Blackface invokes a hurtful and painful history of white people codifying Blackness. Yet, some white folks just can’t help but don the artificial mask to experience faux-Blackness in all its glory.
In no way are we claiming that these celebrities are racist. But we are most definitely calling attention to the idea and the act of darkening your skin and then performing as a caricatured minstrelsy for white laughs is, in fact, racist. At the very least, the action is unsettling, unnerving, and, historically, unfunny.
The “entertainment” originated in the 19th century. White people would put shoe polish on their faces, wear tattered clothing, and perform exaggerated mannerisms stereotypically associated with Blackness.
National Museum of African American History of Culture historian Dale Cockrell documented that the practice began in the South when poor and working-class white folks felt shunned by their wealthier white counterparts.
“[White people] who felt squeezed politically, economically, and socially from the top, but also from the bottom, invented minstrelsy as a way of expressing the oppression that marked being members of the majority, but outside of the white norm,” Cockrell said.
And before you say, “this new woke generation, they’re attacking comedy now!,” Blackface has always been seen as an attack on Blackness. The Associated Press notes that famous abolitionist Frederick Douglass called a blackface bit “the filthy scum of white society” in The North Star newspaper. That was in 1848. Yet, not all Black people feel that way—even in 2024.
Billy Dee Williams recently suggested that white actors could wear blackface without a problem. He reasoned that entertainers should have the creative freedom to do and be whatever they need to be for entertainment’s sake. Mindsets like this have led to some pretty cringe-worthy moments in pop culture history. While there have been literally hundreds of white entertainers wearing Blackface, here are a few who have donned the forbidden “art.”
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Judy Garland
Late American actress Judy Garland performed in Blackface as Judy Bellaire in 1938’s Everybody Sing. The Wizard of Oz icon can be seen in the picture dancing in the offensive costume. She also wore Blackface in 1939’s Babes in Arms and 1941’s Babes on Broadway. But this case of Blackface may not have been her fault. It has been routinely documented that Garland was abused from a young age.
According to Newsweek, Garland’s diet and body image were routinely supervised to ensure that she was “perfect” by white Hollywood’s standards. She was reportedly fed amphetamines in the morning and sleeping pills at night during her strict diet. By the time she scored her iconic Oz role, the abuse had worsened. By 15, she was addicted to pills, and her diet consisted of black coffee, chicken soup, and around 80 cigarettes a day. Additionally, regardless of her choice, her roles were picked for her. Her Everybody Sing role may have been a product of that.
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Dan Akroyd
Dan Akroyd donned Blackface in 1983’s Trading Places. He starred alongside Eddie Murphy and played a Jamaican man in the movie. The comedic legend recently talked about the hurtful bit. Akroyd insisted that he wouldn’t do Blackface today and cited these “days we’re living in” as the catalyst.
“I was in Blackface in that film, and I probably couldn’t get away with it now,” Aykroyd told Variety. “Eddie and I were improvising there. Eddie is a Black man, and his entourage were all Black people, and I don’t think they batted an eye. There was no objection then; nobody said anything. It was just a good comic beat that was truthful to the story.”
“I probably wouldn’t choose to do a Blackface part, nor would I be allowed to do it,” Aykroyd continued. “I probably wouldn’t be allowed to do a Jamaican accent, white face or Black. In these days we’re living in, all that’s out the window. I would be hard-pressed to do an English accent and get away with it. They’d say, ‘Oh, you’re not English, you can’t do it.'”
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Sarah Silverman
Sarah Silverman sported the hateful “art” during the “Face Wars” episode of the Sarah Silverman Program. The infamous bit finds the New York City native declaring she’s Black for a day while performing at a church. Her actions leave the congregation visibly disgusted, as they wonder why she’s there. “I look like the beautiful Queen Latifah,” she says in the footage.
She would later address the scandalous sketch in 2018. Sarah referred to the bit as “horrific” and said she would erase it if possible. “I don’t stand by the Blackface sketch. I’m horrified by it, and I can’t erase it. I can only be changed by it and move on,” she told GQ.
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Jimmy Fallon
Jimmy Fallon wore Blackface in 2000 during an episode of Saturday Night Live. The segment found him impersonating Chris Rock, exaggerating his speech and mannerisms. 20 years later, Kimmel apologized for the sketch and asserted there was “no excuse for this.”
“In 2000, while on SNL, I made a terrible decision to do an impersonation of Chris Rock while in blackface. There is no excuse for this,” he typed. “I am very sorry for making this unquestionably offensive decision and thank all of you for holding me accountable.”
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Betty White And Rue McClanahan
Betty White and Rue McClanahan were widely seen as donning Blackface in a 1988 episode of The Golden Girls, called “Mixed Blessings.” The plot found Bea Arthur’s character’s son wanting to marry a Black woman twice his age. When the Black woman’s mother visits the Golden Girls’ home, Betty and Rue’s characters are getting mud facials. They come out to greet the Black mother and she thinks they’re in Blackface. Betty White’s character quips, “This is mud on our faces. We’re not really Black.”
Hulu erased the episode from the streaming version of the show.
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Jimmy Kimmel
Jimmy Kimmel also wore Blackface during a sketch from Comedy Central’s The Man Show in 2000. The skit featured him portraying NBA athlete Karl Malone.
Kimmel painted his whole body Black for the bit and even wore a bald cap. He then exaggerated his speech in mockery of an uneducated Black man with no common sense. Kimmel addressed the skit in 2020, sending an official press release to apologize.
“I have long been reluctant to address this, as I knew doing so would be celebrated as a victory by those who equate apologies with weakness and cheer for leaders who use prejudice to divide us,” he told CNN.
He explained that his decision to wear Blackface was founded upon impersonating Malone. Kimmel insisted that he had no intention of mocking him because of his skin. The late-night show host also explained that he “never considered” that this Blackface could be seen as something more than an impersonation.
“In the late 90s, I continued impersonating Malone on TV. We hired makeup artists to make me look as much like Karl Malone as possible,” Kimmel further explained. “I never considered that this might be seen as anything other than an imitation of a fellow human being, one that had no more to do with Karl’s skin color than it did his bulging muscles and bald head.”
“I’ve done dozens of impressions of famous people, including Snoop Dogg, Oprah, Eminem, Dick Vitale, Rosie, and many others. In each case, I thought of them as impersonations of celebrities and nothing more,” Kimmel said. “Looking back, many of these sketches are embarrassing, and it is frustrating that these thoughtless moments have become a weapon used by some to diminish my criticisms of social and other injustices.”