David Harewood says actors should be allowed to use blackface

25 comments

1. It’s acceptable for a man to play a woman and for a young person to play an old person. Why not play a different race?

2. I agree.

   The real issue that’s currently being ignored is respect.

   Historical blackface is extremely disrespectful and racist.

   Using makeup to alter one’s features provided it is done respectfully is not.

3. Either we live in a multicultural society where cultural appropriation or copying others should be seen as a sign of respect that enriches rather than as an attack or humiliation.

   Or we don’t and we are defined only by the things that make us different and the things that separate us are respected.

   That is the problem here. Equality and multiculturalism has to be accepted by all for it to work. That means bame and other minority group actors/artists getting all the chances they never had and for anyone to play/write/be who they want on stage/in life regardless without accusations of appropriation. It just means everybody has to let go a little.

   Holding on to culture as only yours just makes the divides worse imo.

4. Can’t wait for people on Facebook to be grabbing this article next Halloween when they dress up as OJ Simpson. Then when you call them out they say how he’s black so they basically got permission

5. I’m a dude playing a dude disguised as another dude.

6. Remember Little Britain.

   People look back on it today thinking we were all ignorant monsters.

   But I don’t think Lucas and Walliams – whatever their faults – were trying to be racist. It’s almost like the whole nation was having a conversation – “Is this okay now? Has enough time passed since the horrors of blackface?”.

   Of course, as a nation, we decided, “No” and now Little Britain has a hard time not being banned form TV channels.

   But who knows? In an alternate timeline maybe we decided it was okay as long as it wasn’t the worst kind of shoe-polish minstrels.

   Which timeline is right? I genuinely don’t know.

7. Finally somebody is talking some sense. The pendulum has swung so far the other way that we have journalism like this.

   https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-40931479

   The fact this is not a satirical piece is genuinely baffling to me. It truly seems like satire, could be straight out of The Onion. TV licence money hard at work.

8. The problem is when blackface went from being “white person who paint his face pitch black and with huge red lips to explicitly mock black people”

   To

   “white actor uses makeup to get a slightly darker shade of skin.”

9. If this thread represents British people I’m embarrassed

10. “having dropped this unexpected view Harewood rubbed some make up remover between his hands and then upon his dark features which slowly, steadily turned muddy grey and after a wipe with paper towel, very very shockingly white!”

11. the whole idea is getting the right colour shoe polish

12. I only really see good use cases in stuff like comedy like, Tropic Thunder.

    But I guess if there is any other legitimate use case that isn’t mocking black people, that should be fine I guess.

    Why does past bad use prevent good faith uses nowadays?

13. The should be allowed to, yes. Just like actors should also be allowed to pretend thier handicapped, or pretend they live in a different century or pretend they are wizards. It’s acting ≠ reality, get a grip people, negative aspects of history don’t have to overshadow everything we do.

14. I’m just a dude playing a dude playing a black dude

15. Go on then, who’s gonna be the first one to buck the trend and black up?

16. Honestly, I’m surprised he has this view. I watched the BBC 2 documentary he narrated about blackface.

17. Actors are allowed to say the n word but blackface is too offensive :/

18. I’ve always maintained it should be acceptable and anyone that doesn’t think this doesn’t understand acting as an art-form.

19. Characters should be viewed as written, not physically. Eg. A kid playing a elderly woman

20. I’m going to get downvoted to shit for this, but if something has such harmful historical context, when not try to re-write history. Make fun of black face. Make it a joke. Don’t ban it and therefore make more douchebags gravitate towards using it as a means to offend. Take the power away.

    Like Dave Chappelle when he did white face. Absolutely hysterical. When you break it down, it is really very, very silly.

21. I don’t drop character until I do the DVD commentary.

22. I don’t have a view on this really but it’s interesting hear from him, John Barnes and others about stuff like this.

23. I don’t see many acceptable uses outside of making a point like Tropic Thunder or a joke like in Community, “I think you just committed a hate crime”. Even a use case like Cloud Atlas is fine, as they are reincarnations of themselves.

    But a white guy just playing a black guy for no good reason or, worse, a black role being passed up in favour of a white actor in black face is not okay.

    This goes the same for any other race. Just cast the races that are needed to play a role.

    Having said all that, there’s no reason to remove old episodes or films that feature it, they’re products of their time and things to learn from.

24. SHOW ME THE CHAMPION OF LIGHT

    ILL SHOW YOU THE HERALD OF BLACKFACE

25. I’ve always found it alittle creepy but that Papa Lazlo for you.