Now the Attorney General of Virginia has admitted that he wore blackface at a party when he was in college in 1980. (He must think there are photographs that could come out or I doubt he’d be admitting this now, just my guess). He is third in line after Northam (blackface or KKK robes) and Fairfax (who is accused of sexual assault in 2004).
Should this be a career killer? Ted Danson still has a show and he appeared in blackface when he was dating Whoopi Goldberg. Are people just more sensitive to offensive behavior now?
I remember the 80’s well and remember that blackface was taboo then, as it is now, so these revelations are surprising. Some of them are shocking.
I don’t think it has to be a career killer, especially for an actor or comedian who has put themselves in many different guises, but the devil is in the details. And it matters very much how it is explained by the person, and how it is apologized for.
I’m no puritan, but I am shocked that various high schools, universities, and med schools would be clueless enough to let photos like that be on a page of one of their official books.
My public high school in the 70’s would have edited out anything like the long string of debauchery printed in Georgetown Prep yearbooks of that era. My college and grad school may have had year books, but I never saw them. I had no “page”, but if I had, I would have checked the darn thing even if I didn’t care about it!
My husband’s med school did have a yearbook but the most scandalous thing was that one student posed with another student’s motorcycle instead of his own.
You would think these institutions would care about their own reputations. Either they didn’t care or they didn’t even notice! Yes, I find that shocking.
I know it was pointed out as racist in the early 80’s. I was a little kid and definitely remember it being a storyline on Gimme a Break. I was pretty young but even I understood enough to know it was wrong, at least in general.
I think there can be a case for people who were portraying a specific black person, who didn’t associate it with black face. Looking back, they can see why it would be wrong, but at the time they wouldn’t have had malice. I feel like that is the kind of place for explanations and understanding that when people know better they do better. Intentions matter.
Ted Danson was a tricky one. From what I remember, Whoopi put him up to it and helped him with the costume and skit. Then defended it after. It didn’t permanently detail his career, but it seemed to have altered it and took awhile for him to come back from it. It seemed like it was part of what ruined his relationship with Whoopi too. He wasn’t a political leader nor was he in any position of authority. I think everyone agreed he never should have done it though.
Wasn’t an entire movie made with a white actor appearing in blackface? I think it was supposed to be a comedy. IIFC, that actor flamed out and doesn’t have a career anymore. No, I’m not talking about Laurence Olivier as Othello.
I remember the 80’s well also and it wasn’t a big deal. None of it is surprising nor shocking.
We don’t do it today–times change and people do too. It’s been close to 40 years of cultural change.
Comedians often are the people who bring about change. They’re the ones who point out the inconsistencies in our lives.
I remember very well Whoopi Goldberg doing some of her first comedy acts on TV in the very early 80’s before she was in any movies at all. She was new to any stage. I don’t think anyone really knew her name. She performed very funny but very memorable vignettes and personality “pictures”. The homeless woman was one example Or a drug addict… She was brilliant in her portrayals and made you laugh and cry as well as examine your own biases all at the same time.
Archie Bunker was a totally obnoxious character also. That was in '79 to early '80’s also. That show received a TON of criticism before it became a hit. Offensive, offensive characters, obnoxious characters. And became a game changer in culture. The brilliance was you finally came to see characters as real people. Biases and all.
And they could change in very good ways if given a nudge and a chance.
Robert Downey Jr., in Tropic Thunder? I never saw it but it was controversial. I wouldn’t describe it as blackface though, they used makeup and the movie was a satire. He became Iron Man so I wouldn’t say his career flamed out.
Yes, but the actor’s career didn’t tank because of the film. The story (it had struck me at the time): a White guy from a rich family whose father refused to pay for his law school (?Med school?) asked him to work to earn his tuition. He was expecting a Ferrari or somesuch and doesn’t take the work requirement well. So, instead, he pretends to be Black to get a diversity scholarship, gets it and has to go to school as a Black student. He then proceeds to discover racism since now everyone he meets thinks he’s Black. I remember his white classmates all insisted on his joining a basketball team despite his saying he didn’t play, because ‘all Black guys are good at basketball’. Anyway, he’s shocked that racism exists like a thousand paper cuts in his life, and at the end apologized and gives the scholarship back. I don’t remember but assume he’s forgiven because he’s learned his lesson.
So, it wasn’t quite a film ‘in blackface’. It was more of a film about blackface in a sense.
My guess is that right now oppo research must be out in full force on ALL White VA or Southern politicians and their yearbooks. Whoever thinks it’s related to a party is missing the point - it’s related to a culture, that of 70s and 80s Virginia, sons of the ‘aristocracy’ or wannabes, for whom this was so normalized it wasn’t received as racist but as ‘harmless fun’.
I suppose if comedians think it’s funny and go on TV or in the movies with it, then there’s a certain societal norm set. If it’s okay for Soul Man or Tropic Thunder or Trading Places or (the reverse) White Chicks then it’s okay for a college party. In other words, if people weren’t shocked and appalled by those portrayals as comedies, then a certain standard was set. I really don’t know what to think about this.
Are you thinking of the movie Soul Man? About a white student who fakes African American identity to win a scholarship to pay for Harvard law school I think. C. Thomas Howell was the actor.
My med school had an annual, I didn’t get one so I can’t check it but I think it was put together by students without administrative oversight. When it came out I was surprised by how many photos of me were in it because I didn’t submit any and had no control over what was printed in it.
The character didn’t wear the traditionally mocking black face, was not mocking anyone and learned huge lessons about racism and privilege. They was the point of the movie. The character faced big repercussions for portraying himself as black when he wasn’t.
It didn’t ruin the actor’s career, although the role/movie has come under fire since.
I don’t think something 30 to 40 years ago should be a career killer now IF your behavior and attitude since then has evolved.
I think most of us honestly feel like we’re not racist, but through listening and understanding can understand what is meant by white privilege. I believe we can give people the benefit of the doubt that when we know better we do better.
I’m far more disturbed by his discussion of infanticide.
I really really remember the 80s and a friend (now very successful) went as michael jackson (with blackface) and wearing one glove ( that was a thing for awhile) for Halloween…i didn’t think it was a big deal then (and it wasn’t) and there’s no way that it would influence how i think of him today.
Things change, folks…we’re doing things at this very moment that are going to be looked on poorly 20 or 30 years from now…
@greenwitch “You would think these institutions would care about their own reputations. Either they didn’t care or they didn’t even notice! Yes, I find that shocking.”
Maybe. But in the old days yearbooks actually belonged totally to the students and reflected their current times and views and not just an advertisement for the school or administration.
A yearbook in the best sense should reflect the current environment for your generation and not a fantasy from the advertising agency. They are only meant to be a small memory slice of history for a specific group of people.
I do think there was a difference almost 40 years ago between 1) dressing up as a specific person who is black and darkening ones face like Micaheal Jackson ,which today would be understood to be absolutely taboo and insensitive and which in those days there was less awareness of back then about just how problematic blackface is and 2) Dressing up in dark face to make fun of black People in general. Like dresing as a criminal and using blackface to do so.
I’ll take a stab and say that many students DON’T buy yearbooks because they no longer reflect their life experience…
They are not only expensive but sterile in history to boot. There is no reason to save a purified history nor any reason to show any of it to a future generation.
and a friend (now very successful) went as michael jackson (with blackface) and wearing one glove ( that was a thing for awhile) for Halloween…i didn’t think it was a big deal then (and it wasn’t) and there’s no way that it would influence how i think of him today.