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The satirical comic character Ali G invented and played by the English comedian Sacha Baron Cohen.

Wigger (alternatively spelled wigga, whigger or whigga) is a slang term for a European American who allophilically emulates mannerisms, slangs and fashions stereotypically associated with urban African Americans; especially in relation to hip hop culture.^[1]

The term most likely stems from a portmanteau of the word white and the defamatory term nigger. The term wigger is generally used to describe a young, middle or upper-class mimicker of certain affectations of hip hop culture. The word is considered offensive by some because of its similarity to nigger in addition to reflecting stereotypical notions about urban blacks.

The phenomenon of white people adopting stereotypical black mannerisms, slang, and apparel has appeared in several generations since slavery was abolished in the western world. The concept has been documented in the United States, United Kingdom and other white-majority countries. An early form of this was the white negro in the jazz and swing music scenes of the 1920s and 1930s; as examined in the Norman Mailer essay, "The White Negro: Superficial Reflections on the Hipster"." It was later seen in the Zoot suiter of the 1930s and 1940s; the hipster of the 1940s; and the beatnik and rock and roller of the 1950s.

References in popular culture

• The satirical newspaper The Onion sometimes features an accountant/wigger columnist, Herbert Kornfeld, whose columns are written in Black English slang remarkably similar to that of the Staten Island, New York rap group, Wu-Tang Clan.
• Hardcore/thrash crossover band M.O.D. has a song called "Whigga".
• In his song "The Way I Am", Eminem lashes out at the "cocky Caucasians who think I'm some wigger who just tries to be black 'cause I talk with an accent and grab on my balls."
• The film Malibu's Most Wanted is about a well-to-do teenage boy who emulates stereotypical elements of Hip hop culture.
• Chicago rapper Marz, who is of Croatian descent, is a self-proclaimed wigger. One of his common lyrical sayings is "I'm a wigger with an attitude". He has an Internet-released single called "Wigger Crown", which features lyrics such as: "If 50 Cent can go after Jigga and Nas/ I'ma go after the wigger crown/ y'all gone feel me now".
• On various music-sharing networks, such as Bearshare, Kazaa and LimeWire, there is a song misattributed to "Weird Al" Yankovic called "I'm a Wigga" or "Carl the Wigga". The song was actually uploaded to MySpace by a person with the user name Bloody Fetus.
• British rapper Lady Sovereign has performed a song called "I'm a Whigga". However, this is not the same song being misattributed to "Weird Al Yankovic".
• The song Pretty Fly (for a White Guy), by The Offspring details how a wigger tries too hard.
• Wigger (1995) ISBN 1-55152-020-6 is a novel by Lawrence Ytzhak Braithwaite set in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. It explores the class struggle, poverty, prostitution, exploitation of youth, desolation and absence of solidarity in a period of new negrophilia.

Footnotes

See also

• Cultural appropriation
• Ganguro
• Uncle Tom
• Racism
• Jafaican

External links

• BBC explanation of the term