Exhibit A: The band Mudvayne, [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dig_(Mudvayne_song)], was a face-painty weirdo funk "Nu metal" group in the late nineties and early oughts. They released a video for their song Dig in April 2000. In this video all of the members, as hinted, have odd and colorfully painted patterns on their faces. Of interest, the guitar player in particular has his face painted in red with black polkadots on one side of his face, and a spiky-all-around hairdo. Picture

Exhibit B: The movie Gladiator, [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gladiator_(2000_film)], released in May 2000, has a scene where the slaves are first introduced to the arena in which the protagonist and other men, including a nervous pisser and a man with spiked hair, wait in a gateway to the fighting ground while a menacing gladiator swings a mace flail outside. Once the door opens, the one with the spiky-all-around hairdo gets immediately smacked by it in the entire one side of his face.

Closing arguments: Shits fucked.
This is a fun one I've carried in my back pocket all these years, considering it my very own, and it's been a quiet ride to be honest. Lately I'm torn.
Was it simply a makeup person who happened to travel to sets in England, Malta and Morocco to shoot the film in 99, who later then deigned to offer their superior skills on a simple one day carnival face paint music video shoot? And they decided to tip a hat to themselves and their previous work through the spiky haired mans bloody hole-poked face?
I dunno, even that seems a little far fetched.