For a decade, American singer-songwriter Gabrielle Smith has used the name Eskimeaux for her musical project. However, the celebrated Inuk throat singer has now launched a campaign of sorts against Smith via her Twitter, calling out Smith on what the Canadian musician views as a culturally insensitive and offensive band name.
UPDATE (4/17, 12:15 p.m. EDT): According to Tagaq, Smith will now be changing her band name. You can learn more here.
As Eskimeaux's Wikipedia page states, Smith's father is of Tlingit decent — an indigenous people from the Pacific Northwest.
In an old Tumblr post, Smith addressed her decision to choose the name, writing: "I chose this moniker as a teenager, in a time when I felt like I had been denied an identity — my Tlingit heritage was the only thing I could hold onto about my cultural history that was real. Eskimeaux is basically me: it's an empowered persona that has brought me warmth and fulfillment in times of isolation and confusion about my origins."
Below, you can read Tagaq's string of tweets against Smith:
.@eskimeaux666 hey I'm playing philly tonight too if you want to come see a real Eskimo.
— tanya tagaq (@tagaq) April 13, 2017
If you want to use the word Eskimo you had better be an Eskimo or I'll eat you for lunch.
— tanya tagaq (@tagaq) April 13, 2017
I remember living in Montreal in 2001 and seeing a designer clothing store called Eskimeaux. I went in and asked why that name?
— tanya tagaq (@tagaq) April 13, 2017
The designer said that when he lived in NYC everyone called him Eskimo. Oh tee hee how cute.
— tanya tagaq (@tagaq) April 13, 2017
The prevailing stereotype for Inuit is a very simple, happy-go-lucky, savage and godless heathen. Everyone loves the little Eskimos.
— tanya tagaq (@tagaq) April 13, 2017
We are intelligent, resilient, intelligent, scientific survivors that carry a breadth of knowledge that is incomprehensible to others.
— tanya tagaq (@tagaq) April 13, 2017
I'm tired of being reduced, diminished, dismissed. Our matriarchs are better than this.
— tanya tagaq (@tagaq) April 13, 2017
I wondered what kind of life that store owner carried. Did he have any focus on our culture or was it a quaint blur, a shrug, an eye roll?
— tanya tagaq (@tagaq) April 13, 2017
Statistically speaking I could say that store owner had not or would not go through what myself and my brethren do. Neither would he care.
— tanya tagaq (@tagaq) April 13, 2017
I'm tired of people taking. It's time to give back. The question isn't why Am I so angry, it's why aren't you angry?
— tanya tagaq (@tagaq) April 13, 2017
Witnessing the sickening effects of colonial genocide first hand is not a quaint joke, not a shrug, not an eye roll. Time to listen.
— tanya tagaq (@tagaq) April 13, 2017
I guess @eskimeaux666 is claiming Inuit heritage. @Laakkuluk @Alethea_Aggiuq curiouser and curiouser.
— tanya tagaq (@tagaq) April 13, 2017
I'm 1/4 Polish. Doesn't mean I can lay claim to a culture I have not been raised in. I would not name my band The Polaks.
— tanya tagaq (@tagaq) April 13, 2017
.@eskimeaux666 hey watch an Eskimo do the thing: https://t.co/FJYZsgpQUl
— tanya tagaq (@tagaq) April 14, 2017
.@eskimeaux666 you are not an Eskimo. I see you are playing Toronto. Maybe I should bring some Eskimos?
— tanya tagaq (@tagaq) April 14, 2017
As of press time, Smith has yet to publicly reply to Tagaq's string of tweets..@eskimeaux666 plays Toronto on April 17th. Canadians should show them how much they appreciate hipster bands using slurs to sell music.
— tanya tagaq (@tagaq) April 14, 2017
Eskimeaux plays Toronto's Lee's Palace on April 17. You can see all the project's tour dates here.