Footage shows the man looking perplexed as fellow passengers confront him over his costume, before responding: “Why not?”
He appears to be imitating Samuel L Jackson’s character Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction, by wearing a black afro wig, suit and black face paint.
The video, which has been shared thousands of times on social media, shows a woman telling the passenger: “It’s a bit racist that you put black make-up on.”
But the man, who was sitting on the Central line train with a female companion appears to shrug and deny any problem with his costume.
He can be heard saying in the footage: "He's a person I like, why not?"
Many people took to Twitter to accuse him of racism, amid a growing backlash against blackface costumes in recent years.
Blackface has historically been used by white performers to portray derogatory caricatures of black people, helping to spread racist stereotypes.
One person responded on Twitter: “His shrug of the shoulders and utter nonchalance with the woman next to him looking bemused is probably the most scary thing about this video.”
But others defended him and accused people of being “over sensitive”, sparking a war of words on social media.
It comes days after US news presenter Megyn Kelly was ousted from her NBC programme after making controversial on-air comments about blackface.
The host, 47, provoked a firestorm of criticism for asking why dressing up in blackface for a Halloween costume is wrong. She said that when she was a child dressing up in blackface was okay as long as you were impersonating a character.
In an email later apologising to colleagues, Kelly said that she had never been a "PC" person but understands “we do need to be more sensitive in this day and age”.
