A Princeton University group called Urban Congo was disbanded Monday after two videos of its performances allegedly mocking African culture surfaced over the weekend.
Urban Congo’s president apologized on Sunday and announced he would disband on Monday amid criticism from other students and people on social media.
One of the videos, which was taken down by the group but recorded and reposted to YouTube, shows Urban Congo’s members – most, if not all, of whom appear to be white males – with painted streaks on their faces and bodies, wearing loincloths, and banging on objects while chanting.
That video, which was from this past weekend, when the group performed the act as filler during the eXpressions dance show on Saturday night. The eXpressions Dance Company is Princeton’s oldest student-run dance group and puts on two shows a year.
eXpressions apologized on Monday for the “offensive content of the Urban Congo filler in our recent show.”
“We regret providing a platform for their performance and for the hurt it has caused,” eXpressions said on its Facebook page.
The second, similar video that surfaced was from late 2014. The similar performance by Urban Congo was recorded during the annual Princeton Varsity Club “Tigers Got Talent” talent show in November, The Daily Princetonian reported.
In both videos, the audience can be heard laughing and cheering during Urban Congo’s performance.
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