I haven't caught up on this pseudo-celebrity gossip but was the offended team mate a non-Caucasian person and/or did the offender behave in a stereotypically offensive manner other than putting on the blackface? I don't think putting on some makeup alone should cause most sensible people offence, but perhaps how you carry on wearing it might. I do agree though too many in our society can be hypersensitive about such matters (e.g. remember the backlash against that
Jackson Jive blackface act on Red Faces several years ago*).
One of my favourite comedies of all time is
The Party, in which Peter Sellers played an accident-prone Indian actor in Hollywood. I thought he struck a beautiful balance between creating a bumbling but loveable character (who gets the girl in the end) and potentially causing offence to the entire Subcontinent. Similarly, Benny Hill had a few skits where he liberally applied the boot polish or dressed in drag (or possibly both). No doubt they would all be quietly shelved by the TV stations now for fear of causing offence.
*Ironically, a few of the performers themselves were from ethnic backgrounds and meant it to be a tribute rather than racist, but that was inadequate to mollify the PC lynch mob.
