Billy Crystal raised eyebrows after donning blackface for a skit during the Oscars telecast.
During Sunday’s Academy Awards ceremony, Billy Crystal revisited one of his oldest bits as he put himself into the Best Picture nominees via some clever cutting, CGI, and occasionally, the assistance of the nominees’ stars. But the Oscars host drew criticism after revisiting an even older bit in which he impersonates Sammy Davis Jr., prompting claims that his “blackface” performance was offensive and racist.Jacked from The Hollywood Reporter
Following a segment in which Crystal spent a few seconds talking to Justin Bieber and Sammy Davis Jr. (actually Crystal in makeup) in a scene meant to reference Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris, complaints began pouring in from Twitter that Crystal, the segment and the show as a whole was racist for allowing Crystal to impersonate the iconic black performer.
Monday morning, online pundits offered critiques of his performance as Davis. Grantland contributor Andrew Ti, who runs the blog Yo, Is This Racist?, suggested that the bit waspointless at best, while Feministing said plainly, "Blackface is not okay. Ever." While the performance was obviously a throwback to Crystal’s frequent segments as the singer onSaturday Night Live, many found the decision questionable at best since it had little or nothing to do with either the immediate context of that part of his intro or the Oscars in general.
On Twitter, comedian Paul Scheer lampooned the performance after African-American actress Octavia Spencer won an Oscar for Best Suppirting Actress in the racially-charged drama The Help: "Octavia Spencer's win shows just how far we've come since Billy Crystal performed in Blackface." Journalist and television personalityBevy Smith added criticism of a skit in which a fictional focus group offered feedback on The Wizard of Oz. After one of the characters requested Oz' flying monkeys be added to Gone With the Wind, Smithtweeted: "ok now they have one more time to make a racial joke,Gone With The Wind better have some monkeys in it,WTF! Blackface & monkey jokes 2 much!"
Crystal and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have not yet issued a statement or response to the controversy. But the polarizing reaction on Twitter and the blogosphere has already inspired discussions about where the line is, or should be drawn for white performers to imitate characters of different ethnicities. Is there a difference between comical impersonation and cartoonish derision, if it’s a white performer playing a character of color? In today’s climate is there a difference between “blackface” and a white person wearing makeup to look black for the purpose of comedy?
22 comments:
Get the fuck over it people.
That's not blackface...That's an impersonation....dumbassess....blackface is when everything else is visible and the face is in obvious black make up with whites around the eyes...uggh....anything for a story
IT IS blackface dumbasses Shows just how inappropiate and untalented this old shriveled up jew is. If a black person dressed up as Hitler and goose stepped on stage, the jews would been in an uproar. When Brett Ratner used the word faggot, the academy fired him. fUCK CRACKERS
FUCK BILLY CRYSTAL RACIST BASTARD.
Anonymous 03.49pm - If you have to mention Hitler you have no argument, but FYI he hated us black people too so if I did dress up as Hitler it'd be pretty damn pointless *shrugs shoulders*
There is a difference between a white person doing black face and a white person using appropriate skin tones to impersonate a black person. It's not about a white person trying to look black. The problem with "black face" is that no black person on earth (including Yaphet Koto) is that black. Billy and other white comedians on SNL have done black impersonations with brown skin tones for decades. What irks me are these knee jerk reactions on what people consider racism when there are actually truly racist things going on in Hollywood daily.
More proof that the Oscars are very racists!
What does Billy Crystal doing Sammy Davis have to do with Black people dressed up as Hitler? Anyone white, black, asian, hispanic dressed up as Hitler would be offensive to many Jews because Hitler as a person alone is offensive. I don't get what you're trying to say and how one has anything to do with the other.
Do you have a problem with comprehension? READ!
welcome to another racist act then.
What's racist about it?
@5:16 I can read at a college level. Your comment doesn't make any sense. Can you comprehend?
I'll try again.
What does Billy Crystal doing a Sammy Davis impersonation have to do with a Black person doing a Hitler impersonation?
You must be white cause you sound stupid. Yes, there are some stupid ass white people 97% were on the Oscars voting box. Given that Oscar to old ass didn't register for Oscar on Dec 31. Then she called all her friends to vote for her. Donating 20,000 to Viola's charAties. Womp womp
What irks me is you don't understand the word "black face" it's more of a term if words to indicate A Non Black Person Putting on Black/Brown Makeup pretending to be black.
@9:43 Look bitch it's equally offensive. Don't fuckin' play with me. You must be some white bitch or jewish who thinks that insulting black ppl is ok. Any perceived slight by anybody black causes ppl of your ilk to whine. So don't come here with that bullshit. Comprende. asshole.
"Black Face" does not mean any person other than black wearing black or brown makeup.
I'll show you what "Black Face" is:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_D-4NLV7K0O8/R9GSaWkiKPI/AAAAAAAAACs/mQ4xXdEDnkA/s320/al%2Bjolson%2Bblack%2Bface.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Bert_Williams_blackface_2.jpg
http://static.ivygateblog.com.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/weinstein2.png
You use the term "black face" too loosely. It doesn't mean any white person who tries to look like a black person. The problem with the pics above is that they DON'T look like black people. Darrell Hammond doing a Jessie Jackson impersonation isn't "Black Face". Maybe you should educate yourself on the subject and then you wouldn't be so irked. It seems we've gotten to the point that we don't even know what we're supposed to be offended by.
@2:15 No sweety I'm black and I grew up under the Nation of Islam so I'm the last person you want to call a bitch or white/jewish. You insult yourself by not being educated on the subject. You don't even know what you should be offended by. Someone told you it was offensive so you got offended. You can't even form a paragraph without curse words you can't see through the dark to get to my level.
@10:22
I sound stupid but you're talking about things I never mentioned in my comment? Where did I say there weren't stupid white people? Where did I say that the Oscars voting block wasn't racist against black people. These things are clear as day. The topic at hand is: WHAT IS BLACK FACE? You're loading a bunch of apples in my orange basket.
The term " black face " is a term we Black people use, not all of your copy and paste Blogs. Where do white folks think since it's on the Internet / blog that it must be correct.
Dumb azz hon keys
The Wind better have some monkeys in it,WTF! Blackface & monkey jokes 2 much!"
new york divorce lawyer
The Wind better have some monkeys in it,WTF! Blackface & monkey jokes 2 much!"
best since it had little or nothing to do with either the immediate context of that part of his intro or the Oscars in general.
I am Black and I know the history of black face, it was invented by whites to smear and demonize black American citizens PERIOD. It has RACIST origins. Jews like Billy Crystal and Tracey Ullman do some of the best 'whites in black face' that I have ever seen, but it is still a racist thing to do, THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS *RESPECTFUL* BLACK FACE by whites. Robert Downey jr's Lincoln Osisrus character in Tropic Thunder was funny, but at the end of the day, it was still a white man in black face and whites in black face has a racist history, and now that character has become a popular Holloween costume for white males, Thanks a lot Robert Downey jr.
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