No one’s laughing after a Japanese comedy duo came for tennis champion Naomi Osaka, ignoring her undeniable skills on the court and instead advising the Haitian-Japanese-American athlete to bleach her skin.

As the tennis champion was celebrating her first singles title victory against Russian tennis player Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the Toray Pan Pacific in Osaka, Japan, a comedy group, named A Masso, made offensive remarks about the 21-year-old.

BBC Sport reported the comics said Osaka was “too sunburned” and “needed some bleach.”

Despite the duo’s management company, Watanabe Entertainment, “severely” warning them for their comments, the tennis star was not directly acknowledged in their issued apology.

“We sincerely apologize for making the specific person feel uncomfortable, as well as for everyone else connected to the event,” one of the comedians, Ai Murakami, said. “We also sincerely apologize for causing trouble. Though we should have thought about it, we made remarks that hurt many people, something we will never do again.”

This, unfortunately, is not the first time that Osaka has been the target of colorism. In January, noodle company Nissin removed a commercial with an animated character resembling the tennis star with pale skin and brown hair, causing outrage.

According to ESPN, Nissin said it did not intend to “whitewash” Osaka and vowed to be more cognizant of diversity issues.

In Japan and other Asian countries, including China, Malaysia and the Philippines, nearly 40% of women reported using skin lighteners, according to the World Health Organization.

The culture of skin whitening in Japan dates back to the early 20th century, though its history of racism and colorism precedes that drastically.

By the looks of it, Osaka is not paying the poorly written jokes and criticism any attention.

Japanese-Comedians

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