Billy Dee Williams and blackface: The most (un)interesting black man in the world
There's a big difference between slapstick humor and stupidity disguised as humor
I love a podcast that inspires me to learn a professional skill, inspires a do-it-yourself adventure or teaches me something new about an interviewee. (After all, I completed 250 interviews, including my own short-lived podcast, so a good host is as delightful to me as a good guest.) There are a select few podcasts that I’ll never miss an episode of, and sometimes I’ll go back to rewatch a few videos or listen to a few audio chats again and again.
Then, there are podcasts that have the intelligence level of “Beavis & Butthead.” (I may change that comparison later because I did laugh at a few episodes of that MTV show.) These podcasts serve no purpose other than for the host to find someone to talk to when his friends, family and co-workers realize they can choose the voicemail option instead of answering the phone.
In send-to-voicemail recent news, here comes Billy Dee Williams chatting with one of the most unapologetically racist, offensive, Islamophobic and sexist “political” talk show hosts: Bill Maher.
I have never sat through an episode of Bill Maher’s “Club Random” podcast. I was Today Years Old when I found out he had a podcast at all. After Bill Maher defended Donald Sterling and dressed like a purple pimp to “impersonate” former President Barack Obama on his HBO show years ago, I tapped out.
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Still, there was no way in the world you were going to convince me that the same guy who was on several episodes of “The Boondocks,” “Half & Half” and “A Different World” would be more oblivious to racism than Bill Maher.
I’ve never even humored the idea of having one negative thought about Billy Dee Williams. Why would I? But this weekend, I was notified of a comment the longtime actor made that I honestly wish I could unhear.
Forever looking like he’s been marinating in baby oil, Billy Dee Williams made an even slimier comment to Bill Maher. He encouraged Bill Maher to do blackface.
What. The. Fawk.
According to the 87-year-old man, “If you’re an actor, you should do anything you want to do.”
Somehow, the “Star Wars” actor doesn’t seem to realize the entire point of blackface was not only to make sure legitimate black actors could not get roles being actual black people with Afrocentric facial features but to also make fun of some of the worst stereotypes about black people.