‘White Chocolate’ Gets Canceled After Saying He’s “Paving The Way” For Black Dancers

Popular influencer ‘White Chocolate’ took heat last week after he seemed to claim during an interview that he was ‘paving the way’ for dancers of African descent in the Caribbean.

White Chocolate, whose real name is Josh Butler, is a British native who first shot to fame for his ‘wining’ skills on the island of St. Lucia, especially because he disrupts the stereotype that white men can’t “wine.” He has been spotted at Nothing Hill Carnival, Crop Over in Barbados, Kadooment Day, and even Carnival costume launch events in Jamaica.

While for the self-described carnival junkie, his status as an influencer is an income earner, wining is still a controversial and highly stigmatized form of dancing that demonizes Caribbean people. Many parts of society rebuke and reject wining as dirty, sexual, and in past decades many have paid dearly for participating in Carnival and performing the provocative dance moves.

According to Butler, the moniker white chocolate was bestowed on him while he resided in St. Lucia during an internship by partygoers impressed by his dancing and wining, a traditionally African style of dancing passed down by Africans and now popularly accepted by the Caribbean as part of its identity.

However, Butler, who has about 150k followers on Instagram, has angered his followers after claiming that he is creating opportunities for black dancers by monetizing wining.

During a Four8’s Black Lives Matter roundtable on September 12, Bulter said, “the thing with what I do, it’s obviously just a dance move so wining is part of Caribbean culture and it’s been there for years. What I did was basically come and brand it in a way like, so, not brand wining as in like…”

One of the panelists realized that his comments were headed for controversy and said, “you should stop,” however Butler continued in a bid to clarify. “…turn it into something that is a profession. So before me, or I’m not gonna say before me because there were people before me..I think in a way I have been  paving the way for black people to come after me.”

In an apology, later posted on Instagram, Butler sought to clarify that he didn’t mean that he paved the way for other people to wine.

“What I meant was that in a way I’m creating opportunities, or at least trying to, for others to do what I d (that being an influjencer not just whining) by showing that influencers can be a great tool to promote your brand. In my experience I’ve found that influencers aren’t as common in the Caribbean as other places like the  U.K and U.S. And in turn a lot of brands don’t see the benefits of promoting your brand through someone that has a large social media  following.”

Meanwhile, fans were irate, especially St. Lucians, many of whom demanded that he remove the 758 (the island’s phone code) from his Instagram username where he seeks to claim Caribbean identity by virtue of his limited connection to the island of St. Lucia.

Another commenter said “you’re not paving the way. You are TAKING UP SPACE sir.” Another of his followers pointed out “you need to understand that you’re not influencing the ‘Caribbean scene’ IT is influencing you.”

“This apology is lame and this guy just said what he truly believes, a belief that thousands of us (by that I mean you lot his black followers) GASSED him up to be able to believe. How is he able to literally colonize and pillage carnival culture to the point where he’s making a living of any kind from publicly and commercially occupying a BLACK space without actually tangibly contributing positively to the wellbeing of the Black community? The ONLY thing y’all should be doing is dropping him TF OUT of the culture,” said another commenter.

Butler might be right that he has been successful at being a paid influencer for carnival events in the Caribbean but this might largely be the fault of event organizers who pivot to market to demographics of people abroad by using “one of their own”, to showcase the event offerings. However, this marketing strategy is being rejected by some fans who claim Butler’s earnings are based on culture vulture practices.

“…let’ be real here. If you were not a WHITE man doing this, you wouldn’t have this type of following because whiteness will always be valued above blackness in this sorry world. So wake up to your privilege and cut the bs,” said one user.

Black Lives Matter is becoming a huge movement in the Caribbean, particularly as racism, classism, and colorism permeate public discussions on how lighter-skinned people and foreigners economically benefit from cultural activities, for which persons of darker skin tones receive few or no such opportunities.