{"id":883674,"date":"2026-09-07T21:16:31","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T21:16:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/883674\/"},"modified":"2026-09-07T21:16:31","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T21:16:31","slug":"afl-2026-adelaide-crows-at-centre-of-black-face-paint-controversy-revealed-as-superfan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/883674\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL 2026: Adelaide Crows at centre of black face paint controversy revealed as superfan"},"content":{"rendered":"

A woman who dressed up as a club mascot to an AFL elimination final has been unveiled as an Adelaide Crows superfan.<\/p>\n

Colleen McKaye, 59, spoke out over the \u2018deeply distressing\u201d incident, which saw her go viral on social media and accused of committing blackface.<\/p>\n

Watch every match of the 2026 Toyota AFL Finals Series before the Grand Final LIVE with no ad-breaks during play on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n

It has since emerged McKaye painted her face black as she dressed up as the Crows mascot.<\/p>\n

The Daily Mail report she is currently laying low from the spotlight, with her son James speaking publicly on her behalf.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe is not taking any calls at the moment,\u201d James told the Daily Mail.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had all her friends messaging me worried because she\u2019s not answering her phone. She\u2019s not doing too great after everything.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s just a person who loves her footy club so to be painted as a racist [is just awful for her].\u201d<\/p>\n

McKaye is a familiar figure at Crows games and was seated in the cheer squad bay for Saturday\u2019s win over Western Bulldogs, acting as a committee member of the club\u2019s official cheer squad.<\/p>\n

\"Hawthorn<\/p>\n

She has a reputation for firing up her fellow supporters, often singing chants to inspire the players.<\/p>\n

While her commitment to the supporter group has seen her work as assistant treasurer and fundraising manager, organising raffled and other initiatives.<\/p>\n

In 2018 she was named female Fan of the Year by the AFL Fans Association.<\/p>\n

After that win she said: \u201cFor big games… I dress up in over-the-top clothes to show my Crows colours.\u201d<\/p>\n

That is just what she did for the elimination final against Bulldogs, but her appearance sparked accusations of blackface.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just thought it would be more realistic (to paint black on her skin), that\u2019s why I\u2019ve got black gloves as well,\u201d McKaye told The Adelaide Advertiser.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I\u2019m dressed like the mascot Claude the crow.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people have thought the costume was cool and have asked to get photos with me.\u201d<\/p>\n

McKaye was defended by the president of the Crows supporter group Peter Kauschke.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s sad about all the comments,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, yes, she purchased a costume and replicated Claude the Crow. She had the red bow due to the headpiece coming off.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally published as Adelaide Crows at centre of black face paint controversy revealed as superfan<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A woman who dressed up as a club mascot to an AFL elimination final has been unveiled as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":883675,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[453413,390985,295116,264740,453391,453384,387360,453420,376746,376730,381856,453404,401028,376610,42798,9126,638,453414,453394,453397,453403,453389,453418,64,63,55,639,453380,453388,453419,453395,453382,4026,98710,2730,453383,453422,453421,453417,453378,385681,453410,453407,400680,453402,453400,400653,453412,453386,445565,413259,392581,453406,379005,4895,47573,384961,62756,377208,453405,453385,377169,453409,453387,1861,3778,38633,453392,46907,428193,1314,85,441816,403701,453415,453411,453390,382205,381442,453401,453396,453393,227529,443883,439257,453408,453416,225862,453398,379600,453379,376557,453381,378969,453399,4050,698,377211],"class_list":["post-883674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-s-official-cheer-squad-hawthorn-coach-sam-mitchell","tag-s-win","tag-295116","tag-264740","tag-a-club-mascot","tag-a-committee-member","tag-a-costume","tag-a-familiar-figure","tag-a-fan","tag-a-lot","tag-a-person","tag-a-racist","tag-a-reputation","tag-a-woman","tag-accusations","tag-adelaide-crows","tag-afl","tag-all-her-friends","tag-all-the-comments","tag-an-adelaide-crows-superfan","tag-an-afl-elimination-final","tag-any-calls","tag-assistant-treasurer-and-fundraising-manager","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-big-games","tag-black-face-paint-controversy","tag-black-gloves","tag-blackface","tag-blackface-watch","tag-bulldogs","tag-centre","tag-claude","tag-colleen-mckaye","tag-crows-fan","tag-crows-games","tag-distressing","tag-emotional-moment","tag-every-match","tag-female-fan","tag-fremantle-she","tag-her-appearance","tag-her-behalf","tag-her-commitment","tag-her-face","tag-her-fellow-supporters","tag-her-footy-club","tag-her-phone","tag-her-skin","tag-her-son","tag-her-son-james","tag-her-work","tag-incident","tag-james","tag-just-1-it","tag-kayo","tag-kayo-sports-new","tag-mckaye","tag-my-crows-colours","tag-no-ad-breaks","tag-other-initiatives-in","tag-over-the-top-clothes","tag-people","tag-photos","tag-play","tag-raffled","tag-saturday","tag-several-players","tag-social-media","tag-sports","tag-superfan","tag-the-2026-toyota-afl-finals-series","tag-the-adelaide-advertiser","tag-the-afl-fans-association-after","tag-the-cheer-squad-bay","tag-the-club","tag-the-costume","tag-the-crow","tag-the-crows-mascot-the-daily-mail-report","tag-the-crows-supporter-group-peter-kauschke","tag-the-daily-mail","tag-the-elimination-final","tag-the-grand-final-live","tag-the-headpiece","tag-the-mascot","tag-the-moment","tag-the-players-while","tag-the-president","tag-the-red-bow","tag-the-spotlight","tag-the-supporter-group","tag-the-year","tag-their-face","tag-viral","tag-western-bulldogs","tag-your-first-month"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=883674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883674\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/883675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=883674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=883674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=883674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}