{"id":200214,"date":"2025-09-04T18:30:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T18:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/200214\/"},"modified":"2025-09-04T18:30:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T18:30:13","slug":"druskis-whiteface-nascar-makeup-took-four-hours-to-perfect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/200214\/","title":{"rendered":"Druski’s Whiteface NASCAR Makeup Took Four Hours To Perfect"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tComedian Druski\u2019s latest sketch video only has nine words in its description: \u201cThat Guy who is just Proud to be AMERICAN.\u201d But in the 36 hours since he posted it on social media, the video of him assuming the persona of a NASCAR fanatic<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 attending an actual NASCAR event complete with an American flag cowboy hat, sagging overalls, and oh, yeah, a full body race change via makeup<\/a> \u2014 has already captured the internet\u2019s discourse machine.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe video is less than three minutes long, but manages to capture an impressive display of Druski <\/a>embodying some of the funniest aspects of Southern racing culture, which includes him\u00a0singing Born In The U.S.A.<\/a> in a lifted truck, chugging beer after beer near a crowded race track, and being driven nearly to tears over a simple rendition of the National Anthem. There\u2019s also plenty of nods to how overwhelmingly white the sport tends to be \u2014 at one point Druski drives past a Black fan and asks if he\u2019s \u201clost.\u201d It\u2019s an absolutely hysterical offering, but feels perfectly on-vibe from the comedian, who built a following with his character-driven social media sketches. Born Drew Desbordes, Druski, 30, is a long way from the kid who spent his time at the dinner table cutting up. He told Rolling Stone in 2024 <\/a>that social media helped him build his comedy<\/a> career because it allowed him to completely bypass gatekeepers<\/a> \u2014 and find people who shared his sense of humor. \u201cWe don\u2019t need anybody to tell us we can be on that TV show, or to kiss up to somebody to try to get in that door,\u201d he said. \u201cI think it\u2019s just amazing that I can create my fan base.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSince Druski released his NASCAR video<\/a>, it\u2019s gone viral on every social media platform it\u2019s been posted on, including Instagram, TikTok<\/a>, and Facebook. But it\u2019s been especially celebrated on X, where it\u2019s reached over 175 million views and is still growing. There\u2019s of course, the debate about whether a Black comedian donning makeup to appear white is racist \u2014 \u201cwhiteface is racism\u201d arguments abound \u2014 which is to be expected on a site that\u2019s become known for a tidal wave of misinformation<\/a> and misogyny, racism, and Nazi-themed content<\/a>. But what\u2019s been louder is the general awe at just how perfect Druski\u2019s makeup looks \u2014 so good, in fact, that it\u2019s actually tricked some people. \u201cBeen scrolling by this not understanding why yall kept putting this white man all over my tl,\u201d tweeted one person. \u201cWhole time it\u2019s fucking Druski.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe amazing thing about Druski\u2019s skits is not just the commitment to character but the access he somehow gets and the supporting characters that add a touch of verisimilitude,\u201d wrote author Bolu Babalola. \u201cA cultural historian if you will.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile Druski is the mastermind behind the video, the Picasso responsible for that perfect blend of white makeup, fake tattoos, and farmer\u2019s tan is Georgia makeup artist Kaylee Kehne-Swisher, who specializes in everything from commercial touchups and makeovers to nitty gritty film special effects. She worked on Weapons<\/a>, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever<\/a>, Zombieland: Double Tap, and now, the internet comedy sketch that you\u2019ve probably already watched at least three times. But what people might not know is that this isn\u2019t the first time she\u2019s worked with Druski \u2014\u00a0it\u2019s not even the first time she\u2019s used makeup to turn him white. Kehne-Swisher is also the makeup artist behind his May skit<\/a>, \u201cThe white boy that\u2019s accepted by the Hood.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI love these characters that Druski\u2019s coming up with,\u201d Kehne-Swisher says. \u201cI\u2019ve always really loved [Saturday Night Live], where you can hardly tell who a person is under Clinton makeup, or White Chicks \u2014 these big makeup transformations. I\u2019ve been trying to come up with more ideas for him, like \u2018What can we get away with?\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tRolling Stone chatted with Kehne-Swisher about the process behind the now-viral video, working with Druski, and why she thinks SFX<\/a> will always have a big place in art.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019m so glad we\u2019re chatting! How long have you been doing makeup and SFX?\u00a0<\/strong>
Gosh, since 2011 now. I went to Joe Blasco, which is a makeup school in [Orlando], Florida. I\u2019ve done everything from wedding makeup to these kinds of big body makeup and creature makeup and prosthetics. That\u2019s how I got wrapped in with Druski\u00a0\u2014 he was looking for a big makeup [project] like this.<\/p>\n

