Dude in blackface, *dude*

This is about a month too late to be a newswire item, but apparently comedian Willie P. Richardson did his act in blackface as the opening act for a Ray Price concert in Layfayette, LA.

Just curious what you think, esp. southerners (Flux). I'm not opposed to racial humor at all, and I'm a big time believer in freedom of speech, but then there's being a racist turd. Was curious if Willie P. Richardson is a racist turd or is it a southern thing or whatever

I didn't know you could get away with blackface anymore, is what I'm trying to say.

[Edited on Aug 24, 2004 by Jeff_Fries]

I'd frown upon it...unless you were doing a period piece.

You should ask Ted Danson.

i think spike lee said it best in bamboozled

his point is that the blackface 'character' is prevailant everywhere, he just made it literal.

it would make me feel uncomfortable.

I had to do a skit for my Pluarlism in the US class. And one of the rules was very strict. NO BLACKFACE. So I'm surprised somebody got away with that.

y'know, for me it all depends on what the person in blackface is doing.
If someone were putting on a straight up old-school minstrel show, that would be one thing, while someone spoofing a minstrel show would be another. Al Jolson rocked some blackface, and nobody would argue that his goals weren't noble. Maybe it's because I'm relatively young, white and northern, and "ism"s really weren't a part of my upbringing in any way. It's not an emotionally charged issue for me. But any kind of stereotype taken to its cartoonish extreme makes me smile, be that a picture of some buck-toothed chinaman working a laundry counter or the smelly, hair-matted european barbarian of asian lore, or even Cheech Marin's characters or the swedish chef. It's all just silly to me and I don't see any of it as being worth any more than a laugh.

Having said that though, only a fool would put on blackface and expect to get away with it. And yeah, I'm aware that chinaman isn't the preferred nomenclature....

i was at a casino in biloxi about a year ago he was in the bar preforming. there were black people in the audience. they didnt seem offended. but some people probally are. he didnt use any racist stereo types in his act. he was mainly useing a black country boy accent and most of his jokes could apply to a back woods redneck as well. the only offensive thing was so called black face. it looks more like makeup to make him look like a real african american. not the black face way.
so what about the movie white chicks? two black men dressed up as white women. makeing jokes about white people stereo types. how does that differ from what he does for a liveing?
please dont peg me as a racist. just simple observations. i agree he is takeing a lot of risk to his personal safety and his possible fan base. especally as popular as the southern fried comedy crap is. he could be old white dude who makes prank phone calls and still make as much money.

[Edited on Aug 24, 2004 by theanimal777]

i agree with you animal i think if a black comedian dressed as a white guy and did jokes no one would be as outraged in fact i think there has been a guy i wanna say he was on saturday nite live but not sure that use to do this act.

what about "whiteface"?

[Edited on Aug 25, 2004 by ThisAintNoPicnic]

i think his name was, like, eddie something...

The argument that they put forth to why we couldn't do blackface was that when black entertainers wanted to get into the business in the days after the end of slavery, they had to put on blackface. Essentially, they had to pretend to be a white person pretending to be black if they wanted to be allowed to perform. That's pretty fucked up.

Damn, I'm IN Lafayette, LA and haven't even heard of this.

easily one of the worst movies i've ever seen

A person will only be offended if they really want to be offended.
I am a black woman, and while I could go around worrying about possibly offensive materials, I'd rather spend my time and energy in other, more personally productive ways. This man has as much right to his black face routine as 7Up does with their little doll commercials, but that doesn't mean that I'll support it.

when eddie did the whiteface skit, it was as a spoof insinuating that when blacks are'nt around, that whites do eachother favors and have big parties. he was playing a black investigative reporter, and it was part of the story. the skit was only modertely funny, but that could be because iwas too young. it was very 70's humor. btw i'm a black man, and had no idea that richardson is white. he's pretty convincing. anyway, i'm with arcana on this one. i have the distinct feeling, however that this guy is not a racist, he's just not too bright.

I'd like to see him do that on Showtime at the Apollo.

Hey, just one comment & I like you already!

I'd think that this guy is going to have a difficult time making a living out of this routine. In other words, who here would pay to go see that? Problem solved. Well, maybe not solved per se but you get my drift, right? The guy's a dork, the world's got plenty more. Thankfully the reason they stand out is that they're the exception rather than the rule.

good point

That picture is so fucked up. And not because of the race issues. I mean, just look at it.

Ted Danson did it like ten years ago at some celebrity charity event.

this type of shit:
a. makes me sick, and
b. makes me glad I left louisiana.

It was the friar's club roast of his then-girlfriend Whoopi Goldberg. Did anyone click both links?