Mother apologizes for son's 'blackface' makeup at Six Flags Great America

The mother of a 14-year-old boy accused of wearing blackface makeup and sending racist memes to unsuspecting visitors at Six Flags Great America earlier this month is apologizing to those offended, but says the incident was a misunderstanding and denies her son sent racist materials.

The mother, who is not being identified due to safety concerns, said her son and other boys he was with used "eye black sport makeup" to paint their faces to look like "zombies" once inside the Gurnee theme park. They were caught on camera and the video was uploaded to TikTok, where it now has more than 1 million views.

"We offer our sincerest apologies to anyone that was hurt by the misleading actions in the video," the mother said. "As a result of the occurrence at Six Flags on Oct. 9, I feel the need as a mother to clarify a few points regarding my child. He did not paint his face to be offensive, he is not racist, and he did not Airdrop any racist memes."

"He was unaware that his face paint could be considered offensive and washed it off as soon as he found out that it was," she added.

The history of blackface makeup is rooted in racism dating back to white performers applying grease paint to portray unflattering caricatures of enslaved people in minstrel shows during the 1800s. Blackface has been widely denounced for years.

The mother said her son - identified by others online - has received death threats and is no longer attending Grant High School in Fox Lake. He attends school online, she said.

A Six Flags spokeswoman said the park does not allow anyone over the age of 12 to wear masks or face paint.

"The guests pictured in the video you reference did not enter the park wearing face makeup, which we were able to verify through our front gate camera system," said spokeswoman Rachel Kendziora.

Kendziora added that no complaints were made to Six Flags staff about the face paint the day of the incident.

The creator of the TikTok video said he received a racist meme anonymously Airdropped to his iPhone shortly after taking the video.

The boy's mother denies her son sent the meme, and said she checked his phone for any evidence he did and couldn't find any.

According to an Apple support website, there's no way to determine who sent an Airdrop if it was received by someone whose phone settings allow anyone to send messages and images.

Grant High School District 124 Superintendent Christine Sefcik said the district had been made aware of the video and "took immediate action to share our concerns directly with the students, their guardians and appropriate officials."

The mother said the incident has "spiraled out of control."

"We absolutely are not racist," she said. "It was inconsiderate but not intentional, and he is learning from his mistakes."