Alyssa Milano has responded to an article claiming she had posed in blackface by showing that the image is from a comedy video in which she impersonated Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi of "Jersey Shore" fame.
The actress tweeted a profane response on Tuesday to a headline from an article on Lifezette, the site founded by Fox News commentator Laura Ingraham, that said Milano is facing a backlash over a "blackface scandal."
"Hey, a-------. The below picture is me parodying Jersey Shore and Snookie’s tan," she wrote. "Snookie’s tan (she is a sweetheart by the way) is worthy of parodying as is Trump’s “tan”. So go f--- yourselves with your smear campaign."
Milano then included a link to a 2013 "Funny or Die" video in which she is shown being made up to look like Polizzi, who was born in Chile and grew up in New York after being adopted by Italian American parents.
The video shows makeup artists painting Milano's face a deep brown and teasing up her hair.
Her tweet on Tuesday came after she first brought the situation to light on June 27 by noting the photo of her done up as Polizzi was circulating online.
"The right wing trolls are using a still from this funny or die video where a parodied Snookie from Jersey Shore," she tweeted. "If you see the screen grab that they are using maybe you can shut them down with a link to the entire video."
Amid worldwide protests against racial injustice, accusations of white performers wearing racist blackface have led to apologies by late night hosts Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel as well as popular YouTuber Jenna Marbles. Teen singer JoJo Siwa denied a dancer in her new video is wearing blackface.
Tina Fey also requested old "30 Rock" episodes featuring blackface to be removed from streaming services.