US marines under fire after posting 'racist' Snapchat video in blackface

Two Marines have come under fire for posting a Snapchat video of themselves in blackface.

The racist clip was reposted to Twitter by a user named Simar on February 23. In the video caption, he identifies one of the offending marines, Zach Highfield, and asks the US Marine's official account to comment on the footage.

The pair did not just dress up in blackface, they also made racist remarks too: 

The clip opens with one of the men saying "blackface" before the man in front of him says, "Good morning, sir."

In response to this, the man at the back says, "Hello monkey."

"This is Zach Highfield, he's a Marine who is proudly displaying his bigotry by wearing blackface in his military gear," Simar said of the footage. "The man behind him who says 'hello monkey' hasn't been identified yet. Care to comment on this racist behavior @USMC?"

Simar went on to post a photograph of Highfield in uniform to shame him for his remarks.

The video has garnered a significant amount of attention on the microblogging website. At the time of writing, it has received over 8K likes and 7.8K retweets, all of which echo the same sentiment: these men should be brought to justice for their actions.

The US Marines were quick to respond to the footage, and Simar posted an update to say that they were investigating the incident.

A veteran subsequently tweeted to say that one of the highlights of his time in the military was the friendships that he made with people of different races:

In response to the backlash, Highfield said, "It looks a lot worse than it is. It was a bad mistake. We had no intention to offend."

The second Marine remains unidentified.

The clip was filmed at the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing (MAW) in San Diego California. A spokesman issued a statement about the incident an email to USA TODAY:

"Our leaders are committed to maintaining an environment of professionalism, dignity, and respect. 3rd MAW takes all allegations of discriminatory behavior very seriously as they stand in stark contrast of our core values of honor, courage, and commitment and do not reflect the discipline and professionalism of the Marines and Sailors of 3rd MAW.’"