A member of the Adelaide cheer squad went viral for all the wrong reasons after being spotted in ‘blackface’, but the woman behind the paint has defended her actions.

During the Crows’ elimination final win over the Western Bulldogs, images began circulating of a fan with a black-painted face behind the goals as part of the club’s cheer squad.

The vision did not go unnoticed, as she appeared on broadcast and also on the big screens inside Adelaide Oval with plenty of rival fans calling out the club directly.

“It’s 2026, and there are people who still think this is okay….. Hey @Adelaide_FCyou okay with one of your members in “blackface?”, one X, formerly Twitter, user wrote.

“I thought I was seeing things, but nope, there it is. There’s a dude in blackface at the footy. In 2026. You’d expect it in 1926 perhaps. Why? Just, why?,” another posted.

“Why are we showing the guy in blackface on the screen?,” another said.

“@adelaidefc cheersquad in blackface? What the actual f---?.,” the Carlton Cheersquad posted on Instagram.

However, the woman at the centre of the furore said she never intended to offend anyone and rather was just trying to look like a club mascot.

“I just thought it would be more realistic (to have black paint on her skin), that’s why I’ve got black gloves as well,” she told The Advertiser.

“So I’m dressed like the mascot Claude the crow.

“A lot of people have thought the costume was cool and have asked to get photos with me.”

Several people also came to her defence online, saying the reaction has been over the top.

“Obviously Blackface is bad but when you see the whole costume like this, one the still image has been blown out of proportion a bit. I’d imagine the bloke didn’t think how it would look like without the wings on tv,” one user responded.

“She is pretending to be a bird, not pretending she is black. Blackface is offensive for very specific reasons. “I want to be a Crow” isn’t one of them,” another wrote.

But others were not left satisfied with the explanation, saying the need to paint her face was unnecessary at best.

“I would say that if I had a big crow hat on, that I wouldn’t have to do blackface to convince everyone I was dressed as a crow, but maybe that’s me. What is old mate in the crowd thinking….,” was one counterargument.

“Old mate dressing as a crow clearly didn’t do it with the intention of being offensive but that doesn’t take away the fact we are all old and aware enough to know that black face in any form is unacceptable,” another said.