\n\tHad you heard of Druski before you signed on?\u00a0<\/strong>
Honestly, I hadn\u2019t. Once I heard his name and started looking his stuff up, I really liked it. But no, I\u2019d never heard of him before that.<\/p>\n

\n\tTell me about how you even tackle a project like this. How much of this was your interpretation of a prompt versus entirely his idea?\u00a0<\/strong>
Well, the first time [they reached out], they were very hush hush about what it was exactly. Just that it was going to be a race change, it was the next day, and that we had to do it and let it walk away, no touch ups or anything. I knew it had to stay on a long time and be able to get on fast. But it still took about seven hours.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThat was for \u201cThe white boy that\u2019s accepted by the Hood,\u201d which is another race change sketch<\/strong>.
Yeah! It was a long process the first time because it was just me. So this time around, I was able to bring another artist on, assistant Rachel Bongard Ross, and we got the makeup down to about four hours. This time around for NASCAR, they sent me some samples of the sunburn and that mullet look and we just went from there. I had maybe four to five days to prep for it this time, which is really nice, but it was definitely a lot of work.<\/p>\n

\n\tWalk me through the steps you have to go through in order to get a final product that, frankly, looks pretty realistic<\/strong>.
This is something that makeup artists have to do often actually \u2014 like with stunt doubles, we have to make them match [the actor]. You have roll out their current color with a red or something close to neutralize and bring in that blood tone. Then you go over that again with different tones, and then eventually the flesh tone. From there, we add more paint on top of that, speckling and all kinds of\u00a0 shimmer to make it look like more skin. For Druski, we added tattoos, and a lace mustache to him. Originally I was going to try to put a lace beard over his beard, but, with the time [crunch] we actually ended up just straightening his own board. We did have a lot of ideas at first, wanting to add things to his nose, and do a stretchy nipple and have more wrinkly eyes, but I\u2019m actually really happy we didn\u2019t do it because I feel like you can see him in the makeup.<\/p>\n

\n\tHow do you make the sunburn and the tattoos look so realistic?\u00a0<\/strong>
It was so fun. I worked with a company called Hookup Tattoos here in Atlanta, and they make tattoos for movies and all kinds of things. Then I also found some temporary tattoos on Amazon and they came out surprisingly good. You have to put paint on top of them to make it look a little more real, but for character makeup it was perfect.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd we basically painted the sunburn right on. After we painted him a regular skin tone, we airbrushed the entire shirt outline on. Then with lighter tones, we went over and speckled different reds and misted other tones of red to give it some modeling. I think it works perfectly.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tOne of the things that\u2019s so surprising about the video is how well the makeup wears. How do you keep so much pain intact through what was essentially a Beer Olympics?\u00a0<\/strong>
This is something I\u2019ve done before with stunt actors or others in the film industry, when they have to be in water. It\u2019s a concoction of a lot of different makeup products called Jordiane, and then a makeup gel, and then a strong pigmented alcohol-based paint. A ton of things mixed together really blocks everything out and helps you get a blank canvas. And from there you can bring whatever tone you want, use a pink or an undertone of blue depending on what you want to achieve. It\u2019s basically a lot of color theory.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n

\n\tIf it takes that much to put it on and get it to stay, what\u2019s the removal process like?\u00a0<\/strong>
It\u2019s another mixture of things [laugh]. We use a silicone oil and that helps kind of break down those different layers of paint. Then an alcohol based remover, and that kind of helps get that alcohol based paint off. It\u2019s very oily. It\u2019s a lot of rubbing and wiping and rubbing and wiping.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tYou\u2019ve been a makeup artist for a long time. What do you think makeup\u2019s place is in the art and film world, especially at a time when productions are dominated by a ton of technological advancements and VFX?<\/strong>
I actually was on Weapons, which is a movie that came out recently. Gladys was me! But that was a huge thing using practical effects because a lot of films now are using CGI and AI.\u00a0I think that it makes it a little bit more special when you do things practically, because it is becoming so much more of a norm just, you know, making it in a program and not having to do it for real. A blend of CGI and makeup together are perfect. But when you do effects completely in digital, it takes the artistry away from it. So finding people that are willing to keep doing things practically, and instructors that want to keep doing that, people like Druski, who want to make these big characters \u2014 it\u2019s really, really cool.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Comedian Druski\u2019s latest sketch video only has nine words in its description: \u201cThat Guy who is just Proud…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":200215,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[1144,42399,46439,1406,110842,62,2397,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-200214","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nascar","8":"tag-comedy","9":"tag-druski","10":"tag-makeup","11":"tag-nascar","12":"tag-sfx","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-tiktok","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115147454890572227","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=200214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200214\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/200215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}