Anybody who was hanging at the Latin Grammy Awards over the weekend may have been surprised to see former baseball great Sammy Sosa. Not because he's an athlete at a music awards show, but because his skin tone seemed a bit lighter than what many folks remember. In photos from the night, Sosa seems to have brightened quite a bit from the last time we saw him. Is he bleaching his skin or is he suffering from vitiligo, a disorder that causes depigmentation of the skin? According to former Chicago Cubs employee and Sosa friend, Rebecca Polihronis, neither is the case. Polihronis told the Chicago Tribune:
He's not trying to be Michael Jackson. He is going through a rejuvenation process for his skin. Women have it all of the time. He was surprised he came out looking so white. I thought it was a body double. Part of (the photo appearance) is just the lighting. He is in the middle of doing a cleansing process to his skin. The picture is deceiving. He said, "If you saw me in person, you would be surprised. When you see me in person, it is not going to seem like the picture." People who saw him in person did not react the same way. He can't believe it is such a big deal.
The skin rejuvenation process is supposed to help make someone look younger, remove wrinkles and blemishes. That still doesn't explain Sosa's green eyes in the picture (he was born with brown eyes) and his now straightened hair. Is Sosa, who is Dominican, ashamed of his appearance? It wouldn't be a surprise since there are many Caribbean Latinos who are ashamed of their blackness. In the last U.S. census, almost 80 percent of Puerto Rico's 4 million residents checked off "white" as their race. It's not uncommon to find dark-skinned Latinos with the "white is right" mentality.
This could be the case with Sosa. Journalist Raquel Cepeda ran into the slugger a year ago at a film festival in the Dominican Republic and noticed the difference in his appearance.
"When he sauntered into the lobby of the venue in Santo Domingo, I almost caught a whiplash when I caught sight of him," Cepeda wrote on her blog, djalirancher.com. "There was something different about him. Sure, all people evolve as their circumstances change, but this was different. Sosa was a little lighter than when I saw him last. Maybe he was sick, I thought. He was wearing what looked like an ill-fitting zoot suit, and his hair was conked-permed straight. I swear he was wearing light contacts."
This was a year ago. Could this be the new, permanent Sammy Sosa that we're seeing?
"He has always been concerned with the way he looks," Polihronis said. "Probably just bad timing going to an awards show. He was doing a dermatological skin process after years and years [of playing baseball] in the sun. It did come out looking weird [in the picture'."
Comments: (52)
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By: Vickiss on 11/09/2009 2:00PM
This is very sad but common. The brainwashing continues...
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By: just no on 11/10/2009 1:12PM
he looks absolutely ridiculous now there was nothing wrong with his appearance before, smh such a shame
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By: bruce on 11/09/2009 2:39PM
Brown skin Sammy look like a Old white skin Sammy. White ain't (I mean is not) always right. Stay Brown BROTHA!!
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By: Jack on 11/09/2009 3:38PM
Sammy Sosa is now Sammy "Jackson" Sosa!
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By: Yo Yo on 11/10/2009 7:48PM
I agree with u..
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By: barbarascy385 on 11/09/2009 5:17PM
What the Hell?!?!?
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By: nissa on 11/09/2009 7:05PM
The darker Sosa looks so much better. If he is changing his skin it's his business, of course, but I wish he knew how fine he is with darker skin. Ah....such a waste.
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By: jose on 11/09/2009 8:09PM
His skin looks ghoulish now. Im latino [a white latino though] and I know alot of white people try the same thing but in reverse...tanning. Difference is, its natural and not permanent. Screws up your skin if done to much though...But i think when dark skinned people do this - and its only done via chemicals to lighten the skin, its a step way beyond a simple tan.
This is common in L.America though, the perception is Full blooded Spanish [ie-white person] = best, followed by Mestizo [Mexican looking people], then Blacks at the bottom.
LAtin america has a ways to go with racism...With that said, Sosa looked better black, just as M.jackson did.
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By: blu on 11/10/2009 12:19AM
Well Jose, seems like you are a little guilty of the same superiority complex, since you made it a point to state that you are a [white] latino. You did state one thing correctly...and that was that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. It is yet and still a matter of opinion if you think that a skin tone looks better on one person than another. A prime example is this, in the black community as well as latino there are many shades from the palest to the darkest. There are many naturally light complected african americans with "black" features and they do not look ugly or less attractive than their narrow nosed, thinner lipped counterparts...just the same there are many naturally olive complected whites (meditteranean decsent) who do not look stupid after being tanned in the sun. As much as you may want to think you are any differnet than those tanning or bleaching, it seems you are plagued by the same color complex....
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By: Sus7637 on 11/10/2009 5:35PM
Jose your PR ppl are nothing but show offs, always fronting when they get outside.... trying to make it look like everything betwween you all is so perfect and lovey dovey( which is bullshit) because everybody fight and raise hell and dont always get along and have disagreements.Pr's are racists ppl as well and dont give a shit about nothing but them. Black pr's who are just as black as the next blk person in the blk race, dont see to know that full blooded pr's dont treat them the same way like they would treat puerto rican born pr's. Dominicans are the same way with racism. dominicans have black in their genes and refuse to acknowledge it and act racist towards blacks. crazy morons.
Sammy Sosa is just another brainwashed self hater... following the light is right concept like his blk counterparts. thinking it'll make things easier for him in life with white ppl,and that lighter is better than the complexion he destroyed. (mental slavery rides again)! he looks odd and strange, like the make up artists are getting him ready for the circus but put on too much. he'll still be who he is and what he is... know matter how white he turns his skin. that bullshit about some skin rejuvenation he can tell that to somebody dumb and naive that'll fall for anything ppl tell them.
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