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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
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| Posted: 23 October 2018 at 11:20am | IP Logged | 1
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PEOPLE
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Michael Casselman
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 14 January 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 1217
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| Posted: 23 October 2018 at 12:17pm | IP Logged | 2
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The de Lessups case is interesting, tho... she says she never darkened her skin, yet the panelist still says her Diana Ross get-up still "sounds a little racist". I didn't see the show, but was the point ever pressed to explain why it was racist? The skin tone was the distinguishing feature cited by complainers... was the wig a point of contention? And is a wig, as distinctive as it might be to a particular costume or likeness, enough to be tagged as racist?
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
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| Posted: 23 October 2018 at 12:21pm | IP Logged | 3
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Pretending to be another race is racist, I should thing. Even if it's "for fun".
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Michael Roberts
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 20 April 2004
Location: United States
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| Posted: 23 October 2018 at 12:29pm | IP Logged | 4
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Megyn Kelly is a little bit older than me, but I remember learning blackface was bad when I was a kid from an episode of GIMME A BREAK. The youngest daughter tries to get back at Nell Carter's character over something by tricking Joey Lawrence's character into performing a song in front of Nell's church group in blackface. Nell dropped the n-bomb to make a point of how offensive that was.
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John Leach
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
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| Posted: 23 October 2018 at 1:07pm | IP Logged | 5
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I'm a few years older than Megyn Kelly. When I was probably 9 or 10 years old I went as Chicago Bears running back Walter Payton for Halloween. He was African-American. I did not paint my face black, because I'm not that dumb.
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Jabari Lamar
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Joined: 18 October 2017
Location: United States
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| Posted: 23 October 2018 at 2:46pm | IP Logged | 6
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Do Billy Crystal's old impersonations of Sammy Davis Jr. on SNL count as "Blackface?" I remember watching him doing that in the early 80's, and no one seemed to have a problem with it, although when he did it again at the Oscars in 2012, it was a different story.
Edited by Jabari Lamar on 23 October 2018 at 2:47pm
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Michael Casselman
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| Posted: 23 October 2018 at 4:12pm | IP Logged | 7
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It wasn't an issue because he was doing a very specific impression that was based more on that specific person's image, likeness and attributes, and not some general, disparaging racial stereotypes. And if I recall correctly, Sammy was cool with it, too.
Unfortunately, that nuance is lost on modern audiences who only see the issue in a more black and white (no pun) way. It was that same era of SNL that saw Eddie Murphy do his classic 'white guy' impression and skit where he did a complete 'white face' get-up.
If Crystal was guilty of anything, it was going to the well once too often with material the modern audience wouldn't 'get'... some of his stuff is approaching 'Rich Little' relevance by now.
Hell, by the time 'White Chicks' came out, that subtlety in poking fun was far lost. If I recall, 'Soul Man' was probably the first major depiction of deliberate opposite race-portrayal that recieved a major backlash.
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Doug Centers
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Joined: 17 February 2014
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| Posted: 23 October 2018 at 4:39pm | IP Logged | 8
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That topic title is beautiful JB!
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Joseph Greathouse
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 19 August 2015
Location: United States
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| Posted: 23 October 2018 at 6:12pm | IP Logged | 9
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"Do Billy Crystal's old impersonations of Sammy Davis Jr. on SNL count as "Blackface?""
Yes. As do Jimmy Kimmel's impersonations of Karl Malone in the late 90s.
By comparison, Rich Little also did impressions of black celebrities, but did not use makeup to do so. Billy Crystal could stops do Sammy Davis, Jr. And it would be just as funny without the blackface.
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Steven Myers
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Joined: 10 June 2004
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| Posted: 23 October 2018 at 7:08pm | IP Logged | 10
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Blackface makeup used in the old acts wasn't even close to looking like people of African descent, though. That's part of what made it horrible. I never thought of all makeup to be offensive.
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Joseph Greathouse
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| Posted: 23 October 2018 at 7:49pm | IP Logged | 11
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Just because the technology is better doesn't make the act more acceptable.
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Steve De Young
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Joined: 01 April 2008
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| Posted: 24 October 2018 at 10:54am | IP Logged | 12
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My wife, as a kid, once went to school on Halloween dressed as a skunk. Halfway through the day, the furry costume parts got too hot, so she took them off, but left the makeup on. She only realized what it looked like once she got home and her mother saw her.
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