Benny Blanco’s Latin-Coded Album And Viral Caricature Mask Have Sparked Debate Around His Branding Vs. Actual Heritage

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This week, Benny Blanco revealed that his upcoming album, Hermoso, will feature eight songs, each with a Spanish title.

Benny’s branding and promotion of the album — which has included wearing a mask that appears to be a caricature of his face — has sparked mixed reactions online, with some people accusing him of “Latino cosplay.”

For context, Benny’s real name is Benjamin Joseph Levin, and he was raised by his parents, Sandra Levin and Andrew Levin, in Virginia.

Benny explained in a recent interview that he chose to adopt the stage name “Benny Blanco” after a character from the 1993 film Carlito’s Way, which was one of his favorite movies growing up.

Benny’s dad is reportedly of Jewish and Eastern European descent, while his mom is Jewish with Puerto Rican roots, though it’s unclear how far back these roots go. During a 2018 chat with the New York Times, the music producer described himself as a “chubby Jewish kid from Virginia.”

Given this context, some people questioned Benny’s heavily Latin-inspired album and suggested that his caricature-esque mask came across as a racist stereotype.

“This looks racist towards every race,” one viral X post read. “The concept of Benny Blanco, a Jewish guy whose stage name is Spanish, putting out a Spanish-themed album called Hermoso while looking like a troll,” wrote another user.

“It’s actually so sinister to make your entire persona a downtrodden Latino man when you’re literally a Jewish guy from Virginia,” someone said. “Adding so much Latin ‘flair’ to sell as his aesthetic is distasteful as he’s not even Latino to begin with,” another person wrote.

However, others argued that Benny appeared to be using the exaggerated mask to lean into cruel online conversations about his appearance.

“If I had to guess, I think he's leaning into the whole ‘he's ugly’ thing you see a lot on stan twitter/adjacent spaces. It looks like an exaggeration/caricature of him made to look specifically hideous,” someone suggested, while another user agreed, “It is an exaggeration/distortion of his own features. I see it as playing up/leaning into what everyone says about his looks being ugly.”

“he's also pretty clearly leaning into the whole thing about him getting called ugly etc.,” one person said. “That was my initial thought as well. Although I'm just now learning that he's not Hispanic in any way, which is... odd. This does seem to be an exaggeration of his natural features, though, so I see how it could be interpreted as racist, but I also see how it could be a self-aware joke. It's just walking a fine line, I think,” another person theorized.

Let us know what you think in the comments.

Some Reddit comments have been edited slightly for length or clarity.

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