campaign. This was stereotypical & degrading to Africa. @COVERGIRL @COVERGIRL pic.twitter.com/RpgMp1lqfg — IG/SC: ParisHeelton (@ImTheBombDotCom) February 16, 2017

That’s ignorant because Ebola hasn’t been an issue in Africa since last year. In fact as of January 14, 2016 the World Health Organization has said Africa as a whole is now clear of Ebola. After making this tweet, James quickly deleted it and didn’t apologize. He continued to avoid taking responsibility for his ignorant statement.

It is 2017, and many white people still see Africa as a wide grassland filled with animals and naked people. What many people don’t realize is Africa is more than just ebola or animals or naked people. Africa has one of the fastest growing economies. Places like Nigeria have become a hub for trade, and places like Kenya are boosting in technology. In fact, Kenya had a technological development that could send money to other people’s phones before Snapchat or Facebook.

Charle’s ignorance is that of the same ignorance Taylor Swift has in her video for “Wildest Dream”. In her video, you only saw animals in the backdrop as her and her white co-star were the focus. Continued ignorance of Africa seems to never go away. As the world continues to steal resources from it, they fail to learn about the people or the culture. Places like Starbucks have coffee specially from Kenya. How dare James travel to Africa and not do his research. He should have kept his ignorant tweet to himself. As a spokesperson for Covergirl, he has a MORAL obligation to uphold. By tweeting that, he is continuing to spread the ignorance people have about Africa. He is spreading false information. I will always be cautious of white gays; many of them aren’t that progressive. They lack intersectionality. You can not define a whole continent with a disease that only affected few countries within it. Africa is much more than the negative images people portray about it.

Hopefully James apologizes for his remarks. Ignorance is not bliss.

Update February 16 9:46pm: James issued an apology